Random Thoughts on the Topic

I have three kids. My life is spent monitoring who gets to play which electronic game at what time. We call the games "screens" at our house, as in "You better shape up or you will lose screens for the rest of the day!" I spend a lot of time wondering why my boys are so obsessed with GameCube. Are you surprised that I know the Zelda theme song? And the one from SuperMario Sunshine? No wonder I am feeling a little dumb being back in grad school, when my life consists of talking about what level you are on and which boss you want to beat today (This will sound like a foreign language to you if you don't have preteens.), and playing Polly Pockets. Don't laugh, my brain is mush.

So my instructor suggests the theme of gaming in libraries for a blog for our class. WHAT?!?! Kids are allowed to play these games even in the library now? Is there no escape? But I start thinking about it (since this is obviously the perfect topic for me), and asking myself why a library would think gaming is a good idea in a library?

This leads me to lots of other questions: What exactly defines a library? A building with books? But there are videos/DVDs now and we all seem to think that is a valid thing to lend. A community gathering place? Why NOT games? Could there be intrinsic value to them? Are they teaching my kids something?

I do see things they learn. My middle son learned to read faster because he had to read to play GameBoy games. They learn to cooperate. When they are playing, they put themselves in the place of the character and lose themselves in it. Sound familiar? Like when we read a really great novel?