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WHERE AND HOW CAN IT BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE LIBRARY?
While Gamers Universe was a large-scale event, our Chicago Teen Gamers Guild hosted lead up events at local branches to test their program design concepts. In this way Gamers Universe/CTGG can be a large or smaller scale program. The lead up events included cosplay workshops, gaming showcases, game tournaments and playtesting for a teen created escape room game. For us, the most important part of the process was to form the Guild in order to help guide and provide an authentic youth voice to the planning and implementation of the convention. The Guild provided teens a space to combine their diverse backgrounds and interests both in and outside of gaming culture, as well as leadership opportunities.
In order to form the Guild, we opened up applications to Chicago high school students and conducted interviews focused on their gaming interests. We hired and paid 8 teens for the school year November-December. It was important to us to pay the teens for their work so they could prioritize both the project and their education in the after school hours. Teens met twice a week, once in person and once virtually. We also used Discord as a communication platform and offered asynchronous work hours to give teens more flexibility and compensate them for their work outside of meeting times.
The project was led by 5 teen librarians from various branches across the city of Chicago in order to provide teens full support and to make sure branch and neighborhood concerns were integrated into the process.
WHAT EQUIPMENT, FACILITIES OR EXPERTISE CAN BE FOUND OR NEEDED?
CPL as a whole has a library of board and video games that we used to provide an array of programming as well as tools for creating clothing that we used for supporting cosplay programs. We used our own central library for the convention as we have a large amount of event space.
We also reached out to many community partners in order to make Gamers Universe happen including:
• Local game developers
• Local gaming businesses (e.g. escape rooms, gaming lounges)
• Local universities with game development and/or esports programs
Our most successful partnership was with DePaul University. We were able to offer workshops by professors and showcase student created games.
Video game equipment (consoles + controllers) was harder to source. We used equipment that we had at the library, but it was not enough to meet the demand. During our lead-up events we connected with a company that rents video game equipment to conventions and e-sports events. They offered to provide game equipment for future events as an in-kind donation since we are a public institution. We recommend seeking out companies like this. While not all will be so generous, they will have access to all of the equipment needed to provide full access to multiple working game systems.
WHAT EXPERIENCES AND FEEDBACK HAVE BEEN GAINED?
The response from the convention was extremely positive. Around 350 people attended Gamers Universe. Many patrons were surprised and impressed by the fact that the convention was youth organized and planned. We saw a large number of families attend the convention who remarked on the positive and safe atmosphere for youth of all ages.
The Chicago Teen Gamer Guild teens were able to reflect on the experience after the convention. While they spoke about the stress they felt to make everything run perfectly, and the pressure of high attendance, they all felt they had learned something new. They related how they were proud of their accomplishments including problem solving under pressure, improvising and helping patrons navigate new experiences. They felt particularly good about coming together in the moment to overcome technical challenges and changing their approach when patrons took an unexpected approach to an activity. Because we saw a large number of tweens (8-12 year olds), the teens had to adjust their expectations in the moment and in so doing, gained experience mentoring and scaffolding activities to the younger age group. Seeing the excitement and joy of so many attendees, who often gave them positive feedback directly really enhanced their sense of accomplishment.
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