[game_edu] Readings, Libraries & Copyright...from the librarian

[Clara Fernandez]

Thanks for your advice, Brenda,

BTW, there's a typo in the volume/issue given in your reference.

The correct reference is Kane, D., Soehner, D., & Wei W., 2007.  Building a
Collection of Video Games in Support of a Newly Created Degree Program at
the University of California, Santa Cruz. *Science & Technology Libraries*,*Vol
** 27, Issue 4,* 77-87.
Clara


2009/9/23 Brena Smith <brena.smith at gmail.com>


> I just now zoned in on the topic of this thread - I'm a librarian and I

> subscribe to a number of library-related listservs, copyright comes up a lot

> and I tend to breeze over those.  Then I realized it was coming from

> game_edu, so I thought I might be able to offer a little bit of advice

> here.

>

> First, if you haven't done so already, talk to a librarian on your campus -

> if there is a film librarian, talk to that person.   There are a

> number of copyright issues related to films and libraries and these tend to

> be similar to copyright issues for games.  You should also tell this person

> about the Steam licensing.

>

> I looked at your original post and it looks like there are several issues

> you are asking about (please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these 3

> points).  1) You would like to make a "reading list"  or "to play list"  of

> games available to your students?  Shouldn't be any copyright issues there.

> That's a list you can hand out to your students or make available on your

> course website.  It's no different than providing a bibliography of textual

> works.

>

> 2) Making games available on reserve in the library.  Generally speaking, I

> don't think there are copyright issues, but you do have a console issue.

> How long would you let them be checked out for?  Are you going to provide

> the consoles to the library?

>

> 3) You are interested in establishing a game collection within the

> library.  This can be a little trickier.  For example, a copy of a movie on

> DVD may cost $20 to a consumer.  But institutional copies may be $100 - to

> cover copyright/royalty costs because they assume the movie will be shown to

> groups and multiple times.  Same thing goes for institutional subscriptions

> to journals - an individual subscription may be $100; institutional $500

> (yes, it's that much more and I'm being conservative...please go worship

> your campus library for paying for all of those journals...but I digress).

> In can get really expensive really fast.  I'm sure I don't need to tell any

> of you how bad the economy is hitting educational institutions - and

> academic libraries are getting hit very hard.  Most are not going to be able

> to maintain current subscriptions, their collections budgets are getting

> slashed...but I'm sure many of you know this.  It might not be the best time

> to try to build a new collection.

>

> That said, a few libraries have begun building game collections.  The two

> most notable that I know about are UC Santa Cruz and University of

> Illinois, Urbana Champaign.  In fact, UIUC has developed a whole portion of

> their site to the collection

> http://www.library.illinois.edu/gaming/index.html UCSC relied heavily on

> donations from Sony, which took are of the copyright issues.  They wrote an

> article about building the collection if you are interested, here's the

> citation:

>

>

> Kane, D., Soehner, D., & Wei W., 2007.  Building a Collection of Video

> Games in Support of a Newly Created Degree Program at the University of

> California, Santa Cruz. *Science & Technology Libraries*, 24, 77-87.

>

> I hope this info helps somewhat.  Copyright is a nasty, nasty beast for

> libraries and its users!  Please let me know if you have any more questions.

>

> Best,

> Brena

>

>

> On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 5:57 PM, Malcolm Ryan <malcolmr at cse.unsw.edu.au>wrote:

>

>> On the issue of licensing, I discovered that Steam offers a special

>> "CyberCafe" license [1] that gives access to "100 games". This may be an

>> option for universities if they want to run a games lab. I have contacted

>> them about educational pricing, but haven't heard anything yet.

>>

>> As for the games I use, I structure my course around MDA and the 8 kinds

>> of fun [2]. My list of examples changes from year to year, but this year

>> I've used:

>>

>> Bartok (card game)

>>   - A simple modifiable game to illustrate MDA

>>

>> Trogdor

>>   - To analyse mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics

>>

>> Braid

>>   - Discovery: For the elegantly crafted training levels

>>   - Sensation: the atypical choices of art and music

>>

>> AudioSurf

>>   - Drama: pacing and a dramatic arc

>>

>> The Path

>>   - Fantasy: Creating fantasy through atmosphere and indirect

>> storytelling.

>>   - Discovery: An open world with many paths to 'victory'.

>>

>> Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy

>>   - Storytelling: Changing avatars creates dissonance as the player's

>> loyalties shift

>>   - Storytelling: The opening scene puts the player in media res.

>>

>> Mafia (round-table game)

>>   - Fellowship: Mixture of cooperation and competition.

>>

>> Zen bound

>>   - Sensation/Ritual: Slow meditative pacing with art and music to match.

>>

>> Everyday shooter

>>   - Sensation: The game is as much about interactive colour + music as it

>>     is about challenge.

>>

>> Galatea/Aisle/Facade

>>   - Fantasy: Storytelling with many endings. Dialogue systems.

>>

>> Fallout 3

>>   - Self expression: Character creation and growth. (I could do with a

>> shorter game to illustrate this but most RPGs tend to be long).

>>

>> Crayon Physics

>>   - Self expression: Not just about finding a solution, but building the

>> 'coolest' solution.

>>

>> World of goo

>>   - Sensation: A consistent theme and an interface that makes the 'goo'

>> feel almost tactile.

>>

>> Once Upon a Time (card game)

>>   - Fanstasy/Self Expression: A 'story-making' game that facilitates the

>> players to tell their own story.

>>

>> [1] https://cafe.steampowered.com/

>> [2] http://8kindsoffun.com/

>>

>> On 23/09/2009, at 1:26 PM, pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu wrote:

>>

>>

>>>

>>> Even if the list were 100 long it should be annotated to the point of

>>> why it makes the list - what it exemplifies. In this way, someone

>>> with specific course goals could select from the list.

>>>

>>> Haha... "standard"... good one. :-)

>>>>

>>>> There have been numerous "must-play" lists. Whenever I try to make one

>>>> of

>>>> my own, I can never seem to narrow it down below 30 or so.

>>>>

>>>> I think a lot depends on your goals. If it is just a matter of "game

>>>> literacy" -- that is, playing at least one canonical game in each major

>>>> genre, playing all the games that are well-known, and so on, then you

>>>> will

>>>> come up with a very different list than if you are looking for games

>>>> that

>>>> offered technical innovation for its time, which in turn is different

>>>> from

>>>> a list of games that were pioneering new forms of design or unique

>>>> visual

>>>> art styles or even games that were failures in notable ways.

>>>>

>>>> Rather than trying to cram all of these into a single class, it might be

>>>> better to spread it across the entire curriculum. Provide exposure to a

>>>> few games at a time as they tie in to the content of any given course,

>>>> and

>>>> make sure the sum total of classes gives students exposure to all the

>>>> games you'd consider "must-play". Sure, you can have a "Game

>>>> Appreciation"

>>>> course that covers a lot of games, but I'm not sure you could fit

>>>> everything into 10 or 12 weeks... nor would you want to (else you run

>>>> the

>>>> danger of students thinking that all the games in that class aren't

>>>> relevant to their other coursework, since it's all too self-contained).

>>>>

>>>> - Ian

>>>>

>>>>

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> ________________________________

>>>> From: "pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu" <pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu>

>>>> To: IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>

>>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1:17:48 PM

>>>> Subject: Re: [game_edu] Readings, Libraries & Copyright

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> Malcolm,

>>>>

>>>> I would be interested in your list.

>>>>

>>>> Assuming that a semester is about 12 weeks or so, do we have

>>>> a "standard repertoire" of the top 10 games that all

>>>> students should have played and critically examined?

>>>>

>>>> Ted

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> Thaddeus F. Pawlicki, Ph.D.

>>>> Undergraduate Program Director

>>>> Computer Science Dept.      (585) 275-4198

>>>> University of Rochester      FAX (585) 273-4556

>>>> Rochester, NY  14627-0226  pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu

>>>> http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/pawlicki/

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> ''One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others

>>>> may

>>>> despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men

>>>> out

>>>> of touch with their instinctive selves.'' - Carl Jung 1977

>>>>

>>>> Malcolm Ryan wrote:

>>>>>

>>>>>> As a lecturer in game design, I want to set a 'reading list' of games

>>>>>> for my students to play. In other disciplines the University has

>>>>>> standard copyright arrangements which allow them to make sets of

>>>>>> readings available to students at little or no cost, but there doesn't

>>>>>> seem to be any appropriate arrangement for software.

>>>>>>

>>>>>> Have you encountered this problem? How have you addressed it?

>>>>>>

>>>>>> I know that a lot of good cutting-edge independent work is available

>>>>>> cheaply or for free online, but I don't want to be forced to exclude

>>>>>> AAA titles from examination. Ideally I would like to set up a library

>>>>>> of games but I am worried about the copyright and licensing issues.

>>>>>> Does anyone know more about this?

>>>>>>

>>>>>> Malcolm

>>>>>> _______________________________________________

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>>>>>>

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>>>>

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-- 
Clara Fernández-Vara
Research Associate
Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab

77 Massachusetts Ave
Bldng NE25 Room 379
Cambridge, MA 02139
Office: (+01) 617-324-9115

http://gambit.mit.edu
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