By Danielle Costello
Twitch has been a thrilling new venture for GameRT this Fall. We began with the idea that we’d like to offer more for our membership. Events that, while informative, would be a different experience from our Webinar or Learn & Plays. Twitch as a platform makes sense for this type of unique programming with several benefits such as being easily accessible as well as a place where a large variety of gaming content is already being made.
While a logical step as a platform there are new technologies to explore and the learning curve has been quite the journey. We have definitely experienced our share of technical mishaps and high stress scrambles. However, if we can figure out Twitch for ourselves as a round table we can share that knowledge with our membership and any other round tables that would like to experiment on the platform. We’re looking forward to the challenge.
Our program creation has in part been geared toward expanding on what was already popular from our Webinars and Learn & Plays. TTRPG content in particular has been asked for consistently by our membership. So, we created the live play series Low Stress High Mayhem as a way of digging into smaller generally lesser known rpgs and really showcasing how a play session might go. Not only will membership be able to see the rpgs in play they’ll also be able to do some of the playing themselves.
The second series, Round Table Round Table (R2T2), was created because honestly we’re so often busy hosting or programming that we don’t get enough time to talk about games, librarianship, or the theory underpinning our ventures. This series exists to build space for us as a round table to talk about these ideas together. A space for us to dig into and be excited for all our favorite (and frustrating) things about games and gaming in the library. As we progress hopefully we’ll also be able to bring in partners throughout the field of game design and play who are just as excited to delve into these ideas.
Our final series LAG: Librarians Attempt Games was created to build more content for librarians that are working with or would like to work with video games. Twitch seemed the natural fit for this as there were already a lot of folks creating actual plays on the platform. What’s unique about our program is that while we’re figuring out the game we’re also going to try to figure out how we can bring these games into the library.
Going forward our goals are to be innovative and informative but also to have a great deal of fun along the way. Twitch is a new way that GameRT can connect with you, our membership, as well as a new way to connect our industry partners and community patrons. A virtual third space to showcase all the brilliant things libraries and librarians have to offer. Thank you for joining us on this venture we’re so excited to play!
Game RT Twitch Channel: https://bit.ly/TwitchGameRT
Danielle Costello is a reference and instruction librarian for Louisiana State University where she teaches library instruction and develops library programming. She is a member at large for the Games and Gaming Round Tables and the new Co-Chair for GameRT’s Events Programing. Her research interest lay in the benefits of gaming for higher ed, the role play in learning, the use of games in instruction, and the incorporation of games into outreach and community building.