| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Video Games  Video-Physical Units

Page history last edited by Kim Miller 13 years ago

Original Question, SDC Responses

 

Original Question (2/7/11):

 

Bruce Pomerantz (MN)

 

What are people’s thoughts concerning whether video games fit into the Video-Physical Units category? 

 

Minnesota has an “All Other Physical Objects” category (read: miscellaneous) which is where I instructed the library to place its collection.  However, the Video-Physical Units doesn’t exclude interactive games even though we were probably not thinking in terms of interactive video games. Additionally, how do we define interactive?  Is it interactive to have the option of viewing on a DVD the movie theater version but also decide whether or not to see out-takes, explanations on how a scene was accomplished, alternative endings, the director’s cut, commentaries by the actors, etc? Or interactive occur only when actions by the viewer/player affect the subsequent developments?  (Am I getting close to associating the library reports with quantum mechanics viz Schrodinger’s Cat?)

 

One might argue that having options on a DVD is no different than having the interactive options of reading portions of a book or the entire book. However, a book and a video are not the same medium so I reject that argument.

________________________________

 

SDC Comments: 

 

Scott Dermont (IA)

I see video games as a very different medium from DVD/video. Watching a video is a distinctly non-interactive activity. Choosing to watch different parts of a DVD is not the same as the interactivity found in a game – it is more like changing the channel. To me a print analogy would be the difference between playing Monopoly and reading a book. Or to keep it as an electronic example, playing the WII version of Monopoly is a very different experience and format to watching the Special Edition DVD on the manufacturing of the Monopoly game. No matter how much content there is on DVD, there is no interactivity other than that of changing to a new track. A video game a distinct format that is separate from either audio or video recordings.

 

In Iowa we have a separate “other” category where we ask libraries to report things like this. I would definitely have our libraries count video games as an “other” rather than a video.

______________

 

Lauren Gage (RI)

Rhode Island specifies an "Other" category for both the amount spent and what those items are, as well.  They range from puppets to computer software to microfilm.  I agree with Scott that a video game is much more interactive than a DVD, even if the DVD does include some level of interactivity. 

______________

 

Daria Bossman (SD)

I will weigh-in with Scott and choose to keep it simple with the use of our “other” category. 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.