[game_preservation] Game Canon

[Henry Lowood]

Rowan,

You probably know this, but a mini-version of such a book exists, 
published (which is interesting in itself) by the BFI:

http://www.amazon.com/100-Videogames-BFI-Screen-Guides/dp/1844571629

And of course, we know the authors ...

Henry

On 8/3/2010 5:58 PM, Rowan Kaiser wrote:

> The main way that I think canons or Halls of Fame or lists of best 

> ever work is if there's some kind of lens. Simple subjectivity is one 

> way to go about it, but there are other ways. The initial list you 

> linked to, Andrew, had a fairly interesting one in that it seemed to 

> be aimed at aspiring designers. This allows bad games as well as good 

> on the list, entertainingly. It had some organizational and editorial 

> problems, but I think that's a fascinating concept, especially as it 

> brings in non-video games.

>

> One idea that I've had for a long time is an encyclopedia of video 

> games. But not like a Britannica or World Book where it's ostensibly a 

> collection of facts presented in a neutral voice, but like some of the 

> film encyclopedias which present a series of essays on each of their 

> subjects. This allows for more interesting opinions, more diverse 

> forms of writing or argument, and, at least conceptually, a sort of 

> user-generated canon. Maybe I don't care about, say, The Legend of 

> Dragoon, but one of its fans can write convincingly about why it's 

> interesting or important. Likewise, a game like Starcraft is important 

> in completely different ways to completely different people. One essay 

> could talk about its role in competitive gaming, while another focuses 

> on its interesting use of narrative for a strategy game.

>

>

> Rowan

>

> On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 4:08 PM, Andrew Armstrong 

> <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:

>

>     Replying to everyone here at once; I agree with everyone! Firstly;

>     Canon should be expansive - why not if we can do so? :D However,

>     the degree which it is classified Canon is just so that it isn't

>     /everything/, and probably it'd take both influential (ala Bill

>     and Matts work, although their website goes a lot deeper!) and the

>     pioneers and tech instigators. Like other technology mediums,

>     there is a lot of good first attempts, with the polishers really

>     shining it later for real use, but both are important.

>

>     Secondly; that list was just an example which sprung this idea

>     again - that there are tons of appendixes and short lists of games

>     without the kind of historical context most people here recognise,

>     thus have massive flaws. Daikatana? Trespasser? Both perhaps good

>     examples of some really poor design, even if it tries to pioneer

>     some aspect or other, but otherwise only interesting at all in how

>     bad they are. Even Lets Play's of these games are notorious! Not

>     quite canon material perhaps, but it does depend...they'd have

>     their place but it'd be low down the list.

>

>     The IGN list is actually surprisingly interesting for noting the

>     pioneers and influencers, even if it is very boring, and also

>     oddly not really complete or in depth (it again is like a book

>     appendix, and has similar issues with the choices in games

>     perhaps, but so does anything!).

>

>     Thirdly; That is great news Henry that you've still got it on your

>     mind. I'm certainly up for helping whatever effort. It would be

>     the case that a great step would be to get the LoC to consider

>     games properly. I could check out the UK scene on it too, and I am

>     sure some other European institutions might be interested since

>     they preserve films but not games as such (we can assume the

>     actual game museums/archives will protect them but they of course

>     need to be notified of these important games too :) so a list is

>     always good). Even just getting them on board to protect the

>     actual media if not much ephemera would work wonders for posterity.

>

>     In any case, glad there is some interest, however minor! I think

>     the easiest part for many people is arguing why a game is really,

>     really important in a good way - which is the major first step. I

>     said perhaps start small, and this is mainly because if anything,

>     the IGN list shows that even a small few-paragraph description of

>     "why" is a good starting point for further investigation.

>

>     Andrew

>

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>

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

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