Library Voice

As video games become more and more complex, it can become even more difficult to finish games. Also, with so many great titles available to play, it’s very easily to get distracted and buy other games before finishing the one you’re playing. 1UP.com asks Why Don’t People Finish Games Any More and Kotaku asks if gamers finish every game they buy.

The 1Up article addresses several reasons for why people don’t finish games:

• Time: The same gamers who grew up during the Nintendo era no longer has extensive amounts of free time to play games. In other words, “the rent has to be paid and the baby has to be changed.”
• Money: Those same gamers can afford to buy more games, so they’re likely to buy additional games before they finish the ones they’re playing.
• Game disappointment: There can be a variety of factors that cause a player to quit playing a game. The game may suddenly get ridiculously difficult and the player may get frustrated. The player may no longer be drawn to the story. The story may not be progressing as quickly as necessary to keep the gamer interested. Finally, the gameplay may just get plain redundant and boring.
• A not-so-grand finale: According to 1Up, “It’s a grimly accepted fact that videogame endings usually suck.” Gamers are likely to feel cheated if they beat the final boss and the ending is lackluster.
• Leveling up can be a grind: In other words, in order to strengthen your character enough to be able to beat the next boss, you often have to spend hours grinding your way through levels acquiring skills and points. This can be particularly tedious and very time consuming.

The Kotaku article is more of a question, and has been answered by nearly 700 commenters. Here’s a few thoughts from the contributors:

This Friday I am giving the sophomore business clusters and orientation to business research and resources, as I do at the beginning of every quarter.  Some of the research topics are easier than others for a librarian to teach.  In general, the larger the industry (automobile, airlines, retail, music) the easier it is to use business databases to find the necessary information.  Likewise, it’s generally easier to teach the students how to use the necessary databases if they have topics that will actually work with them.

This quarter, the first project is the social networking industry.  Needless to say, you can’t exactly find company financials for Facebook in Hoover’s since it is a private company, and the most appropriate NAICS classification for the industry is “Internet Content Providers.”  I’ve got a few ideas of places to go for articles, but I thought I would ask other experts in social networking (my fellow librarians) where they might look for information.  The project description is below, and I would love to show my students how librarians used a social software (this blog) to do research on the social networking industry.  Please leave a comment below if you’d like to help out.  This will also be cross-posted on my Business Blog.

Your team is to conduct extensive research on the history, current condition, and future of the social networking industry.  You are expected to make extensive use of library as well as internet resources for this study.  PLEASE REMEMBER:  It is always our expectation that you back up your findings with the data found in your research, and that you make EXPLICIT REFERENCE to numbers where necessary.

In particular, you will answer the following questions:

1.    How do social networking firms make money?
2.    Two of the main competitors in this field are facebook.com and myspace.com.  Which one stands the best chance of winning this competitive battle?
3.    Other than the threat they pose to each other, what is the biggest threat these two organizations face?

Each observation or recommendation you make must be substantiated by the research you conduct, with clear justifications provided in all cases.

Steven Bell writes on the ACRLog:

If staying fit and exercising regularly are important to your lifestyle, it pays to be an academic librarian. If this is one of the benefits you have as an academic librarian, give some thought to putting it to good use.

In the post, Steven looks at the results of the ALA’s Library Workplace Wellness survey.  He writes that while the results for academic librarians look good, it would be ideal if more academic librarians would take advantage of their campus wellness initiatives.

I agree with Steven on this one, and I do my best to use our staff/faculty exercise facility almost every day.  My employer offers memberships to a staff facility called Wellworks for a very reasonable price.  Wellworks is in close proximity to the library, so I am able to get down to the gym and work out during my lunch break.   Since I have two kids, the most convenient time for me to take time for exercise is on my lunch break.   I can generally get to the gym, get a good 30-minute workout in, shower, and be back at my desk in an hour.  Granted, I would love to spend more time down there, but I generally make the most of my 30 minutes with a pretty vigorous routine.  This is often one of the few times where it pays to be folicularly challenged, as I don’t have to worry about drying my hair after the shower.

Like most exercisers and New Year’s resoluters, my exercise participation can often have ebbs and flows.  Since the first of January, I’ve stayed pretty much on course with my routine.  During most weeks I have been able to get to the gym at least 3-4 times during the workweek.  Going at lunch is really nice, and once you start to get a rhythm you start seeing the same people on a regular basis.  The lunchtime camaraderie can actually encourage you not to miss the next workout.  I find that on days that I miss my workout, I’m a little more edgy and not nearly as relaxed.  I also find that if I miss my workout, I wind up not taking a lunch break at all, as I’m more inclined to eat my sandwich at my desk.  So for me, getting my daily dose of exercise is not only for my physical health, but for my mental health as well.

I’m fortunate that I have an employer who offers a workout facility, and I am really thankful that I am able to go exercise at lunch.  If you have a facility near your library, I encourage you to check it out and try working out a few days a week for a couple of months.  Hopefully you’ll enjoy taking time for yourself and get away from the daily grind, while helping your physical and mental health.

WordPress 2.5 was just released yesterday. The upgrade is as easy as ever, and it includes some really cool features. It includes a new gallery feature, which I’m hoping will be useful on my family blogs. For some of the features of the new version, take a look at this video. Maybe this version comes with a little extra motivation to blog more.

Update: After updating two other blogs, I realized that something is wrong with the Image/Media uploader in WordPress 2.5.  The folks at WordPress are aware of the issue.

I just got a PlayStation Portable right after Christmas.  I’m looking to right a full review of my experiences pretty soon, but let me just say that I love the handheld.  The PSP is great little console, and the number of quality games is starting to pick up.   To help you decide on the best games for the system, GamePro has a list of the 21 Best Games for the PSP.

Fortune has published an interview with Steve Jobs. I’d definitely recommend looking at it for understanding what makes the CEO of one of the world’s most admired companies tick. Librarians might even be able to learn a thing or two.  Some excepts are below:

On market research:

“We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants. The only consultants I’ve ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway’s retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products. “

On work:

We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we’ve chosen to do with our life. We could be sitting in a monastery somewhere in Japan. We could be out sailing. Some of the [executive team] could be playing golf. They could be running other companies. And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it. And we think it is.

On management:

My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects. And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be.

I’ve had a meebo widget running for about a year and a half now, and for the most part, it is an incredibly useful tool.  The widget is wonderful because you can embed it in a variety of places.  Like here, or here, or here, or here.  For virtual reference, the meebo widget is a very effective tool for students and patrons to reach a librarian.  However, you may have the occasional patron who stops by your site and goes nuts for some reason or another.  I suppose the concept of anonymity can be misused and may even be empowering to some. I just got back from my lunch-time workout and found the following:

I apologize if  the language  this person used offends you.  Honestly, it offended and angered me, but writing this post has helped me feel a little better.  I felt that I should share this so that others could see that with advances in technology, you sometimes have to take the good and the bad.  I pray that this person has gotten this out of his system, and now will only spread joy to those around him for the rest of the day.