News about Games and Gaming

—Please distribute to other lists as appropriate–

Announcing the 2007 Gaming Census!

This is an annual survey done by Dr. Scott Nicholson, associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, and is designed to collect information about gaming programs run in libraries in 2007.  This can be any type of game (board, card, video, chess, puzzle) at any type of library (public, school, academic, or special).  The focus is on gaming programs, where the libraries schedule an event of some type featuring games, and on gaming programs that were run sometime during the 2007 calendar year.

You can take this survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=64bf17n2mW5s4QdKL6ctxg_3d_3d until the end of July.

Data from last year’s census has been valuable in helping us to understand how libraries are using gaming and to get funding for other gaming programs.  Adding data abour your institution to our census will help us better understand how libraries are using data.  You can see the publications that have used this data at http://gamelab.syr.edu/publications/.   The results from this survey will be presented at the 2008 Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium.

Questions?  Contact Scott Nicholson at srnichol@syr.edu. Thanks!

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Patrick Kierkegaard’s paper “Video games and aggression” evaluates the evidences that purport to show a stronger link between violent games and aggressive behavior, and is more review of the literature than original research study. His assessment is that there is no data to support the theory that videogame violence promotes violent crimes.

Also of possible interest: a Texas A&M study on violent video games and aggression, with results that indicate that trait aggression, family violence, and male gender are predictive of violent crime, but exposure to violent games is not.

Links are to abstracts; check your local state-funded database for full text or document delivery options!

Kierkegaard, Patrick. “Video games and aggression.” Learning Sciences Research Institute, University of Nottingham, UK; [now at Department of Computing and Electronic Systems, University of Essex, UK] Journal: International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry 2008 - Vol. 1, No.4 pp. 411 - 417.

Christopher J. Ferguson, Stephanie M. Rueda, Amanda M. Cruz, Diana E. Ferguson, Stacey Fritz and Shawn M. Smith. “Violent video games and aggression: causal relationship or byproduct of family violence and intrinsic violence motivation?” Criminal Justice and Behavior 35.3 (March 2008): p311(22).

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forwarded with permission from Christine Crawford, editorial board member, International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations.

“As a member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, I am happy to report that we are now working on the Spring Issue (#2) of 2009. The following is the description of the journal retrieved from the website:

International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations is a peer-reviewed, international journal devoted to the theoretical and empirical understanding of electronic games and computer-mediated simulations. The journal is interdisciplinary in nature; it publishes research from fields and disciplines that share the goal of improving the foundational knowledge base of games and simulations. The journal publishes critical theoretical manuscripts as well as qualitative and quantitative research studies, meta-analyses, and methodologically-sound case studies. The journal also includes book reviews to keep readers on the forefront of this continuously evolving field. Occasional special issues from the journal provide deeper investigation into areas of interest within either gaming or simulations.

If you or someone you know has a paper that you would like to submit for review, please do so by June 15, 2008.

The full call is available on the IJGCMS website at: http://www.igi-global.com. Paper submissions can be sent to ijgcms AT gmail.com.”

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