The Transition to Virtual

Milaun Murry – Experiential Learning Librarian

Arlingcon is a pop-culture convention that is held every summer in Arlington, TX. Co-hosted by Arlington Public Libraries and UTA Libraries, it gives residents of the Arlington and surrounding areas an opportunity to share their fandoms, engage with like-minded individuals, and explore new technologies, ideas and works of art. Traditionally, Arlingcon is hosted on the UT Arlington campus using the entirety of the E.H. Hereford University Center (UC) which boasts over 200,000 sq/ft of space. It provides plenty of rooms to host individual panels, workshops and vendor/exhibitor halls. Arlingcon 2019 attracted over 3,000 guests to the UTA campus and our numbers for 2020 were predicted to increase.

Midway through the planning phase for Arlingcon 2020 the planning committee came to the realization that hosting a traditional on-site convention was unrealistic due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There were many plans that UTA Libraries had hoped to implement this year that would provide guests with more exposure to games and technology through dedicated spaces and workshops. Transitioning that to a virtual environment was going to be a challenge but one that we thought would be beneficial to our long term organizational goals.

There were a few specific outcomes that we aimed to meet:

• Provide guests with experiential learning opportunities that taught a transferrable skill around game development
• Develop virtual programming that was engaging and encouraged live interaction from guests
• Build on our relationship with the community

 I personally feel that we exceeded our own expectations in the end. For comparison, our original on-site plans included a gaming room complete with the latest console games (PS4, Xbox One, Switch), some of the top VR technology, several workshops on game development, table top gaming tournaments and panels on diversity in gaming. There were many things that, logistically, we couldn’t do in the amount of time we had left. But the programming we did create was well received.

• Basics of Game Development Workshop
• Game Development Workshop: Storytelling
• Game Tank: An Indy Game Showcase
• Trivia Raffles
• Cosplay Photos & Tutorials
• Professional Wrestling in North Texas Panel

With the exception of the storytelling workshop and cosplay tutorials, the programs were facilitated live during the event. The wrestling panel was well attended and touched on a subculture in North Texas that is often overlooked. With a panel consisting of owners or wrestlers from the local area, including a UTA alum, we explored the history of the industry in the region. This particular event received over 400 views during the course of the convention and may have cemented professional wrestling as a represented subculture at future Arlingcons.

The Basics of Game Development workshop was one that presented the most interesting challenge. Traditionally, the hands on component of this workshop involves creating a rudimentary game with a group based on the foundational elements learned. Finding a way to separate participants into groups, ensure that they could communicate with one another on the project, and present to the group as a whole within the available time was a daunting task.

The first question, how could we teach guests about the fundamentals of game development in a way that involves active participation and reflection in a virtual environment? The second, how could we do this in a third of the time that we normally would?

We knew that the time constraints would prevent us from creating games from scratch and were concerned about having enough time to present the final products. Part of the original solution was hosting a “Game Tank” that invited participants to submit the games that they created during our workshop. There were a few hours break between our workshop and the Game Tank event so we hoped that some might use the time to create a game. After further consideration we realized that we didn’t want participants to have to do the activity independently.

So, we chose a different approach, remove the independent work and develop a group activity that focused on a single game. How do we reduce the time of the hands-on activity while still teaching the fundamentals with a focus on experiential learning? All in a virtual environment. We limit the number of creation options available to those that best illustrate the learning topics. We opted to choose a popular game that had an easy to recognize board and rules as the base for our group project, Monopoly. From there we identified the game fundamentals that were present and best illustrated the points we thought were most important:

• Theme & Aesthetics (Fantasy, Pirate, Ghost, Cowboy)
• Rules & Mechanics (Chance/Chest Cards, Board spaces)
• Aboutness

In an open, collaborative conversation we invited participants to suggest changes in the different areas. Some were presented as questions with multiple choice options, like the theme, to expedite the process. Others were completely open with random suggestions and ideas being thrown from every direction. As each decision was made we facilitated active discussion to identify how the decisions would change the game into something completely different. By the end of the process we were able to develop a pirate themed game called “Aaaargh!!!” that highlighted the cutthroat nature of pirates that is displayed in our favorite films/books. We were even able to demo the game live during our Game Tank program. The team involved in that program was so impressed with the final product that we have decided to take the time to finish making the game for our library patrons to enjoy. If you enjoy watching your enemies’ ships be swept away by natural disasters or lured into giving up their gold to the local siren, this game is for you. Just be careful to not walk the plank. Sound anything like Monopoly?

I was beyond pleased with the outcome of all of our programming and the programming provided by our counterparts, Arlington Public Libraries. The community partnerships that they built and the programs that they facilitated helped created an amazing con experience for the guests. At the end of the weekend more than 4000 guests had engaged with the Arlingcon event page. There are high hopes that next year we can host Arlingcon on campus again but, at the very least, this experience has proven that there is a way to create a meaningful and engaging experience in a virtual environment.

Team Reflections

Alessia – Community and Engagement Outreach Specialist

Arlingcon 2020 was a unique and exciting experience. While the Covid crisis may have put some restrictions on the ways in which we offered this event to the community, all of the participants were the real reason it was truly special.

We had some technical difficulties at the beginning. Contrary to what I had expected, Facebook’s platform is not the same across it’s platforms. For the opening ceremony, we struggled to stream jointly between Arlington Public Library and UTA Libraries, so that we could both welcome all of the participants to the beginning of Arlingcon. It came down to a difference of options across the different phones, computers, and apps that we were all using. This wasn't something we could anticipate, since Facebook SHOULD have a "invite a friend to stream" option when going live, but it was just a good learning experience. 

Aside from this little tech issue, the con was amazing. With everything going on, we had all agreed that we should expect numbers of participants to be quite low. But supporters of the convention and lovers of all things nerdy truly showed out, and made the convention a special experience. Every panel, every raffle, every workshop, every showcase was well attended, and participants were commenting and playing along. It made it feel like we were all together, having fun, cracking jokes, and discussing interests. As a frequent con-goer in my personal life, I honestly felt more of a sense of community in this year's Arlingcon than in some of the other conventions I have attended in person. There is something special about the way people are able to interact in online environments, and we saw the best of that at Arlingcon 2020. 

Truly, I had so much fun. Between announcing the results of our raffle winners live, to building a board game with the help of our participants on a live video chat, to watching cosplay contests and other awesome panels that had been hosted by APL and other contributors, it was an absolute blast-- and I can’t wait to see the ways that we can have fun again in the future! 

Stenila – Experiential Learning Outreach Specialist

Arlingcon was a blast! I went into this event wondering from the start how the shift to a virtual event would affect turnout at something as interactive as this convention. The crowds of people that gather at conventions tend to be a defining feature of events like this. However, the move to virtual programming had an impact in that students would not be able to experience walking around and interacting with others in their costumes. Despite that fact, we had such a good turnout that at each event/video, that we ended up forgetting we weren’t there in person at several points of the day. Students interacted with us and with others who posted tutorials and videos through the comments section, and hearing their comments and suggestions during our live events was a lot of fun! The students who were willing to come and attend Arlingcon virtually and interact as much as they did, really helped make this event successful, and now I’m very excited to see what next year has in store for us!