ALA/Verizon Libraries, Literacy, and Gaming Grant: A Winner Are We!

About a month ago, the American Library Association (ALA), in partnership with Verizon, named the winners of the Libraries, Literacy, and Gaming grant.  Out of 390 applicants, 10 libraries were chosen to receive $5,000 to create programs that will use games (video or otherwise) to help kids and teens learn how to use technology, think critically and creatively, and explore concepts in a hands-on manner.

I am proud to say that Wayne County Public Library, my employer, was one of the 10 libraries.  I am equally proud to say that I was the primary author of the grant proposal and will serve as Project Coordinator on our grant-funded project: Play Me a Story, a series of programs that use games as a springboard for creating narratives.

It’s going to be a great year for libraries as the ten grant winners implement their programs.  It’s also going to be a great year for gamers.  With libraries embracing games as a way to teach, the non-gaming public will (hopefully) begin to appreciate video games as something more than a recreational pursuit, and will see the educational value of good, old-fashioned play.

I want to thank the great team I have to work with at Wayne County Public Library (names withheld because I don’t have their permission and it’s way too late to call them) and the great experts giving us their advice and guidance throughout this initiative (WARNING–SHAMELESS NAME-CHECK: Beth Gallaway, Dale Lipschultz, Eli Neiburger, Scott Nicholson, plus a bunch of others).  I want to give a special wave to my friend and guild leader  Liz Danforth.

By the way, let me say again: 10 winners out of 390 applicants.  Pretty freakin’ mind-blowing.  It’s like going through Left 4 Dead on Expert without dying.

A Chat With Brookelyn from the Frag Dolls

I recently had a chance to sit down with (well, e-mail anyway) the lovely Brooke Hattabaugh, better known as Brookelyn, from Ubisoft’s Frag Dolls.  The Frag Dolls are a group of girl gamers who not only promote the games of Ubisoft but–more importantly–the role of women in the gaming community and industry.  They go around to tournaments and gaming conferences and prove that girls can indeed game–because, sadly, some dudes still need proof.

Brookelyn is a competitive gamer (meaning she can kick my butt, your butt, and probably her own butt if she tried hard enough) who most enjoys Rainbow Six 3 and its various expansions, World of Warcraft, and Galaga.  She once spent two months playing Rainbow Six 3 for 8 hours day, or living what I like to call “the good life.”  Check out her full bio here.

When she recently gave fans a chance to interview her via Twitter, she was nice enough to answer a few questions I fired off to her.

What is your favorite video game and why?

I hate this question, only because I find it impossible to pick only one.  There was been so many great games released in the 27 years I’ve been alive.  I will list two that has made the biggest impression in my life.  1. Rainbow Six 3- This was the first FPS (First Person Shooter) I played that brought out the competitive side in me, as far as gaming goes.  From the very first match on Xbox Live, I knew I wanted to compete professionally for a living.

World of Warcraft- For so many years, I wouldn’t give MMO’s a time of day.  I thought anything that wasn’t arcade or a first person shooter was underneath me. Silly, I know!  Once I started playing World of Warcraft, I felt that I had been missing out for years.  I always knew I had an addiction personality, but it was this game that feed all my addictions in one sitting.

Nintendo:  turned their back on the hardcore gamer, or generating new interest in gaming and creating what will one day be a new crop of hardcore gamers?

Honestly, I never thought of Nintendo as a console for hardcore gamers, but that’s just my opinion.  My Wii only comes out when hosting a party or just wanting to do some casual gaming.  I feel guilty for saying this, but it collects a lot of dust.  It’s all about what you started competing on; I started with Xbox and have yet to move on competitively from it.  I do know Super Smash Bro was big in the Major League Circuit, it was the first time I had ever seen people compete on the Game Cube.

Will a price drop for the Sony PS3 help out Sony by expanding their base?

Probably, it’s all about what is affordable now a days.  I know firsthand that price has been a deciding factor for the games I have chose to play in the past.  I didn’t buy Halo until it was in the sale bin.

A price drop won’t hurt.  They need to do something, because it seems it’s all about Xbox lately.  Or maybe it’s just me, because I’m a little blind to anything other than Xbox games.  I did beat KillZone 2 the other day; it was the first FPS I have ever played on my PS3.  PS3 fans are going to kill me, but I usually only watch Blu Rays on it.  Interesting fact- I purchased triggers for the PS3 controller the other day; something about pushing a button to shoot always rubbed me the wrong away.

So there you go.  I can sympathize with Brookelyn about the “favorite game” question: I get that a lot, especially from my non-gamer friends, and I proceed to give them a long list of games and reasons why I like them.  It does seem like, however, one of those questions you have to ask–kind of like asking an author about their favorite books.

I thank Brookelyn for taking the time to answer my questions.  I’ve always thought that the Frag Dolls were pretty cool, and giving others a chance to talk to them directly and not through some vague “submit a question here” web form just reinforces that.  I would like to interview Brookelyn, along with the rest of the Frag Dolls, in more depth one day.  As I said earlier, this was a spur-of-the-moment thing on Twitter.

Check out the rest of the Dolls here, and if you have Tom Clancy’s HAWX for Xbox 360 they will be on Live tomorrow, March 27, from 6-8 PST to kindly mop the floor with you.