Archiving and Video Games: Thoughts on Preservation

The topic of video game archiving has become a recent piece for discussion due to unfortunate events surrounding PT and the attempts to remove it from existence.  With many games moving to a digital-only platform or having servers running integral parts of an experience, it is only understandable that people would discuss how such items are being kept in archive for the purpose of maintaining this medium’s history.  Being someone who has worked in the museum space for the last couple years as well as academic research during my uni education, this is naturally a subject I feel strongly about.  We can travel to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa alongside an array of sculptures and other art pieces, but where can we go to experience the original Pong?  Places like the National Video Game Arcade in Nottingham are working towards this but we’re still in our relative infancy. 

What I would like to talk about today is my experience within the museum world to give a rough assessment of the process of archiving and the unique factors that video games have.  I would treat this as an overview and encourage readers to look more into the subject as there are people who have been involved in this area for a lot longer than me.  As well as this, I do work in a relativity small archive (around 30,000 items) so larger organisations will have different practices. 

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about archiving:

Process

An object is brought to the museum for the purpose of donation.  This could be from lots of different people such as members of the public, local business, local council, etc.  A conversation is brought up about its relevance to local history to which if it feels suitable a formal contract is signed setting out a number of pointers: a) the object is to be kept on site for the purpose of the museum (information, education, entertainment) b) the object may feature within a collection that maybe shared with another museum c) the owner can reserve the right to access of the object if necessary.  Once this has been done, the object is then reviewed by an archivist who looks to identify, mark and tag the object while adding a physical and electronic data mark into the museum’s archive.  This is also known as ‘Accessioning’.  Once the object has been accessioned, the object is then stored in a suitable location depending on things such as material (metals and cloths being such items that need particular environments) where it is kept until it is requested again. 

Usage

Items within the museum can be used in a number of different ways such as:
*Internal exhibitions on a particular subject
*External exhibitions where another organisation would like to use a selection of items for their exhibition.  This can be done as either individual items to improve an already existing exhibition or as a whole collection much like a ‘tour’
*Information requests where a person (or persons) request to view an object for the purpose of information.  Examples of this can be researchers reviewing accounts of an event, architects looking over building plans or an enthusiast piecing together a story. 

Much like the initial accessioning, this process requires that the object is cared for and that all forms of data (physical / electronic) are updated to reflect its current state. 

Accessibility

Getting back to the point of video games, accessibility is of course an issue that surrounds a wide array of items kept in museums.  Having a piece of history on an old format that requires an old system for it to work naturally has its issues when it comes to accessing it.  I have recently been working with VHS and Betamax tapes in which half the struggle is finding ways to play it properly.  There are of course ways to convert these items to CD / digital formats, but having access to those means can sometimes be tricky.  Now consider a piece of digital media with an internal server to run some of the processes and you can quickly see how accessibility in this state may only be possible in a fairly rare occasion.  The thing is thou, it would potentially take a lot of work and be accessible to a couple sites in the world, but then we into the subject of ‘legal accessibility’.

When I say ‘legal’ I don’t mean the question of whether it is legal to do such a thing, but the subject of going through the above processes with an organisation like Konami (the holders of PT).  With my initial example, the holder is aware that said item in the hands of the museum becomes the ownership of a) the museum and b) the town in which it resides (in my case).  This object is not for profit, but for the subject of historical preservation, knowledge and explanation for as long as it resides within the museum.  When you have an organisation that has attempted to remove all accounts of this title from history, presenting it for archiving for the purpose of accessibility and knowledge naturally conflicts with their approach. 

There is also the subject of cost.  Many museums are run by charities and funded thanks to the work of project investors such as the Heritage Lottery Fund (in the UK at least) so for an archive to have the funds to go to Konami and ‘purchase’ the ability to archive PT for the accessibility of future generations seems like a difficult situation. 

In an age where nothing truly dies due to the internet, we are dealing with a genuine issue surrounding the preservation of video game history for generations to come.  The question of “will I be able to play PT in 50 years” is an important one as other forms of media like audio recordings, film, art and the likes have found their place in the museums throughout our world.  Personally, I don’t feel it’s a subject of potential, but time as video games continue to become a significant piece of culture and gain a word on the international stage of preservation.  If I was to suggest something, it would be the creation of video game archiving board that look to preserve our history much like the RIBA or National Trust for Architecture or Horticulture; finding ways to keep the skills alive and relevant for years to come. 

If you are interested in this subject, I would recommend having a look at the Nottingham game arcade or the recent video game Hall of Fame as they discuss relativity recent developments and hold a great deal more experience than I do.  Regardless, I hope you found this interesting.

End note: visit your local museum! They’re great and you might just find out something about your past while you’re there = )

Being 25 (self-reflection)

*I've been playing a hell of a load of the new Warframe update and that has kinda disrupted my usual pace of playing something new everyday.  It'll probably be a topic to discuss soon, but in the mean time here's a piece on a significant event that recently happened*

This past Saturday I turned 25 to a mix of thoughts and emotions as one may do when it comes to increasing in age.  Although I wouldn't say that 25 is a particularly old age, it’s more of the case of considering your place in the world past the world of education (as in my current experience).  At the turning of age; I could have been cynical towards getting older, moving away from the typical ‘youth’ age-group into designated adulthood; unhappy with my default living arrangements or generally apathetic towards the progress in my desired vocation, but this thankfully wasn't the case. 

The weekend was the start of the school half-term holidays and with a large group of my friends being involved in the school system, I found myself having time to myself and my immediate family.  It is in this time that I got to thinking of the progress I have made, but of a positive nature and a factor of resilience to make it work.  I've been a volunteer for a museum, part-time intern and freelance worker for commissions in the sector over the past year with minimal pay and many unanswered job applications; but as time’s gone on I've taken on each experience to try and improve myself.  One year on I’m still going at it and happier than before to try and make it in this sector of work, which to be honest I’m kinda surprised by it. 

There have been times (like with most people) where this past year has been greatly frustrating.  The biggest factor in this frustration has been the limited feedback available from my job applications; as those who have done so have been a wealth of information into my strengths and weaknesses from an alternative viewpoint.  I can understand that with some jobs having many applicants it is realistically unlikely to give that personal attention, it’s just that it can put a downer on a day. 

Overall, I’d say that I have a positive outlook on my future and I don’t feel any resentment towards the aging process.  Alongside this optimistic view, I've created a couple thoughts I would like to achieve in this upcoming year:

1.      To attain full-time employment within the culture and heritage sector, with a specific desire for the museum research at most.  To do this I want to increase my range of jobs I apply for as well as reaching out to specific organisations for advice.  I briefly did this upon finishing university, but I want to get back into doing this now with my relevant experience. 

2.      By gaining full-time employment, I want to return to having my own living arrangements either by a shared house or individual flat.  In correlation to my previous post on ‘space’ having this is important as a means of generating personal space in an environment I own. 

3.      By generating an income, I want to have the ability to travel as a means to learn more about cultures around the world.  It would allow me to give physical context to a lot of essays / journals I've read over the past 7 years. 

These points do kinda revolve around the factor of employment, but in modern society what doesn't revolve around work eh? :-P
What I would say about this experience is that my desire to be involved in a career that I enjoy greatly has been met with a sacrifice of money and social pursuits with the intention of making it worth it.  What I would recommend to those who may have a similar quandary is planning is key; to see if such an action is financially viable and for how long in comparison to the estimated time to achieve.  On top of this, give time for alternative strategies and take advice on your pursuit, considering whether it’s in your best interests.  If you can keep at it and at the end of it be in a career that you love, I wish you all the best of luck and the strength to go on and continue this desire and resilience. 

Writing this had made me happy and I hope and soon enough I can talk of my expanding prospects and in turn make this a more interesting place for my thoughts.  I’m in the process of thinking of what to write about architecturally for next week’s post (back to normal on a Monday) and I hope our see you then.  

My last week (a mix of stuff)

Hello there.  This is gonna be a bit of a mish-mash of traditional ‘bloggy’ content alongside a brief delve into my usual architectural musing so that will explain the potential irrelevance against my previous content.  Regardless, here is my last week and what went on:

I got a cold kinda sums it up :-\

Elaborating on that point; in the later part of last week I got a rather painful throat, drippy nose and the occasional headache that put a damper on my previous plans of travelling and doing some research.  Now I know that the common cold isn’t a particular debilitating thing to happen, it’s just I like to ‘get it over with’ and not do much for the brief day or two so that I can get back on track faster in the long run.  Unfortunately, this was hampered by the fact it decided not to clear after one or two days and that I had a busy weekend / early weekday coming up.  In this time of ailment, there were events I was involved in which I met with varying circumstance and they go along as follows:

• 1.      Field research visit on Sunday morning (5^th October 2014).  This was a rather early start to the morning which was met with a bite in the air and my throat on the mend.  The walk was pleasant but coarseness of the wild was annoying as I was looking to be involved in meetings for the visit later on.  The site itself was an old manor house in my town’s communal parkland and with its age and current restoration in progress was a den of dust; particularly its basement / cellar in which the dust created a short term skirmish with me.  Talking in the later meeting was a case of directed coughs away from the others as we discussed the current research deadlines and potential output.  Other than the respiratory side of me making itself known frequently, it was a nice morning met with some good progress made with the project related to the site. 

• 2.      Architectural talk on Tuesday afternoon (7^th October 2014).  The day before had been an aggravating grab of tissue paper every 5-10 minutes to clear my nose which followed right into the night.  This night / morning in particular I got asleep around the 7-8am mark, giving me at max 2-2 ½ hours of sleep to work on.  This would have been fine any other day, but this was the day I was giving a talk to a group of adults with an interest in art and design.  It was a group I advertised my interests and research to and by that action was hired to give a talk on architecture and its history; so giving a brilliant first impression and enjoyable talk was paramount to me expressing this world that I am involved in.  The venue was packed to some 50-odd attendees and now I had to inform, entertain and intrigue them with some 4000 years of architecture in the space of an hour or so; alongside being very tired and blowing my nose every 5 minutes.  Much to my delight, I charged head on with the talk and in the space of a couple minutes found my stride into the fundamentals of pre-historic concepts of architecture.  As of today, I called it my “academics adrenalin” in a random off-topic chat on skype which I’ll look to put into the vernacular onward.  Anyway, The talk ended to a very happy crowd to stayed around for ½ hour or so to ask questions and thank me, which in the end kept me going right back to my home where I crashed and caught up on sleep.

As of last night / today I’m now feeling very well and hoping to get fully back on track over the upcoming weekend which should be nice.  I’m kinda hoping that I ‘got in early’ so to speak with getting a cold so that any potential bug going around closer to the Christmas holiday period should be suitably avoidable and not affect one of my favourite times of the year.  I’m involved in some fun locally based pub crawls and the likes around Christmas and you can’t be on form with flu meds in your system eh!

During all this time, I didn't really look to play a lot of games which may seem odd to some of you.  With more time dedicated to lounging about, one may image that you want to kick back and not think while you command an army or further a story.  However, I kinda didn’t do too much other than keeping up with my youtube subscriptions and watching a lot of twitch.  In my usual gaming time, I like to have twitch / youtube running on my phone as a peripheral screen with audio but I wasn’t really feeling the mild multitasking it involves.  The games I watched were mostly Dota 2 and Hearthstone but it also involved Heroes of Newerth, Path of Exile and a couple random games that one sometimes browses out of curiosity.  Whenever I watch the more competitive games, I always think back to the vision of when watching competitive games will be more widespread in the entertainment industry with pubs and bars showcasing it alongside traditional sports like Football and Rugby (UK references but of course replace relevant to own culture).  I have been to a couple ‘barcraft’ events and they were enjoyable for the most part. 

As my thoughts were with my IRL work mostly this week, I haven’t really thought about any particular games / architecture crossovers this week.  That being said, while looking through my old university notes, I did feel like I should make a small note on one of my previous posts.  On my post regarding Kitsch Architecture and paint by numbers game design, I do feel that there is a possibility that one could find higher relevance in the term “Vernacular Architecture” over “Kitsch” as it’s a term regarding the everyday.  That could be up to the reader in question, but you may want to personally review whether either term is more appropriate.  However, I may do another piece which tries to address the potential differences / similarities so we shall see.

Other than that, it leaves me with thinking what I want to talk about in the coming week.  I was thinking either ‘signs and semiology’ or regionalism concepts but I’m not sure.  Assume one of them and I hope you found this view into my current life interesting at least.