Current Game Preservation is Not Enough

Current Game Preservation is Not Enough. Eric Kaltman. Eric Kaltman's blog. 6 June, 2016.
     The current preservation practices we use for games and software must be reconsidered for modern computer games. The Standard preservation model considers three major areas of interest:

1. the physical extent of the game, 
2. the data stored on it, and 
3. the hardware necessary to run it. 

The long term physical maintenance of games is not particularly good since the media and hardware degrade over time, and the data will not be readable as the media fail. The model also does not reflect the current game technology or the networked world.  "Solutions? What are some ways to combat this looming preservation quagmire? (It’s also not looming, since it’s already here.)"

1. Consider what we are trying to save when we preserve video games. Is it to save the ability to play a historical game at some point in the future or record the act of play itself.
2. Get the people creating games to dedicate time to basic preservation activities, such as providing  records of development, production processes, and legacy source code that would help to recreate or recover the games .
3. There needs to be more pressure and motivation from society to legitimate games as cultural production worth saving, and to create institutional structures to fight for preservation activity. Similar to what is being done for film.
4. This all applies to more than to just games, but also software in general, which may be in an even worse situation.

The post refers to two YouTube presentations that the author gave on game preservation: 

• Knowledge Cafe - Games in Sound and Vision (with Eric Kaltman)
• The Troubles with Game History: Objects and Game Play

Digital Preservation Matters.