Oravet. “Humans vs. Zombies at the Library: Gauging the Impact of Live Action Gaming Events on Students' Library Use and Perceptions

Oravet. “Humans vs. Zombies at the Library: Gauging the Impact of Live Action Gaming Events on Students' Library Use and Perceptions
This article describes how a game of Humans vs. Zombies was adapted for and set in the
Ralph Brown Draughon Library at Auburn University and how it affected students perceptions
of the library and weather or not it was a good use of library resources to host an event like this.
For this event, they designed a survey for participants to take immediately after playing the game
and for two weeks after playing the game. The study found that not only did students positive
perceptions of library increase, with most of them stating that the would return to the library more
frequently and that events like the one hosted where a good way to make connections, but that
these feelings persisted in the follow up survey two weeks later.

For this study, Oravet worked with the library staff to adapt the game for the library space.
The rules of the game were mostly the same, with the only differences being that two sets of stairs
were designated “safe zones” and the implementation of a “one foot on the ground” rule to
minimize jumping and other disruptive behaviors. The game was also changed from being one
long session to three twenty minute rounds. As for the survey, it was comprised of 17 questions
witch related to demographic information, previous use of the library, and future use of the library.
After publicizing the event, over 200 students registered to play. When the day of the game game,
150 of these students showed up to play. Of these 150 students, 126 students responded to the
survey after the game and 40 of them responded to the email survey sent two weeks later. The
survey reported that students already had positive views of the library before the event, and that
the event increased the positive perception. Furthermore, 50% of the students participating felt like
they would use the library more often in the future for studying and felt more comfortable asking
the library staff for help. These numbers were more or less the same across the board in the follow
up survey two weeks later.

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