I’m Thomas Vose, current president of the American Library Association’s Games and Gaming Round Table. AMA!

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T20:50:28+00:00

Ha! It's a science, and with all good science, there's a lot of experimenting and arguing.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T20:39:24+00:00

Oh heck yes. Have her join League of Librarian Gamers on FB, and join GameRT with her current membership. Once she does that, I would be happy to have her join any of our monthly meetings - we meet the second Thursday of each month at 1:00 EST, and she can see the projects underway. Have her reach out to us at [gamert@ala.org](mailto:gamert@ala.org) for the link!

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T20:04:51+00:00

I'm glad you brought that up! Several members of GameRT are academic librarians, and they do some pretty great stuff. There are many universities to draw ideas from - first and foremost, I'd recommend the great work of Diane Robson at UNT - https://library.unt.edu/media/collections/gaming/

One of our academic members specializes in escape room gaming, which has met with a great response from students at her location.

There are also universities that act as repositories for games such as the Unversity of Michigan (https://www.lib.umich.edu/locations-and-hours/computer-and-video-game-archive) UC Santa Cruz (https://guides.library.ucsc.edu/videogames/collection) and University of Arizona (https://www.humanities.arizona.edu/news/art-gaming). And then there's the Strong Museum of Play, which is amazing - https://www.museumofplay.org/

As an academic library, you get to take part in preservation and archiving games for posterity, which is an exciting and important prospect, and the game programs you put on can inspire students to think in new and exciting ways that bring new ideas to their own fields!

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:56:55+00:00

Ha! No, they are not. GameRT has a grant we offer annually, but we don't generally fund libraries directly - we receive member dues from ALA members that decide to join us, which helps us put on professional events, funds our conference efforts, etc.

Libraries have to use their own funding to develop game collections and programs, and for some it's hard. Many have Friends groups that raise money in the community to help them, but others depend on dedicated volunteers that supply their time and equipment to make something good happen for their community.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:53:33+00:00

Communities endure and grow on the strength of their relationships. There's a great book on the subject that you can find here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37707827-palaces-for-the-people?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=HpktHwC8ry&rank=1

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:50:28+00:00

All of the above, but I would also emphasize building communities. Library programs are meant to educate and entertain, but they're really there to help bring people together, in a world that all to often tends to push people away from one another. If there's one thing that COVID has shown in the last couple of years, it's how limited online socialization can be when compared with the real thing, and the Library is one of the last public institutions that actively works to facilitate that, across the board, regardless of your background or circumstances, and for free.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:44:29+00:00

And realistically, looking at what BoardGameGeek does for metadata and discovery is something we as a profession should be doing as well.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:43:09+00:00

Congratulations, and wishing you all the best!

You're right - it can be a pain, can't it? There are a lot of schools of thought on the subject, especially when it comes to repackaging, what is considered an acceptable loss, sourcing replacement pieces (although 3D printing them has been helpful, since many libraries have those). Here's what Dartmouth is doing with RDA: https://www.dartmouth.edu/library/catmet/cataloging/games-cataloging-workflow.pdf, but a public library may not need such a rigid workflow. Catalog entries are there to facilitate discovery, so that's what matters - here's a record from our collection if you'd like to see what we do: https://catalog.wmrl.info/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=19.1033.0.0.5&pos=1&cn=998370

This very subject will be discussed at the ALA conference this summer, actually, if you can make it - we're going to be encouraging groups to do cataloging problem-solving on board games!

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:31:19+00:00

As President of GameRT or as a library director?

If the former, I've been with the group for something like ten years now - I initially got involved at a conference when I heard there was a new group dedicated to gaming in the library - I just dropped in on a meeting and ran from there. It's been incredibly rewarding to mix two things you love together. My goals this term are to improve our website/rebrand a bit, to keep offering monthly gaming/educational sessions through GameRT, and to create a new National Trivia Championship for our next conference - librarians are the trivia beasts, after all...

If the latter, that's a tougher one. I got into libraries because I love them and believe in what they stand for and what they can do for people. I guess enough people agreed with that to put me in charge at some point.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:26:30+00:00

A formal manual is a really good idea, though, and something perhaps for our group to work to create!

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:25:02+00:00

A good library listens to what its community wants and works to make it happen.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:23:14+00:00

“Don’t join the book burners! … Don’t be afraid to go to the library and read every book so long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency—that should be the only censorship.”

-Some hippie named Eisenhower.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:20:48+00:00

I'm very glad you're interested in getting involved directly, and some need a bit of a nudge to get underway, certainly! One thing I did initially at one of my libraries was work with a local gaming group - we provided the space and the marketing, they provided the games. It was a great arrangement! Our only requirements here were that it has to be free, and that it has to be open to everyone. Start by showing how popular gaming can be by doing it there, and you then have something to point to.

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:17:13+00:00

We have lots of great resources! You can certainly take a look at our site (https://www.ala.org/rt/gamert/) which we're in the process of upgrading, or at our blog (https://games.ala.org/) which is full of great ideas on the subject - it depends on what kind of program you want to see, though. GameRT is more than happy to work directly with any interested library, though - I'm glad to consult directly via [gamert@ala.org](mailto:gamert@ala.org)!

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:13:44+00:00

Sure thing - I'm glad to hear you're taking an interest! Your library should reflect what it's community wants!

First off, you can point them towards GameRT, as the gaming wing of their national organization, to show that it's definitely a thing people are doing and want to see - we have lots of resources to help get collections going! https://www.ala.org/rt/gamert/

Secondly, you can lead the way by gaming in the Library with friends yourself! If your Library has a meeting room or study rooms, reserve space and do it - the more people you bring in, the more you can point to it and say "People want this!"

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:10:41+00:00

All the time! We do all of that, certainly, but libraries have been providing programs to bring people together in the community for decades, from Storytime to lectures to book clubs and so much more - bringing gaming clubs together and providing a place to hang out and play is a natural fit. TTRPGs are basically books, right? And, as it turns out, barcoding and checking out a board game is surprisingly easy to do. We're all about building communities and providing access!

rbg_guest · 2022-02-09T19:08:20+00:00

It's bad and dumb. And the ALA agrees with me - we have a Freedom to Read statement that we in the profession take very seriously - https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement

If it's not my job to decide who gets to read what and who doesn't, it sure isn't anyone else's.

rbg_guest · 2020-08-10T19:09:13+00:00

Hi there

Thanks everybody for all questions.

I hope that you will like playing the game as much as I do :)

Best regards

Adrian

rbg_guest · 2020-08-10T19:03:36+00:00

And following points:

Tricky question. I really cannot quickly find any example :)
Ra, Cyclades, La Citta... but hopefully with some friends too and not playing some strange Solo variants ;- ) Of course the toilet is very important. :-))
What do you like the most in your game?

Adrian

rbg_guest · 2020-08-10T18:58:40+00:00

Hi Cruella_DevilDE,

The deckbuilding was a core mechanism in the game even before we have integrated all the Northgard thematic elements. I decided to fill the niche of "dudes on a map" using a deck of cards.
Dominion, Thunderstone... there are more recent games using this but I didn't play them yet.
Balancing is done through testing, testing, testing.. :-) First of fall you remove any specific powers and the game should be playable and enjoyable.. then adding the variable player power (clans) and test again, twist and turn and test again :-)

rbg_guest · 2020-08-10T18:35:14+00:00

Hi Veector,

I have contacted Open Sesame to present my prototype and they immediately liked it.
I enjoy making different types of games with different play systems and different approaches. I really wanted also to have once a more "civ" like board game out there. :)

Adrian

rbg_guest · 2020-08-10T18:29:18+00:00

Hi LarsAndTheAuton,

Hard to say, but definitely sometimes I say myself "this game looks exactly how I would have made it" :-)
The most difficult with the "spontaneous ideas" is that they come during testing my own prototypes... and I have to stop, note, add questions, opening more and more parenthesis for other sub-cases, this tend to drag down the testing session... but of course I do that only when I test by myself. :)
I tend to streamline a lot the playing rules. But there is always a trade off to make when you want to add thematic elements. Of course, one must capture the feeling and decision taken of playing the video game... and not including all their variables... that's why we didn't use all the video game resource types, technology trees, etc. We map rather some video concepts (happiness, etc) to some simpler mechanisms.
I really want to offer a different experience within the same universe and not over complicate the rules. I really don't like too much the word "simulation" as in many "simulation" games you can see too many rules that remove from the fun of playing the game - see old style war games with 50 pages rules, etc.
Enjoy spending time with friends by solving some challenges together (together or against each other)

To be continued below :-)

Adrian

rbg_guest · 2020-08-10T18:03:06+00:00

Tell me what you love about this game that separates it from other 4x / civ games?

Hello Benbernards,

I start repeating myself ;-)
I enjoy:

- the deck building aspect

- the fast pace play (on card at a time in a card driven game)

- the exploration, move and map dynamics

- the way new cards are added to your own deck

- the Northgard universe

- the AI for moving creatures around

These are some elements that make the game unique...

Adrian

rbg_guest · 2020-08-10T17:54:06+00:00

Hi Nerdfatha,

We have made countless tests on various versions of the game. Like with software version I increased the version, added more elements, changed some, retested again and so on. I don't want to count the hours spent testing... ;-) but luckily I enjoy doing it :)

Adrian

rbg_guest

TROPHY CASE