2. 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?
3. 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
4. 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?
5. Early Theorist
The journal explains that even early theorist
thought about what games can tell us about
society.
- Johan Huizinga
„A Cultural Phenomenon‟
6. 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).
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 ?
11. 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
12. 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.
13. 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
14. 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.
15. 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‟
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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).
20. 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).
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. Questions
* Do digital games cause addition (to
games) and violence in society?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g
G1rbfVsyIQ
* What games do you want to
preserve ?
* Do you think its important to
preserve games?
