The study of video games has become a serious endeavour, with a huge amount of research being dedicated to the sociological and cultural impact of the medium. For
example, the UK government has put forward plans for tax relief for the video games industry (Wilson, 2013) and its impact is increasingly recognised in the Arts community
(Antonelli 2012).
The increasing prevalence of video games, both as a business and a focus of study, as well as, the rapid evolution of the technology used to create them, has led to
the question of their preservation and sustained accessibility into the future. In addition to the usual preservation issues that come with digital storage mediums, hardware and
software commonly raised in any digital preservation problem, the copyright laws which govern how the software is used and distributed is much more controlled in the video
games industry, compounded with complexities introduced through methods by which developers and publishers will protect their work (such as Digital Rights Management
(DRM) software).
This study builds on the work carried out in 2008, and reported in Donahue and Kraus (2012), on the preservation practices being carried out by the video games industry, and by the player community. Their results showed a worrying disinterest in preservation on the part of the industry, which contrasted with the enthusiasm shown by
the player community. This study attempts to expand on the results from Donahue and Kraus' work by looking at the video game industry's attitudes towards preservation in the UK, honing in on a comprehensive study of records management practices in the games industry, and, resulting in recommendations for the games archival community.
References:
- Antonelli, P. 2012. Video Games: 14 in the Collection, for Starters. Museum of Modern Art website.
- Donahue, R; Kraus, K. 2012. "Do You Want to Save Your Progress?” The Role of Professional and Player Communities in Preserving Virtual Worlds. Digital Humanities Quarterly 6 (2).
- Wilson, R. 2013. 'UK Games Tax Relief Passes Another Milestone'. Games Industry International. 2nd July.