Bringing My Passion To The Basement: Britt LaRiviere

Britt LaRiviere - Library Specialist, The Basement Lead

In March, my position at UTA Libraries transitioned to leading The Basement, a new gaming space at the Central Library which features high end PC’s, gaming consoles both new and old, AR and VR, as well as table top gaming. This space can be used for both leisure and also game development. It opened in the Fall of 2019 and by Fall of 2020 I’m aiming to enhance the space even more. I was very excited to take on this role because of my background with gaming.

Growing up I was always passionate about video games. In 2008, during my Junior year at UTA, I turned my passion into something charitable. I created a group called “TheSpeedGamers” which live streams video games on the internet  for viewers to watch, chat and participate in. During these streams, we raise money for different charitable causes such as St. Jude’s and Direct Relief. The streams function similarly to a telethon but with a gaming/reality show twist. During our broadcasts we are live for up to 168 hours straight doing a mix of stunts such as eating spicy foods and game play commentary. Working on these broadcasts has helped me sharpen my technical skills to improve the quality of our streams. It has also strengthened my love for video games and helping others.

This week and into the weekend I’m helping fellow streamers with a St. Jude event called Play Live. COVID-19 has also affected live streaming by turning what was once conventions and weekend meet up streams into remote events. This has introduced new technical limitations for our events that has led us to do creative problem solving.

I’ve used this time while the Libraries is closed to the public to Sketchup (3D Model) the space and mock up improvements and changes. My gaming background has helped me with The Basement by giving me a strong vision for the space. I’ve been able to combine both the technical things that I have learned by broadcasting and my knowledge in video games and its culture. Over the 12 years that I have been doing TheSpeedGamers I have helped build a community of video game enthusiasts and people who want to help contribute to charitable causes. The community aspect is my favorite part of doing the events and it gives me an opportunity to think creatively to help connect others. I look forward to connecting others in The Basement and debuting all of its new additions once we reopen.