GAMERT (Gaming) Round Table

I have about 200 PC games that we are considering adding to our collection.

Is anyone circulating PC games? What best practices do you use for collecting and circulating these games? What do you do with the keycode if it has one? Do you have to worry if it has a EULA? If you are circulating PC games, what issues have you encountered?

(None of these games require authentication through Steam. That is another issue that is vexing to say the least!)

Thanks,
Diane

We circulate CD-Roms of various natures (mostly educational ones). If they have a key code that code is taped to the inside of the case and I think our bibliographic services department keep track of what code goes with which item in case the case is lost. In general we don't have too many issues with it, other than discs being scratched and liner notes being lost. We do put a disclaimer on them that the library district is not responisble for damage done to patron machines. I know we've gotten away from purchasing CD-roms because of budget cuts (they don't circulate that well unless they are popular, and then those tend to get checked out and never returned) but they had to fall within our existing collection development policy, and like I said they were mostly educational in nature (Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, etc, though we did have Lego Star Wars for a while!) Most games these days that my husband plays you can just download to your computer from the Internet, which is a whole different issue that as far as I know we're not looking at as an option for the library.

While it won't be an issue on most CD-based games (because ones on CD rather than DVD tend to be older), some of them may still suffer from a CD key issue if patrons want to play the games online.  A number of them (such as Starcraft, Diablo and the like) only allow one online account per CD key, which makes it impossible for any user to play at the same time as another user with the same CD key.  Since patrons could install and/or copy the discs, that could come up.  Online play is often a perk on those older games, though, rather than an integral component of gameplay, so it would still allow them to experience the full story (if one exists).

Newer games sometimes require an "always-on" internet connection, even if they're not digitally-managed through services like STEAM.  Most of the Electronic Arts ones require an Origins account, while others just require that you remain connected to their servers for as long as you're playing.  EULA notwithstanding, I think that could be one of the biggest difficulties in loaning them out (and it's why stores that sell second-hand games, such as Gamestop, generally don't buy/sell PC titles).

Most of the games I have are older. I think about half will require CD keys but none require STEAM.

We have STEAM available on three PCs here in our library, but our students use their own accounts to access their own games. We have a bit of trouble with dual authentication (through STEAM and Microsoft, etc.) but so far no one has really complained. I had World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo III loaded for awhile but the firewall at our university did not like them so I am removing them. I am attempting to get League of Legends loaded. (Everything we load has to go through contracts first so it can take awhile.) We are slowly inching forward a bit with our PC games.

--diane