The librarian John Scalzo has posted a thoughtful look back at a year in loaning games for free. While such an option is already available in many UK libraries (perhaps for a couple of quid, rather than completely for free), no one else that I am aware of has documented so thoroughly what the gameplaying public actually plays, based upon actual behaviour. Sure, there are plenty of extrapolations based upon crunched statistics taken from carefully-worded surveys, but this is a great, honest-to-goodness sample and analysis from visitors to the local book loaner.
Of the 77 titles which the library had, only one was damaged to the point of no playability. Four were stolen outright, with the perpetrators foolishly trying to sell them down at their local games emporium without taking the library stickers off (Gran Turismo 4, WWE Smackdown Vs Raw, Lego Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age), and the four most regularly borrowed but "lost" were NFL 2K5, Van Helsing, Alias and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. The ones that were borrowed most regularly were:
1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2 (tie). Spider-Man 2 2 (tie). Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 2 (tie). Scaler 5. Men in Black II: Alien Escape 6 (tie). Viewtiful Joe 6 (tie). Tony Hawk's Underground 2 6 (tie). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 9 (tie). Katamari Damacy 9 (tie). Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Scalzo has a very thoughtful assessment of what the public wants:
Licensed games, sports titles and franchise titles rule the day. It's what people know and want. But I have also found that it doesn't really matter what we have on the shelf. If it's there, someone will check it out. Perennial unknown classic Beyond Good & Evil and side scrolling shooter Gradius V are numbers 11 and 12 on that list. When all you see is roughly three to seven games on the shelf at any one time building a "quality" collection takes a back seat to building a bigger collection. But the added bonus is that people may play something that they never would have before. Never underestimate the lure of the word FREE.
I think the key statements are "I have also found that it doesn't really matter what we have on the shelf. If it's there, someone will check it out," and "the added bonus is that people may play something that they never would have before." So why are companies so opposed to the resale market? Surely that would get more of their products appreciated by a wider audience. But I digress. I'll let the ever-eloquent Alice do the campaigning for me.
Unfortunately, the loans aren't broken down by gender, age, race or other demographic, but for those details from a UK perspective, you can check out the superbly comprehensive research conducted by the BBC (particularly, the aforementioned Alice) that is available for download here (pdf).
