http://kairosnews.org/taxonomy/term/375/feed The taxonomy view with a depth of 0. en http://kairosnews.org/playing-world-of-warcraft-in-a-public-li If you've been to your local library lately (the old-fashioned ones in an actual building), you might have noticed a growing trend: hordes of literates gathered round the book shelves wasting tax payer dollars on frivilous activities like reading books and such. Meanwhile, the people who really belong there, namely those twenty to thirty-somethings plunked in cubicles before the stale ethereal glow of computer screens, are *trying* to play World of Warcraft (keep it quiet over there; can't you see I'm almost to level 60?) Here's the deal. If the libraries are going to continue to support gaming, they need <a href="http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2006/09/11/how_do_we_measure_gaming.html">some way to measure outcomes</a>. Are these "gaming sessions" getting the headcount that the tried-and-true library events like "Reading Aloud to the Child in Your Womb" bring in? Furthermore, how can you prove to the fuggles that gaming is actually a healthy activity that stimulates brain growth and, like, hippocampus development. I don't know about you, but my pineal gland is much larger thanks to a childhood spent with my eyeballs fixated on a bunch of flashing pixels, hands death-gripped on a sweaty controller. I feel really sorry for all those brazillions of poor kids with their shrunken pineals. We owe it to them to at least let'm get in a few levels of Warcrack. Or at least an old game like Mario. How can you grow as a person without doing the Mario? That's just pong. http://kairosnews.org/playing-world-of-warcraft-in-a-public-li#comments games impact library Wed, 4 Oct 2006 22:46:59 -0400 platypus matt 4909 at http://kairosnews.org