[game_preservation] Descriptive terms for Video Games

[Henry Lowood]

Richard,

One suggestion: You might want to check out some of the Stanford records 
for digital games in our OPAC.  Anybody can view them.  However, I 
suspect that we are doing pretty much what you are doing.

And some thoughts: As you know, works of fiction are generally treated a 
bit different from non-fiction works, as far as monographic cataloging.  
Subject cataloging is often non-existent for works of fiction, which may 
be a shame, but scholars have learned to live with that fact.  There are 
other works produced by scholars that provide some help with respect to 
themes or other aspects of (fictional) literature and films.  I'll 
confess that I'm not wild about the idea of burning in genre terms in a 
cataloging record, because ideas about genres and how to apply them 
change.  Other than genre, what kind of subject analysis were you 
thinking of providing?  For the original Call of Duty, for example, 
would you include the term for World War II, etc., as would be the 
practice say for a monograph about the same subjects?   Or would you 
treat it more like a novel?

Here is how our catalogers cataloged it:

   UPC: 047875323797
            Publisher #: 32379 : Activision
                  Title: Call of duty [electronic resource] / Activision and
                         Infinity Ward.
                Imprint: Santa Monica, Calif. : Activision, c2003.
   Physical Description: 2 CD-ROMs : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in + 1 instruction
                         manual (44 p. : ill. ; 18 cm.).
                   Note: Title from disc label.
                Summary: Experience the intensity of World War II's epic
                         battles including D-Day, the Russian Charge at
                         Stalingrad, and the Battle of Berlin.  Together with
                         your squad, play through 24 epic missions on four
                         interconnected campaigns, or go online for Axis versus
                         Allies team-based multiplayer action.
                   Note: Rated T for Teen.
                   Note: System requirements : English version of Windows
                         98/ME/2000/XP; 3D hardware accelerator card required -
                         100% DirectX 9.0b compatible 32 MB hardware
                         accelerator w/full T&L capabilities video card and
                         latest drivers; 600 MHz processor or higher for
                         systems with Windows 98/ME; 700 MHz processor for
                         systems with Windows 2000/XP; 128 MB RAM; 8X CD-ROM
                         drive; 1.4 GB uncompressed hard disk space (plus 400
                         MB for Windows 98/ME swap file, 600 MB for Windows
                         2000/XP swap file); 100% DirectX 9.0b compatible 16
                         bit sound card and latest drivers; 100% Windows
                         98/ME/2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest
                         drivers; DirectX 9.0b (included).
                   Note: System requirements for Multiplayer mode: Internet
                         (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported; Internet
                         play requires 56 Kbps (or faster) modem and latest
                         drivers; LAN play requires network interface card and
                         latest drivers.
                   Note: System requirements : Supported chipsets:  ATI Radeon
                         cards, nVidia GeForce chipsets, Matrox Parhelia.
                         Note: Some 3D accelerator cards with the chipsets
                         listed here may not be compatible with the 3D
                         acceleration features utilized by Call of Duty.
                         Please refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100%
                         DirectX 9.0b compatibility.
           Subject (LC): World War, 1939-1945--Computer games.
           Subject (LC): Computer war games--Software.
           Organization: Activision (Firm)
           Organization: Infinity Ward (Firm)
                   ISBN: 1584165448 : $49.99
                   ISBN: 9781584165446
   GREEN--
               Location: MEDIA-MTXT copy 1
            Library has: Disc 1-2 + "Instruction manual"

GREEN CALL NUMBER                               COPY  LOCATION
    1)ZMS 1157 DISC 1                              1   MEDIA-MTXT
    2)ZMS 1157 DISC 2                              1   MEDIA-MTXT
    3)ZMS 1157 INSTRUCTION MANUAL                  1   MEDIA-MTXT



Henry

On 6/9/2011 3:46 PM, Alex Handy wrote:

> Hey Richard. My wife is a fledgeling librarian, and she constantly 

> complains about the Library of Congress' methods of categorization.

>

> Rather than emulating them, perhaps something similar to the Dewey 

> system could be formulated. We could start with broad topics, such as 

> the genres, then refine those into sub-words....

>

> Something like the strategy genre could then be refined into 

> sub-categories: turn-based, real-time, fast-paced, plodding, tactical, 

> multi-tasking, etc...

>

> Perhaps another idea would be to refine the tags used in existing 

> online game listings. Giant Bomb and Moby Games sort of have tag 

> clouds.... kinda.... http://www.giantbomb.com/

>

> Giant Bomb has "concepts." Might be a good starting point: 

> http://www.giantbomb.com/concepts/

>

> On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 2:14 PM, Pugh, Richard <rpugh at loc.gov 

> <mailto:rpugh at loc.gov>> wrote:

>

>     Greetings, all.

>

>     Some of us at NAVCC are building an archival collection of video

>     games, both console and platform based.  We are cataloging the

>     items using conventional machine-readable cataloging records, and

>     the standardized Americal Library  Association descriptive rules

>     for computer files.

>

>     While the descriptive aspect of this project is doing very well,

>     we are having some trouble with subject analysis and genre

>     selection.  We have found the Library of Congress subject headings

>     to be sorely lacking, and the new Library of Congress genre form

>     headings are (so far) a minimal improvement.  We're looking into

>     using a different thesaurus of descriptive terms, or, developing

>     our own list.  Has anyone in here found or developed a thesaurus

>     (or term list) for describing video games?  If so, I would be

>     interested to know more about such lists.

>

>     Thank you,

>

>     Richard J. Pugh

>

>     Motion Picture, Broadcast, & Recorded Sound Division

>

>     National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Library of Congress

>

>     (202) 707-6636 <tel:%28202%29%20707-6636> / rpugh at loc.gov

>     <mailto:rpugh at loc.gov>

>

>

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>

>

>

>

> -- 

> Alex Handy

> Founder/Director

> The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment

> http://www.themade.org

> http://blog.themade.org

> 410-2-31337-2 (mobile)

>

>

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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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