Digital Preservation of Video Games
Group Members: Michael Coppa, Mary Miller, and Lauren Schilling
Group Facilitator: Michael Coppa
Method of work: email, Word Documents
Digital Preservation of Video Games Annotated Bibliography
Anderson, D. (2012). Saving Private Gromit. Communications of the ACM, 55(12), 28-30. doi:10.1145/2380656.2380666
One area that is useful for our study, is to look at the legal side of preserving video games. This article implies that there are more consistent preservation standards on an international level than there was before, such as modeling and testing different methods in order for companies to have a standard approach to preservation. The focus of this article is regarding the legalities and economics regarding the preservation of animation and video games, specifically in Europe. The author discusses possibilities of financial use other than the use of tax dollars. In terms of legalities, the author discusses the challenges of using memory organizations in conjunction with what the author describes as: “European Community framework law, which supersedes national legislation” (Anderson p.1). These laws are basically copyright and information laws of which the author discusses how libraries and archives are allowed to have access to these rights in order to save the media.
Bachell, A., & Barr, M. (2014). Video Game Preservation in the UK: Independent Games Developers’ Records Management Practices. The International Journal of Digital Curation, 9(2), 139-170. doi:10.2218/ijdc.v9i2.294
A challenge that arises in the preservation world of video games is the legal components of working with the games. Due to things like copyright and piracy-prevention legislation, it can be difficult for preservationists to participate in preserving games. This article focuses on preservation practices similar to our other articles, however it primarily focuses on independent game developers in the UK, rather than major platform designers of the US. What makes this article unique and helpful for our assignment is that it discusses the importance of having good records management procedures in terms of building a relationship with game developing companies so that concrete preservation practices can be developed.
Barwick, J., Dearnley, J., & Muir, A. (2011). Playing Games with Cultural Heritage: A Comparative Case Study Analysis of the Current Status of Digital Game Preservation. Games and Culture, 6(4), 373-390. doi: 10.1177/1555412010391092
In terms of the modern state of preservation, there is a gaining focus on capturing video games in different ways. The authors of this article suggest that one of the most prominent methods of preservation are by enthusiasts who form online preservation groups, however, more academic institutions are gaining interest in game preservation such as Stanford University, which is considered one of the first institutions to hold such material. Digital-born preservation methods vs. more traditional approaches are brought forth, as well as the challenges that come with that territory. Case studies are also discussed and provide examples of successful modern preservation with an emphasis on culture, which is helpful to our study.
Cassidy, R., McEniry M., (2014), "How the new generation of video game consoles have accelerated the need to preserve digital content – part 1", Library Hi Tech News, 31(9), 17 – 20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-08-2014-0066
Another important aspect of researching a modern approach to preserving games is to consider the historical elements of how formats have changed over time. The authors of this article take a modern perspective regarding how the current state of console games have increased an interest in preserving console games of the past. Since newer console producing companies are marketing social media and online gaming in the new consoles, it raises questions about how this content should be preserved, and it discusses the differences between older formats of console games and new games. The significance of this is that it discusses specific examples of newer media formats such as cloud computing and storage.
Enis, M. (2013, October 15). Saving games: video games, quickly changing touchstones of digital culture, present significant challenges. Library Journal, 138(17), 44+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA344826653&v=2.1&u=lom_waynesu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=6fcdb41456c6c6fd2667898b30e00e7f
Enis gives an overview of the importance of preserving video games and the problems faced in their preservation. Video games are complex, multimedia objects with important cultural impact. Solutions to digital preservation problems for video games will apply to digital preservation problems in any other sphere. Preserving video games faces problems including multiple rights holders, proprietary hardware systems, the legality and accuracy of virtualization and emulation attempts, server shutdown, and that preserving the game itself does not preserve the player activities and communities. A focus going forward is to preserve video capture of gameplay as well as machinima and related social sharing. This is a good overview of the task of preserving video games and illustrates that it is not as straight forward as preserving other media.
Esposito, N. (2005). Immersion in game atmospheres for the video game heritage preservation. DiGRA 2005: Changing Views: Worlds in Play, 2005 International Conference. Retrieved from http://summit.sfu.ca/item/227
The gaming industry is now more than 30 years old and is an important part of our cultural heritage. While many preservationists focus on preserving games, the author feels it is just as important to preserve the environment in which games are played. The article investigates the gaming atmosphere by interviewing players. Each atmosphere is defined by a year, a list of elements, a layout, a description of interactions occurring within the environment and a list of games played. The atmospheres have been created and preserved on a website dedicated to video game heritage.
Gooding, P., & Terras, M. (2008). Grand theft archive: A quantitative analysis of the state of computer game preservation. The International Journal of Digital Curation, 2(3), 19-41. Retrieved from http://www.ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/85/56
This paper uses the information that is available to analyze the current status of computer game preservation, specifically in the UK, through existing level of preservation and technical and cultural issues. It makes a quantitative analysis of the preservation status of computer games by measuring the availability of hardware, software, and documentation. This analysis lays the groundwork for determining the amount of data loss this area of the field is facing, while suggesting strategies to overcome the barriers that currently exist.
Guttenbrunner, M., & Rauber, A. (2012). A measurement framework for evaluating emulators for digital preservation. ACM Transaction on Information Systems, 30(2), 14:1-14:28.
This article presents an evaluation framework and a set of tests that allow assessment of the degree to which system emulation preserves original characteristics and thus significant properties of digital artifacts. The concepts described in this article enable preservation planners to evaluate how emulation affects the behavior of digital objects compared to their behavior in the original environment. This type of analysis is imperative since emulation is one of the main means of preserving video games. There is also a review of how these principles can and should be applied to the evaluation of migration and other preservation strategies. The article concludes with design requirements for emulators developed for digital preservation tasks, which will help the field establish baseline requirements.
Guttenbrunner, M., Becker, C., & Rauber, A. (2010). Keeping the Game Alive: Evaluating Strategies for the Preservation of Console Video Games [Electronic version]. International Journal of Digital Curation, 5(1), 64-90. doi:10.2218/ijdc.v5i1.144
One important element of preservation is to have strategies that best fit the content that one is looking to preserve. In the world of gaming, game preservation strategies are often different from more traditional methods. Specifically, the primary focus of this article revolves around the discussion of different strategies for the preservation of console video games. The authors discuss related works of prior studies to preface their information, and state that “migration and emulation have been the main strategies used in digital preservation” (Guttenbrunner, p. 2). Challenges of this process are brought forth in detail such as the need to preserve the consoles and the games separately. What makes this article a good fit for our study is that the authors plainly and clearly list the different strategies such as the museum approach, print to paper approach, the use of source ports, etc., and they provide evaluations of these strategies. The authors also describe and define vocabulary that is critical to each process such as object characteristics, Process Characteristics, and infrastructure. Charts are also included for planning strategies such as costs to preserve the data, which is highly useful for our study.
Heiberg, C. (2013). Building a strategy for digital game preservation based on the practices of communities of players. Retrieved from https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent/uuid:e4549a77-a704-4016-be7d-1a5439cac277
This thesis stresses the importance of video game preservation. Various preservation methods are discussed, but the focus is primarily on emulation. The author is concerned that with emulation, context can be lost. She stresses the need to preserve as much as possible about the game’s original platform (artwork, controller, instructions, etc.) when preserving games via emulation. Metadata concerns and copyright issues are also addressed. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of preservation via emulation, the author interviews game preservationists and discusses their concerns.
Horodyski, J. (2006). Making metadata work in digital asset management and video game production. Journal of Digital Asset Management, 2(5), 255-261. doi:10.1057/palgrave.dam.3650041
This article focuses on the importance of having a functional digital asset management system. The author discusses the fact that the video game industry does not have established metadata standards. He suggests that a structured vocabulary be developed in order to remain consistent. Creators and users should be consulted during the development of the structured vocabulary in order to test whether assets can be successfully retrieved from the digital asset management system. The article also poses questions to ask when determining how to classify 3D objects, textures and concept art.
Hudgins, A. M. (2011). Preservation of the video game. Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists, 29(1), 32-48. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/provenance/vol29/iss1/4/
Video games are cultural artifacts that should be preserved. The biggest challenges faced by preservationists are the physical deterioration of the game’s storage media, copyright law and preservation costs. In 2006, an exemption was added to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act allowing archives and libraries to create preservation copies of obsolete games. Despite this boon, digital rights management codes can stall preservation by preventing copying. The author focuses on preservation solutions and the importance of documenting the gaming experience.
Kraus, K., Donahue, R. (2012). Do you want to save your progress? The role of professional and player communities in preserving virtual worlds. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 6(2). Retrieved from http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/6/2/000129/000129.html
The article is divided into five sections: risks to videogame longevity, what different communities are doing to preserve video games, the importance of source code, patterns of interaction between communities and game preservation recommendations. Also included are the results of a survey conducted by Donahue. Members of the video game industry were asked what types of objects they preserve. The top three preserved objects were artwork, game development source code and game assets (such as original 3D character models). In general, the survey results showed a lack of interest in preservation from the video game industry. The article also discusses the intersection between users, gaming industry and information professionals, and how these groups must work together in order to preserve video games.
Landgraf, G. (2011, November). Preserving Bits; Inside the Library of Congress’s Video Game Collection. American Libraries, 42(11/12), 45. Retrieved November 13, 2015, from http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2011/11/03/preserving-bits/
Our nation’s Library of Congress can be an integral component in the expanding action of preserving games, therefore the author of this article discusses the current state of the Library of Congress’s archived collection of video games, specifically at the Packard campus. Useful quotes are provided from Richard Pugh of the Library of Congress’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation. The significance of the information brought forth in this article is that the archives seem to focus more on storing the physical games along with their packaging and documentations which they find to be challenging, as opposed to storing digital formats of the games. This also raises questions about the challenges of cataloging the games by use of library subject headings.
Lange, A. (2012). Pacman in the archive: Computer games as digital cultural. Zeithistorische Forschungen, 9(2), 326-333. Retrieved from http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/2-2012/id=4580
German Computer Game Awards have been granted yearly since 2009, emphasizing the fact that video games are an important part of our culture. The initial preservationists of games were computer gamers. As players grew up and realized games of the past were no longer available, they began to work to preserve their hobby. The article goes on to discuss preservation concerns: bit rot, hardware decay and legal issues. The significance of emulation is highlighted throughout. The author also explains the KEEP (Keeping Emulation Environments Portable) project.
Laskowski, M., Ward, D. (2009). Building next generation video game collections in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35(3), 267-273. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2009.03.005
The article advocates three key reasons why academic libraries should develop video game collections: faculty research support, classroom instruction support and student support. The authors explain ways to develop a gaming collection that suits the needs of the academic institution, including sources to consult in order to begin building the collection. Hardware needs and issues concerning licensing are also addressed.
Lee, J. H., Clarke, R. I., Sacchi, S., & Jett, J. (2014). Relationships among video games: Existing standards and new definitions. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 51(1), 1-11. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/doi/10.1002/meet.2014.14505101035/abstract
After a review of existing conceptual data models and standards, this article used an examination of sample game sets to identify and define 11 relationship types and 4 grouping entities prevalent in the video game domain. These categorizations provide an excellent breakdown of the video game field to be preserved and help to establish and clarify some of the aspects that make preserving video games so complicated. The article concludes with suggestions on how to represent these ideas and relationships in a conceptual model, which will benefit long-term preservation for media as complex as videogames.
Lee, J.H., Tennis, J.T., Clarke, R.I., Carpenter, M. (2013). Developing a Video Game Metadata Schema for the Seattle Interactive Media Museum. International Journal on Digital Libraries, 13(2), 105-117. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs00799-013-0103-x
One important element related to preservation is having a metadata schema. Unfortunately, traditional ways of keeping these standards don’t necessarily apply to the new wave of preserving video games. Therefore, the information in this article discusses how the Seattle Interactive Media Museum developed a system of metadata that is more suitable for preserving video games. This discussion highly relates to our studies in the course of the importance of description information such as administrative and descriptive metadata. The article is significant because it provides specific examples of metadata elements strictly for preserving video games, as opposed to traditional core elements of data.
Lowood, H. (2004). Playing history with games: Steps towards historical archives of computer gaming. Presented at: The Electronic Media Group Annual Meeting of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Portland, OR. Retrieved from http://www.imappreserve.org/pdfs/educ-past_conference/lowood-emg2004.pdf
Lowood examines the characteristics of computer games as a medium that present special challenges for building historical collections. The paper addresses that games and other interactive multimedia need new models of curatorship and collections. The paper concludes with a discussion of current plans and projects, including the Machinima Archive, the Digital Game Archive, and work on emulation, reformatting of game software, and conservation of game artifacts. This provides an overview of the major themes in videogame preservation as a whole.
McDonough, J. P. (2011). Packaging videogames for long-term preservation: Integrating FRBR and the OAIS reference model. Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 62(1), 171-184. doi:10.1002/asi.21412
This article gives a brief overview of the Preserving Virtual Worlds (PVW) project. There is then a discussion of the various issues and problems that have arisen in efforts to develop appropriate information models for packaging computer games and interactive fiction, and this is followed by a description of the PVW ontology and the solutions the project has adopted as a result of their investigations. This provides further support to the concept that videogames are too complex to be fully addressed by the current preservation and curation practices and concept models and is an option for a way to overcome that.
McDonough, J. P., Olendorf, R., Kirschenbaum, M., Kraus, K., Reside, D., Donahue, R., Rojo, S. (2010). Preserving virtual worlds final report. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2142/17097
The project investigates issues concerning preservation of virtual worlds via a series of case studies. Virtual worlds are defined as “interactive simulated environments accessed by multiple users through an online interface.” The project—which spanned two years—resulted in the development of a set of requirements for preservation. Preserving virtual worlds can be difficult due to obsolescence of original platforms, migration issues, intellectual property and contract law, poor business models and loss of interest from the user community.
McEniry, M., & Cassidy, R. (2015). How the new generation of consoles have accelerated the need to preserve digital content - part 2. Library Hi Tech News, 32(2), 10-13. doi: 10.1108/LHTN-09-2014-0081
As a continuation of their previous article, this article establishes the preservation need through examples of lost content. The article then describes the preservation options of migration, emulation, and source code. Challenges presented include the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, Digital Rights Management technologies, intellectual property, and storage requirements and restrictions. The article concludes with a look at how this all applies to libraries including suggestions for selection focus, planning questions to consider, and encouragement for advocating. This provides a basic explanation of the pros and cons of various preservation options for videogames. The included library application is an excellent resource for preservation on a practical level.
Monnens, D., Vowell, Z., Ruggill, J. E., McAllister, K. S., Armstrong, A. (2009). Before it’s too late: a Digital Game Preservation White Paper. American Journal of Play, 2(2), 139-166. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/lib_fac/107/
While it is important to discuss technical components of preservation strategies, the preservation group discussed in this article shines light on cultural reasons of why games should be preserved. The group discussed is: The Game Preservation Special Interest Group (SIG) of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). This group has issued a white paper urging the gaming industry and preservation groups to preserve content so that intellectual property and cultural significance is not lost. Specific formats, such as magnetic disks and optical discs, are listed as examples of formats that are susceptible to what they call bit rot, therefore, they offer solutions of data migration of which would be performed by museums and archives. Other significant points raised in this article are the implications of support by the gaming industry by means of legal support and a request for gaming industries to provide formats that are preservation-friendly. In addition to this, the authors discuss culturally significant themes such as video games as art, which provides useful information for a culture theme section of our review.
Newman, J. (2012). Ports and patches: Digital games as unstable objects. Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 18(2), 135-142. doi:10.1177/1354856511433688
One challenge for preserving video games is the fact that games are constantly changing formats. The author of this article describes digital games as unstable objects, meaning that they can be difficult to preserve because companies change versions over time with each new generation of consoles. He considers the fact that some media can be difficult to preserve due to porting, which is when media is transferred to a different type of media, i.e. a PlayStation 2 game being ported to an Xbox version, therefore creating different versions of the same games. The discussion of finding solutions to these issues of unstable objects is useful to our study of finding strategies for long-term preservation.
Newman, J. (2009, Jul.). Save the Videogame! The National Videogame Archive: Preservation, Supersession and Obsolescence. M/C Journal, 12(3). Retrieved 13 Nov. 2015, from http://www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/167
This essay argues that the past business and marketing practices of the videogames industry are partly to blame for the underdeveloped state of game preservation, and the future success and viability of game preservation relies on close collaboration with industry partners. The points are made that industry focus has consistently been on new games, neglecting the old, and while considering the fan base for a game is important, it should not be the only factor in determining preservation. This is an important message because the preservation community needs to understand that without collaboration with those in the videogame industry proper preservation is impossible.
Pinchbeck, D., Anderson, D., Delve, J., Alemu, G., Ciuffreda, A., Lange, A. (2009). Emulation as a Strategy for the Preservation of Games: The KEEP Project. DiGra 2009: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory. Retrieved from http://eprints.port.ac.uk/2714/
One option of preserving games is by use of emulation. The authors of this article discuss the options of creating access to obsolete games by means of emulation, which according to the authors is: “the environment used to run the game in its original format is recreated virtually on a contemporary platform” (Pinchbeck p. 3). One of the main reasons preservation is important as described in this article is that software is re-used in game development. Rather than starting from scratch, programmers reflect back on previous groundwork. The significance of this article is that it provides a full illustration of capturing/preserving a game, and it includes decisions an archivist would make related to the digital life cycle, such as: should we archive all versions of the same game, and what strategies should we use to make the process easier? (Pinchbeck p. 2). The KEEP project (Keep Emulation Environments Portable) is also discussed. The focus of this project is stated as: “to develop a prototype of an emulation access platform to enhance the preservation of digital objects, with a particular focus on digital games” (Pinchbeck p. 4). This idea is based on using a virtual machine rather than specific platform technology.
Swalwell, M. (2009). Towards the preservation of local computer game software: Challenges, strategies, reflections. Convergence, 15(3), 263-279. doi:10.1177/1354856509105107
The article focuses on the need to preserve local game software because it is a better representation of local culture and also at a greater risk of being lost than mass-produced games. The author has worked to preserve games in New Zealand, specifically for the Sega SC3000 and Sega Genesis. He discusses the legal struggles his team had to go through in order to start the preservation process, as well as the process they had to go through to develop an emulator.
van der Hoeven, J., van Wijngaarden, H. Modular emulation as a long-term preservation strategy for digital objects. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.106.2100&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Emulation is considered to be expensive and challenging. This paper suggests preservationists focus on emulation by concentrating on development and testing, as emulation is ideal for long-term preservation. The authors explain emulation types: stacked, migrated and virtual machine. Ultimately, the modular emulator is advocated; parts of existing emulators are adapted to develop a new emulator that is platform independent.
Watson, D. (2012). Preserving videogames for posterity. Multimedia Information & Technology, 38(2), 30-31. Retrieved from http://www.cilip.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Volume%2038%20Number%202%20May%202012.pdf
Watson discusses the preservation of video games by discussing the dualistic nature of the medium - hardware and code. Emulators allow users to play preserved code on different hardware but provide a different experience. A number of academic and institutional archiving projects have been investigated: Preserving Virtual Worlds focuses on online worlds, Keeping Emulation Environments Portable hopes to develop a standardized framework for emulation, Preservation of Complex Objects Symposia delivered conferences to bring representatives of various spheres together, and UK National Videogame Archive intends to archive the physical artefacts along with the accompanying culture. This overview of major projects for preserving video games establishes the field’s current focus and progress.
Winget, M. A. (2011). Videogame preservation and massively multiplayer online role‐playing games: A review of the literature. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(10), 1869-1883. doi: 10.1002/asi.21530
This article reviews the literature related to videogame preservation. The problem of technical dependencies is examined along with the potential solutions of migration and emulation. Representation is addressed with multiple ways to describe the game’s framework, technical relationships, social interaction, and context. Finally collection development is discussed via Lowood’s framework of emulation testbeds, game development archives, artifact collections, and game performance archives. This is important to establish what state the field of videogame preservation is currently in and determine what the focus should be moving forward.
