Here's basically a transcript of my spiel. There were power point slides, but I don't have the gumption to upload those now. I apologize for the new agey humanities crud in italics, that was part of an assigned reading I had to relate this to.
I had a little trouble focusing on my work today. I track political ad spending for a living...it's a fun job, and I think it's important. However, I lost focus a little, worrying about what was waiting for me at home. I'll admit, I'm terrified. Let me explain:
In 2115, the United Nations of Earth made contact with a benign alien rise on a remote world orbiting gliese 686, a red dwarf star about 20 light years from Earth. The Gliesens are a race of insectoid organisms more interested in high philosophy than spaceflight or hard science, they get along well with humans. The trouble is, they told humanity of a far more powerful, more practical race, the Sculptor. The Sculptor have claimed every star system within 50 light years of Vega as their own, Earth falls within their dominion. The Sculptor are sentient, floating, methane-breathing amoebas who are hundreds of years more advanced than humanity. Why am I scared of them? Because humanity, in its infinite wisdom, has chosen me to help them fight this cosmic threat.
So begins a new play session of Aurora, possibly the best game on the market (It's not actually on the market, it's totally free). the game is the brainchild of an internet poker millionaire named Steve Walmsley, who was frustrated with the cultural wasteland that was modern video gaming. Like many gamers, I do not like many video games. I believe the majority of video games are utter, utter trash. It annoys me that when I say "video game", most of you will imagine games like "Medal of Honor 3" or "Doom" or "World of Warcraft". I'll be blunt: These games do not interest me. Still: Most books don't interest me, I still think libraries should have them. Libraries NEED to get involved in distributing and promoting video games, even ones that you or I might consider "bad" or "trashy" or "not educational" (cause really, who are we to judge). I think that if we keep this up...we'll get more games like Aurora, and less like Medal of Honor. I'm going to walk you through my encounter with the Sculptor, and you can (hopefully) see what video games CAN be.
Earth, 2120
Look at those pictures, yeah, that's not work... that's a game. Looks more like a spreadsheet, right? It's essentially a huge multifacited database which simulates all the interesting parts of a science fiction adventure.
Those charts summarize the critical information about the star system we call "Sol": The amount of mineral isotopes on Titan, the class, heading, and condition of every starship orbiting the sun, the environment, population, and orbital velocity of every planet....the game simulates all of this. Please notice that this is a fairly accurate map of the solar system. Let me show you how crazy this game gets.
That's one (just one!) of the spaceships I control (there are hundreds of others). It is my spaceship, I designed it, every system, from the beamriding missile fire control to the warheads on the missiles to the propulsion system was custom designed by me...no other player who plays Aurora has a spaceship like this...no other player who plays Aurora will ever face the existential threat that is the Sculptor: these aliens were procedurally generated by the game's complex AI, using computer models more complicated that those used to calculate the electron spins in atoms, or the flow of fluid over the hull of the boat. The ship you're seeing there is one of many, but it has its own name, its own crew, its own commanding officer with his own biography, the game remembers all of this.
What is the objective of this game? There are no levels. There are no triggered events or creator-designed characters. There is no final boss or mission objectives. Here is my first contact with the Sculptor:
The survey-cruiser Zheng Heng, crewed by Captain Paul Westerfield, has made contact (notice this is in a different solar system, but the game simulates it as well, know also that this system was randomly generated, no other Aurora player has this system). I could begin sending phased transponder pulses at the starship, or open fire with a barrage of missiles. I could attempt to negotiate with them peacefully, or blow them out of the sky. Would either option be successful? What does the game want me to do?...I get to decide. Even if I went ballistic (pardon the pun) and destroyed every planet in the Sculptor empire, the game would not be "over"...I can play as long as I want. There would be other worlds to explore or conquer. When I started playing this game, it was the year 2025, humanity was confined to earth and the moon. the year is now 2120, humanity has colonies on 20 worlds...I have played this game for more than 1 real life year...I intend to play it much longer than this.
How does this relate to libraries? Let me show you how a video game can be a good thing, not as a hook or a time waster, but as a work of high art, like a piece of music or a dance or a great piece of literature, something libraries have a duty to promulgate and curate, not because it leads to something else, but because it is intrinsically a good thing, in its own right.
But First, lets talk about the utilitarian reasons why a library ought to offer them. Here's how video games help their users:
"Learning by Design"
"Video Games Create Empowered Learners":
My finger is on the button...the missile cruiser Winston Churchill is within firing range of the sculptor survey craft. A simple click, and any hope of peaceful negotiations is destroyed. This image represents the fire controls aboard the Churchill.
I do not know how powerful this new empire is, but I have heard rumors. A wrong move, and the world will burn...what if I don't fire? What if they fire first, and my fleet is destroyed? My commanders would all die, for one thing. Paul Westerfiel is an asset: the game has generated impressive command bonuses he gives the ship he commands, representing a lifetime of experience.
More than that, I like him, I imagine him as a real person (yeah, I'm that kind of gamer). The power is mine to send him into battle or a peaceful exchange of passive radio signals, but I need to learn a lot more before I make this decision. I imagine Westerfield pacing the bridge, while the Ordinance officer stands by, missiles armed and ready.
"Video Games demand that the user Customize and Create":
the Zhang Heng has no weapons, it's a survey ship. It is supported by the Winston Churchill, a statesman class missile cruiser with 10 missile platforms, capable of firing a barrage of 10 cheonsang missiles every 500 seconds. I'm relatively sure this missile barrage could nuke any ship in the galaxy, but I can't be certain. I designed the Winston Churchill, I decided that 10 platforms were better than 12, because that would leave room for a powerful Overlord class phased radar array (which I also designed). Such a weapon would be invaluable for detecting a potential ambush: enemy ships with low thermal emissions, lying in wait. I turn it on and pray I'm not outnumbered...
"Video Games Give Each User a Unique Identity":
I want to emphasize that this is not a story or scenario handed down, ready made, by a designer (or author). I did not make this game, but I got myself into this situation: I designed these ships, I chose where they would fly. I imagine how the ships look (the game has no graphics), I imagine Westerfield's backstory: the color of his hair and the name of his Girlfriend on Alpha Centauri. The game's random algorithms created the Sculptor, it gave them a completely unique personality. No one else who plays this game can help me understand their psychology. I am alone, facing potentially the greatest threat humanity has ever faced.... The overlord does not detect any enemy ships, but it does reveal new sensory data on the alien race I've discovered.
"Video Games Are Pleasantly Frustrating."
It took a long time to learn this game. The first spaceships I designed did not have engines, and did not fly. The trade routes between Earth and the distant colony Montecello (orbiting procyon) were initially neither profitable nor efficient. I had to do some advanced algebra to calculate the appropriate warhead for the Cheonsan missiles aboard the Winston Churchill. I don't know how many belts of armor the Sculptor ship I just detected has, I don't even know whether its a warship or a scout. If I made a mathematical error in the design of the Winston Churchill, or if I make a strategic error in the next 45 seconds, my spaceship that I spent hours designing will probably blow up. But if I succeed in either resolving this situation peacefully, or defeating a powerful enemy, it is that much more satisfying.
...Westerfield orders the Ordinance Officer aboard the Churchill to disarm all missile systems. He will send a radio signal to the alien vessel, and await a response...one minute later, the alien ship draws closer.
"Video Games Promote "Skills as Strategies" (but that's not always the point).
Aurora is a single player game...I'm alone out here. However, there is a very active online community that can give me advice. Here are some pictures of what I asked them tonight:
The Sculptor ship is freaking me out. they might be drawing closer to deploy a powerful short ranged weapon system: a plasma carronade or a battery of railguns, which would easily tear the Zhang Heng's armor apart. Aurora's community doesn't know what weapons (if any) are aboard the Sculptor ship, but they can help me prepare a number of contingencies. [NAME REMOVED] gives some of the best advice.
[NAME REMOVED] is someone I didn't know before playing this game. Paul Westerfield owes him his life. Earlier in the game, Westerfield defeated a band of space pirates aboard a ship that [NAME REMOVED] helped me improve. [NAME REMOVED]'s suggestion to vastly increase the resolution of the ship's radar (at the expense of range) allowed me to detect a bomber attack which would have destroyed the spacecraft. In designing this ship with [NAME REMOVED], I learned a lot about finite mathematics and geometry, but I learned a lot more about internet etiquette, and formed a valuable connection I will someday find very useful.This guy runs a small game design company, and I want to design video games someday. Tonight, someone on the forum tells me that my sensor readout of the Sculptor ship suggests it is large enough to be carrying a powerful weapon system, but it will likely not attack my ships without provocation. I trust these guys, but I know they could be wrong.
"Video Games Encourage System Thinking"
Are the Sculptor capable of destroying my small fleet with a single ship? Are they advanced enough to have invented cloaking devices, or some Electronic Countermeasure capable of foiling my radar arrays? Are they benevolent, paranoid, or simply mindless killing machines? If they fired now, how long would it take my EM sensor suite to detect their weapons arming? Would I have enough time to take evasive action, or would my ships be annihilated in a burst of protonic fire before I even gave an order? I imagine these thoughts are in Westefield's head, as well as my own, as he awaits a radio response. To play this game effectively, I need to understand the design of my ship, the strategic layout of the galaxy, and the possibly psychology of my opponent. It's hard work, but that's why I like it. I have to think.
"Video games embody "Meaning as Action Image"
I considered all of these things, but that wasn't why I gave the order to stand down...that wasn't why I tried to make peaceful contact before all out war. I did it because I'm a nice guy, and humanity might have a glorious future with these strange creatures. In the video game world, I can imagine myself as a dragonslayer, or an assassin, or a miner, or a con man, but at the end of the day, I prefer to imagine myself as myself (just in a grander world). I'm not the kind of guy who shoots first, it's not my code. I hope that Westerfield understands this. The Sculptor starship emits a narrow beam of radio waves...a peaceful response, or an ultimatum?
"WE COME IN PEACE?"
The message is nothing more than raw numbers. No one on the bridge of the Zheng Heng can understand it, because no human has made contact with the Sculptor before...it's a mathematical code. I will need to relay the message back to high command on Earth, where it will be picked apart by brilliant scientists and xenologists (the game simulates their background and skill levels as well). Years, perhaps decades, later, humans may understand the language of the Sculptor. All I care about now is that their ship is withdrawing. If they have weapons, they aren't using them. I order my ships to withdraw as well. This system is belongs to the Sculptor, and I will respect this. I can only hope the reciprocate, and allow humanity to remain in control of our own little corner of the galaxy. For now, at least, the situation is peaceful.
Conclusion:
This was a long talk, describing a fiendishly complicated game with no graphics and a whole lot of math. If you're playing this game right, you pick up decent knowledge of electronic warfare, astronomy, tactics, and physics. You also need patience: I designed hundreds of crappy ships before I found a fleet pattern that could adequately defend humanity from possible alien threats. To do so, I needed a large community to support me in my experiments. I took the time to explain all this because I want to emphasize that while this game teaches many valuable skills, and demonstrates that other (non-free) games can do this as well, that is not the only reason why libraries should care.
I believe video games need to be in libraries. Not just because they draw in new users or they teach astronomy, or radar physics, or math, or community building, but because the primary purpose of a library is to hold freely accessible objects that better the lives of its patrons: I believe a good public library should carry a copy of The Sign of Four or Pride and Prejudice or The Girl Who Played With Fire, I believe they should have librarians who promote these works of art, and help people access and read them, and connect with other people who enjoy them. Similarly, I believe a good library should carry a copy of The Elder Scrolls III and Minecraft and Command and Conquer and Medal of Honor. I believe a library should actively promote these games, and connect users to communities that enjoy these games.
Aurora is free. There are millions of other games that are not, among these games, there are hundreds which I believe are as culturally important as Moby Dick or The Inferno. Why are these things valuable? Because they teach valuable life skills or promote the understanding of big words? Yes, but they are also valuable because They Help us Understand Ourselves.
Tonight's encounter with the Sculptor, essentially computer-simulated floating bags of methane, helped me understand a bit more about what it means to be a human. In this sense, Aurora is as much a part of the Humanities as a song or a poem or an oil painting. I'd spend more time waxing philosophical about his, but I have something else to do: I just got word from the sensor officer aboard the Strike Carrier United Nations that several starships of unknown origin, possibly warships, were detected crossing the frontier from uncharted space.
Gotta go.
