[game_preservation] Game Canon

[Henry Lowood]

That is a long bucket list!  I guess the author is claiming to have 
played all of them, though.

Henry

On 8/8/2010 11:49 AM, Jan Baart wrote:

> There's also this upcoming effort:

>

> http://www.amazon.co.uk/1001-Video-Games-Must-Before/dp/0789320908

>

> Jan

>> 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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-- 
Henry Lowood
Curator, History of Science&  Technology Collections;
    Film&  Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu
http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

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