Leveling the ‘Playing’ Field

Exploring the Smith College Gaming Lab feels like stepping into a video game full of surprises and side quests waiting to be discovered. Streamers adorned with Pac-Man ghosts, Nintendo Switch consoles, and game controllers crisscross the ceiling, which features adjustable lighting to reduce on-screen glare. Purple and blue beanbag chairs invite students to settle in for a Mario Kart tournament on the flat-screen TV. Along the walls, computers sit beneath posters showcasing classics such as Excitebike and Pac-Man alongside modern hits such as Horizon Zero Dawn, Fallout 4, Assassin’s Creed, Octodad, and Stardew Valley. At the center of it all, the gaming lab’s X-Arcade—a retro-style arcade machine cabinet loaded with the lab’s extensive collection of games—stands as a nostalgic tribute amid the latest gaming technology.

It’s a treasure trove of fun—and there’s no need to defeat a villain to access it.

Established in 2018 by Jennifer Malkowski, chair and associate professor of film and media studies, the gaming lab was born out of necessity: Malkowski’s gaming studies students needed a place where they could “play” their homework. “There are ways to teach game studies without a lab, but a lot of genres won’t be available to you and there are access problems for students who can’t afford to have those systems,” Malkowski says. “It creates a financial barrier to being in the class. I wanted to level things out and create a space where every student could do the homework of the class for free in a supportive space.”

This focus on support was particularly important to Malkowski because, as they explain, the gaming community as a whole is known to be hostile to women, trans people, people of color—really anyone who doesn’t identify as a white straight cis male. “It felt important to me to create a physical space that would welcome people into a medium that has been really unwelcoming for students like ours,” Malkowski says.

Like all the best gaming narratives, the gaming lab has been shaped by its players. What began as a simple extension of the classroom has grown into a lively social space offering 400-plus games—and even more opportunities for students to connect and celebrate gaming culture on campus.

It’s an evolution Malkowski says has “surprised and delighted” them, and one they credit to the lab’s student staffers. “Part of welcoming people into this medium is making sure the people who work in the space aren’t just gamers but coaches,” they say. “My job is to educate students on how to think critically about games, but we also need people who can say, ‘This is when you should jump. This is how you should hold the controller. This is how you work these menus’—so even students unpracticed at gaming can participate in its analysis.”

Enter Rachel Kunkel ’27 and Amelie LaPoint ’25, the lab’s student assistants, whose passion for gaming is invaluable to maintaining Malkowski’s vision for the lab.

“People tend to view gaming as a very isolated, independent activity, but the lab is a space that proves otherwise,” says Kunkel, who first visited the gaming lab as part of her Introduction to Film and Media Studies class and later jumped at the opportunity to work there. “I love seeing students connect with each other over their favorite games, help each other tackle difficult levels, and build friendships through their shared enthusiasm for gaming,” she says. “Video games offer such a unique way to connect with others—whether online or playing in the same space—and the gaming lab really emphasizes that connection.”

LaPoint isn’t just a gaming enthusiast; they’re also pursuing a teaching license alongside their history major and education minor. Their academic studies offered a surprising link to their work in the gaming lab, one that eventually led them to write a paper about how game design could improve education.

“Video games tend to use an implicit language, implementing subtle techniques to coax players in a certain direction or to teach people how to play. There are different design elements to engage players, teach them new skills, and spark curiosity,” LaPoint explains, citing the importance of hands-on, experiential learning and how the idea of only absorbing concepts through a textbook could prove detrimental. This is why games tend to champion the learning-through-doing mentality rather than relying on players learning through an instruction manual.

“Some highly successful titles we have in the lab don’t give players a how-to-play manual as soon as they start up the game, but rather teach strategies as needed,” LaPoint adds. “I think video game creators are succeeding in ways in which many American classrooms could improve. Education could be a lot more fun and engaging if we learned from the strategies video game creators use to teach new players how to play.”

The lab’s popularity has grown since its inception, but word of mouth can only travel so far, which is why LaPoint and another student, Sophia Silovsky ’24, created the gaming lab’s website in 2022. By utilizing deep-purple tones and a clouds-and-stars background, the pair aimed to create a feeling of vastness, as if visitors are looking up into a sky of limitless possibilities—an apt description for the gaming lab itself.

“Every video game is like a new world to explore,” LaPoint says. “It’s a huge privilege for us to have this kind of space on campus.”