Games and Culture

Analysis of the current status of digital game preservation

Questions to think about

* Should digital games be preserved as a part of our cultural history?

* How would you preserve the games? * How would you pick which games to

preserve? * What do games tell us about society?

What is it about?

These journals about the current status of digital games preservation and what games tell us about society. We will also look into the legal implications of preserving games.

How museums, people and organisations are, or are failing to, preserve and store the history of digital games

Content Early Theorist Preserving Games Why are games not preserved? What has been done? The KEEP Project Industries such as NVA Emulation and Property Rights Evaluation Questions?

Early Theorist

The journal explains that even early theorist thought about what games can tell us about society.

- Johan Huizinga

‘A Cultural Phenomenon’

Early Theorist

Early game theorists were interested in what games could tell us about our society at the time

Kucklich – “games are cultural products with deep roots in the culture the stem from”

“digital games are a living mirror of any given society” (Massonet in Lauwaert).

Preserving Games

Important information and resources are at risk and it is seen as the responsibility of museums and library’s to safeguard this information

Early TV and radio programmes were lost because there was no polices in place to preserve them. Since 1981 the UK independent broadcasting authority has made preservation and compulsory clause to companies.

Why are games not Preserved?

Gaming enthusiasts have realised the importance of digital game history and have started preserving the history of digital games.

Their preservation work is being done without permission from the appropriate rights holders and therefor can be seen to be illegal.

What has been done?

In Japan, Proff. H. Koichi of Ritsumeikan University started to create an archive of the ‘entire gaming experience’.

The project involves collecting hardware and software and making visual recordings of gaming experiences. It is intended to support the work of future researchers.

The Keep Project

Keeping emulation environment portable Started in 2009 Can accurately render both static and

dynamic object such text, sound. KEEP Project was made to solve the

problem of how they were going to store and preserve digital games ?

Strong Museum Based in Rochester, USA. Museum Dedicated to the study of

play The museum decided that it was

important to preserve these games and opened section for the history of video games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSzQuP1y9sk&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyVRl0CihQ

Computerspiele Museum

In Berlin 1997 a museum dedicated to digital games was opened, the Computerspiele Museum. It was the first permanent exhibition of digital interactive entertainment culture.

The museum closed in 2000 and there is no sign of the collection being reopen.

Computerspiele Museum

Founder, Andreas Lange, a key figure in digital game preservation and remains a supporter of game preservation via the digital games archive website

The museums collection is still available to researchers

NVA

The media museum realised it was not covering important things like the internet, computing, mobile technology and video games – and so in 2008 the NVA was launched by the museum and Nottingham Trent university.

NVA

2008 the NVA was launched by the national media museum in Bradford. (national video game archive)

Imitative was to ‘collect, interpret, research and exhibit videogames and video game culture’

NVA

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsY60ph0J6k&playnext=1&list=PLBA3144B4CF80D951&feature=results_video

Long term Preservation

Games need to be preserved in a way that they can be seen and PLAYED as an original

EMULATION - involves the development of programmes that translate code and instructions from one computing environment so it can be executed in another.

Emulation

Used to recreate the actions of the original hardware, in an accessible form.

Traditional institutions are struggling to deal with complex technologies and techniques in digital preservation.

Property rights

Intellectual property (IP) is a juridical concept which refers to creations of the mind for which exclusive rights are recognized

Museums and enthusiasts do not have legal permission to collect electronic media. This is stopping achieving at present.

“The law is preventing the archiving of history” (Leonard, 2009).

How should Digital Games be Shown?

Computerspiele museum – ‘computer games are more than just toy’s’ (Lang 2009).

“game magazines, the marketing, the manufacturing and the demographics of the players” (Salen and Zimmerman, 2004) should also be recognised.

“their impact on human culture, how they affect social relations and learning and questions of addiction and violence in games (Dyson,2009).

What is being done?

In France the national library has adopted a legal deposit scheme where one of every digital game produced is kept for preservation

The British national library are taking moves towards digital preservation but currently games are excluded. No one in government is questioning this at present and there doesn’t seem to be any moves towards a solution.

Conclusions

Intellectual property rights are holding up preservation of digital games. Decisions need to be made about how the laws can change.

Deciding how best to preserve (emulation etc.).

Museums deciding on the best ways to display and explain digital media.

A more committed approach and more expertise are needed.

Questions

* Do digital games cause addition (to games) and violence in society?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG1rbfVsyIQ

* What games do you want to preserve ?

* Do you think its important to preserve games?