[game_preservation] Descriptive terms for Video Games

[Pugh, Richard]

Jan,


> P.S.: If you're interested in our current taxonomy I can provide you an internal document that gives game

> examples. There are plans to make this public along with definitions and write-ups exploring the specific

> genres, but that'll still be a while!


Absolutely!  Pipe them along!

I think you brought up some valid points, and I agree with many of them.  I'll look into your post in more detail later, but off the top of my head...

We don't want to exclude LCSH of the LC genre headings from this project; that would be throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.  What we're trying to do is develop something to add to the existing structure.  Also, we want to have the terms follow the general structure of LCSH/LCGFH, to make it easier to integrate with the rest of the catalog. If you've ever used the LC genre form headings for motion pictures, you'll find that a given movie can have three or four genre headings; we expect similar results in the game world.  If a given game gets over a dozen genre headings, then the usefulness of the record comes into question.  The cataloger's "rule of three" will likely be applied:  We will choose the two or three terms that most adequately describe the game in hand.


My brain may be wandering here, but the "cloud tag" versus taxonomy debate seems to be just another iteration of an old, long-running battle.  Namely, free text versus controlled vocabulary.  I remember that debate raging while I was in graduate school (now approaching 20 years ago), and it's still going on.  In the words of Mr. Spock, "fascinating."

Richard J. Pugh
Motion Picture, Broadcast, & Recorded Sound Division
National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Library of Congress
(202) 707-6636 / rpugh at loc.gov

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