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

[brena.smith]

Ackk!  Bad librarian!  Thanks for the catch.

Brena

On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 7:53 AM, Clara Fernandez <telmah at mit.edu> wrote:


> 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

>>>>>>> _______________________________________________

>>>>>>> game_edu mailing list

>>>>>>> game_edu at igda.org

>>>>>>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu

>>>>>>>

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>>>>>>

>>>>>>

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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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