Video game publishers are thankful for the publicity.
"It's a great way to sample our games, and we have found that experiencing our games as a trial often leads to a purchase," said Holly Rockwood, spokeswoman for Electronic Arts Inc., the world's largest video game software company.
For public libraries, games are part of a broader effort to reach out to teenagers.
"Libraries have wonderful children's programs and programs for adults," said Penny Markey, coordinator of youth services for the County of Los Angeles Public Library. "But when it comes to programs serving teens, the numbers drop off. Games help us bridge that gap.
"It's a changing world. Teens are the next adults, the next taxpayers. And the library needs to be seen as an important and relevant resource for them."
Circulation had been declining at the Laguna Hills Technology Branch Library, but it began to edge upward after the facility started holding online game events every Friday night six months ago.
Branch manager Sheila Stone said she wasn't sure that there was a direct correlation, but she noted that the librarians recommend books to the visiting game-players. "So there may be a relationship," she said.
A 2007 survey of 400 U.S. libraries by Syracuse's School of Information Studies found that three-quarters of those who took part in game events returned for other services.
Heather Gordon does. Since trying out "Wii Sports" a few months ago at the Pine Valley Library, about 45 miles east of San Diego, the 9-year-old has returned every Friday to take part in the library's other craft and science activities. She also has borrowed a few books.
"I think I'll check out a book about dragons," Heather said last Friday after trying her hand at playing billiards on the Nintendo Wii console.
Her mother, Deborah Gordon, doesn't object to her daughter playing video games at the library.
"I want the library to be a place my daughter loves to go," said Gordon, an education specialist.
Although most libraries that offer games think of them as entertainment, some see them as educational.
"It's a form of media literacy," said Eli Neiburger, associate director of information technology and product development at the Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan, which became one of the first libraries in the country to offer video games when it began holding tournaments in 2004.
