The Journal

Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Laila Wessel Junior animation major Tim Latham experiences his first visit to Room 126, the game room of Webster University's Emerson Library. Fellow classmates had informed him of the room. Interactive digital media instructors encourage students to use the room to gain exposure to a variety of interactive media.

A university's library should contain a number of resources to aid students in their education, and Webster University's is no exception. The Emerson Library is filled with books, periodicals, movies, films and … video games.

Yes, even video games hold an important role in the world of academia at WU - enough to merit an entire room in the Emerson Library for gaming.

The game room holds a number of gaming systems, like a PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo Game Cube and Nintendo Wii. A large flat-panel LCD HD television and surround sound accompany the systems in Room 126.

The concept of a game room was originally conceived by Joel Johnson, assistant professor in the electronic and photographic media department, when he came up with the game theory and design class - or "the gaming class" - at WU. As he began the class, he realized he had to have a place for students to "study." The library was very receptive to
the idea.

Students who take the class are encouraged to use the game room for their class assignments. Johnson gives assignments that have to do with different games he knows are available in the library.

"It gets quite a bit of use," said Rick Kaeser, a document delivery and audio-visual representative at the library. "Students use the games the library currently has, and they bring their own, too."

The original idea for the class came to Johnson at a conference where a presentation was being given on the game "Duke Nukem."

"The presentation was all about the violence in games and the bad effects they have," Johnson said. "They didn't even know what 'gamers' called themselves, they didn't know anything about gaming - yet they were giving a presentation
on it."

Academics are critiquing games without ever "gaming" themselves, he said.

Continued...

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