Hi there!Look at that nice lady in her nice dress at her nice vintage computer….

 

Anyway, hope you’re evening is going well, though it feels morel like winter than summer (ugh)! Today’s post is well about games. Computer Games. And other Games. Oh and also about a conference I attended about Games (sort of).

I’m a gamer at heart, always have been and always will be. Final Fantasy 7 is my favourite game ever (and in my opinion the best game ever made. Ever). I’m very interested in how game mechanics can be used to enhance, improve or develop meaningful visitor engagement. This can be through online games, games in galleries/museums and how low budget games can be effective as well as high budget digital games.

I just had to include a screen shot from Final Fantasy 7. Cid is one of my favourite characters. And he loves tea. Nuff’ said.

The conference I attended was hosted by the University of Ulster and the UKMCG. The event was called #MCGPlay and had speakers from the University of Ulster, Tate Kids, Wellcome Collection as well as local people who work with digital media/games etc who are based in N. Ireland.

There were numerous talks by members from the above named institutions and I was able to take away a lot of stuff to use in my own practice in how I approach things in my museum job. It was interesting to know that even in 2013 the uptake of social media in N. Irish museums is relatively small.

This unfortunately down to people misunderstanding the fact that you don’t need a computer genius to work facebook, twitter, youtube etc. It’s quite sad to see museums that I love with no twitter feed or even think it’s necessary! But that’s another topic for another time.

I won’t go into detail about what everyone was speaking about as this is more a review of what I thought of the conference. I will say however that attending the conference is one of the best things I have ever did for my career.

I have got to meet some amazing people working with museums and heritage. This conference has lead to a group of young museum professionals in Northern & Southern Ireland setting up a museum professionals network. We plan to have #drinkingaboutmuseums, #musesocials, tweet-ups etc!

You can join the group here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/629541437074026/

I shall end this post with a quote below. Though I think the conference attendee’s may only get this reference:

 ‘No more Chocolate covered Broccoli!’