[game_preservation] A Life Well Wasted

[Andrew Armstrong]

I'd like to agree with Henry here on all counts. Videos are not 
equivalent (nothing is except for a time machine), but I think 
historians will prefer that to any re-enactments - as stated, while 
Civil War guys might march around with full kit, but historians would 
kill to have a video of the lives of those soldiers (or anyone else at 
that time in history!).

If we start saying it's "Not good enough" in any way we just need to go 
back 100 years and see how little was filmed, and think how much we miss 
in history because of it (and how much actual film, audio and other 
culture has been lost permanently). It's easy to wave a hand if it's all 
you know, but certainly I'd welcome much much more to the IA's 
collections. I hope Henry got some good stuff of Tabular Rasa closing 
for instance! Once in a games lifetime experience that, not something 
that can ever be remade.

On singleplayer: Let's Play's are awesome ;) Need to check and see if 
any are being made of MMO's, there are a odd few around - gets the 
experience with commentary, which is ace :) - footage is good, footage 
with commentary (optional is best) is even better, which I intend to try 
at some point.

Reminded me to listen to these - I've added them to my MP3 player now, I 
don't know why I forgot before.

Andrew

Henry Lowood wrote:

> Hi Stuart,

>

> Well, I guess we disagree a little on the value of gameplay 

> documentation (which is not just video).   My point was that 

> documenting a complex multi-player or massively multi-player world is 

> as much about documenting events that happen in those spaces as it is 

> about preserving software.  I don't think that's marginal at all.

>

> If the focus is on "experiences," then I agree with you. That sort of 

> preservation is closer to re-enactment than history, however.  Ok, 

> yes, it is possible that groups will get together to play Everquest in 

> 100 years, just like they camp out in Civil War replica uniforms and 

> fire muskets in line.  But that experience is NOT the experience of 

> what happens in virtual worlds today, i.e., it is not going to be 

> history.  It is still going to take place 100 years from now, no 

> matter how you cut it.  For similar reasons, I disagree strongly that 

> playing with bots is going to be informative, at least in terms of 

> historical work.

>

> In Preserving Virtual Worlds, our goal is to do both -- software 

> preservation and "event" preservation (for want of a better term).   

> My emphasis on documentation of player behavior is more of a 

> corrective to the idea that it's all about software preservation than 

> it is an attempt to say we should only do video capture and gather 

> documentation.  But if you put a gun to my head and say pick one or 

> the other, software or documentation, you can't have both, as a 

> historian I would go for documentation.

>

> Last, video capture of single-player games is absolutely useful; I 

> certainly agree with that statement. 

>

> Henry

>

> Stuart Feldhamer wrote:

>>

>> I just listened to both episodes. I thought they were very well done, 

>> although I think they would both have been improved by video -- 

>> especially the one on collectors. You can't begin to understand 

>> collectors until you actually SEE some of their collections.

>>

>>  

>>

>> Henry, you made a comment in the podcast that a single player game 

>> can be booted up in 100 years and enjoyed, but a multi-player game 

>> can't be, because it requires other people to play, and the guy won't 

>> be able to find other people to play it with him. Regardless if that 

>> is true or not, it's impossible to preserve the actual experience of 

>> playing the game by taking video and screenshots. The only way the 

>> guy in 100 years is going to be able to have the experience of 

>> playing the game is if he manages to get a whole bunch of other 

>> people to play with him, or if we can design suitably convincing bots 

>> to take the place of the other players.

>>

>>  

>>

>> I agree that gameplay videos have value, but the same applies to 

>> gameplay videos of single player games. What is specifically added to 

>> the mix by preserving gameplay videos from multi-player games? It 

>> sounded from the podcast as if this was some kind of solution to the 

>> problem of preserving multi-player games in general. I think it's 

>> useful, but it only adds marginally to the preservation of the game 

>> experience.

>>

>>  

>>

>> Stuart

>>

>>  

>>

>>  

>>

>> *From:* game_preservation-bounces at igda.org 

>> [mailto:game_preservation-bounces at igda.org] *On Behalf Of *Henry Lowood

>> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 04, 2009 1:11 PM

>> *To:* IGDA Game Preservation SIG

>> *Subject:* [game_preservation] A Life Well Wasted

>>

>>  

>>

>> Some of you may be interested in the far-flung corners of the world 

>> that the Preserving Virtual Worlds project has reached.  Others I 

>> know are intensely interested in the world of game collectors.  In 

>> either case, check out Robert Ashley's new podcast, A Life Well Wasted:

>> http://alifewellwasted.com/feed/atom/

>> The second episode covers the world of game collectors, which I have 

>> to say is not so different in some ways from book collectors (said 

>> from a library perspective). The last quarter or so is about our 

>> project. Robert Ashley, the man behind ALWW, has said on forums he 

>> might release the interview with me in its entirety.  He is a bright 

>> guy and a great interviewer -- makes you wonder about all the talent 

>> shaking loose from 1Up.

>> Oh, the first podcast is also interesting, covering the history and 

>> demise of EGM.

>> Henry

>>

>> -- 

>>

>> Henry Lowood, Ph.D.

>>

>> Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;

>>

>>  Film & Media Collections

>>

>> HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall

>>

>> Stanford University Libraries

>>

>> Stanford CA 94305-6004

>>

>> 650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>; 

>> http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>

>>

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>>   

>

> -- 

> Henry Lowood, Ph.D.

> Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;

>  Film & Media Collections

> HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall

> Stanford University Libraries

> Stanford CA 94305-6004

> 650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood 

> <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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