[game_preservation] MIT Research

[Devin Monnens]

Henry,
I am focusing primarily on games prior to 1972. Simply put, while Spacewar
was INCREDIBLY popular, there is surprisingly little documentation of other
games you might otherwise expect to be developed based on Spacewar's design
- aside from, of course, Spacewar mods. My primary focus of research is why
this at least appears to be the case (lack of documentation? Or students
just didn't make them?). The focus is primarily this period from 1962-1972,
but it really goes up to about 1976 with the release of Colossal Cave
Adventure (say, the first 15 years of the computer game; I initially picked
1972 to coincide with the launch of the Odyssey and Pong).

I hadn't considered Eliza and SHRDLU, but was looking primarily at games. I
am interested in tracking the different memes that developed the videogame
industry. There seems to be a direct correlation between what people played
and what they developed later on (whether it was for computer systems or
console systems).

BASIC I haven't really looked at. I wasn't aware of any BASIC games
developed in this time period, but I know that many were made for the
platform. It isn't so much important that a BASIC game could run on older
hardware but whether it was developed before 1972 (or 1976 if I go up to
CCA).

PLATO is another interesting meme, but most of their games are developed
after 1972, so I have to wonder what their influences were (is there a book
or paper about PLATO?). PARC was incredibly influential (just now surprised
to see they developed the emoticon, too!) and so this is one strong
influence thread on computer games (as opposed to console and arcade).

Another area that tends to get dismissed in game history is Chess AI
(despite the fact that they are videogames in every sense of the word!).
Eliza and SHRDLU certainly had strong influences on language parsers. I'm a
little surprised they don't seem to be in use for modern CRPGs and that we
still use text menus...

-Devin

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 10:17 AM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:


>  Devin,

>

> Is that true?  There is quite a bit on SHRDLU, for example, or the Game of

> Life (I think the computer version was at MIT).  Also, Eliza, if you

> consider that a game.   Was there a game in particular that you had in

> mind?

>

> Also, for non-MIT games, the PLATO (Empire, Mines of Moria, etc.) games and

> Adventure.  Are you looking at non-academic games like Hunt the Wumpus?

> There were a lot of BASIC games, and those are pretty well documented.

>

> Henry

>

>

> Devin Monnens wrote:

>

> Henry,

>  I don't mind contacting them over telephone or e-mail. Do you think any

> of them might be interested in talking to a game history researcher about

> this? I'm trying to understand why there were so few games aside from

> Spacewar mods documented from that time period.

>

>  -Devin

>

> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:

>

>> Devin,

>>

>> All the MIT people I know from that era probably live within ten miles of

>> Stanford these days.  Another confirmation of how smart they are!

>>

>> Henry

>>

>> Devin Monnens wrote:

>>

>>  I am interested in doing research on mainframe computer games produced

>> before 1975. I will be in Boston from November 6-9 on an unrelated trip, but

>> will be visiting MIT for their open house. I was curious if anyone here knew

>> someone at MIT who would have knowledge about this period who I could meet

>> with while there. Any other resources would also be greatly appreciated!

>>  -Devin

>>

>> --

>> Devin Monnens

>> www.deserthat.com

>>

>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>

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

>>

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>>

>>

>> --

>> Henry Lowood

>> Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;

>>      Film & Media Collections

>> HRG, Green Library

>> 557 Escondido Mall, Stanford University Libraries

>> Stanford CA 94305-6004 USAhttp://www.stanford.edu/~lowood <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>lowood at stanford.edu; 650-723-4602

>>

>>

>>

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>>

>

>

> --

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

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

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>

>

> --

> 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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>

>



-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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