[game_preservation] Spring Cleaning the SIG, +2009 ideas (Please respond!)

[Devin Monnens]

Andrew,

That list looks good. I've been a bit preoccupied with some other things
lately, but this looks good. I personally have some interest in the
resources section as I think big centralized lists of articles, etc is very
important to research.

Another concern I've got for preservation is actually dying skill sets. We
know that the knowledge of how old videogames were made is really
disappearing, and the process of actually making classic games is reduced to
either homebrew groups doing NES and Atari games and games like Rockman 9
that LOOK like they ran on an NES, but actually are too much for the system
to handle. However, the technology always changes, so the tools really
aren't that important so long as we can still make games and still make
something that looks 8-bit.

More important is the loss of an actual entire format of games. The one I'm
talking about is pinball. Hardly anybody makes pinball games anymore. I was
talking with Micky G. Albert over at Mindware about this and he said that
there's only one or two guys out there who are actually making new pinball
games. A digital pinball game is simply not the same as a physical one,
because the physics and performance are all different. Mindware has been
researching how pinball games are made by repairing them, and hopes to work
on development kits for homebrew pinball creation.

The trouble that I pointed out to him was, the skills for how to make good
pinball games will disappear with the last designers. How do we know that if
you put this flipper here and this bumper here, that creates a particular
system that creates 'fun' or 'engaging' play? You would have to learn how to
make the wheel all over again. So preserving games in this case isn't so
much preserving museum pieces of pinball machines but rather preserving oral
histories and how-to's of how games are actually made.

It's different from the loss of Famicom dev kits for instance because we
still know how to make videogames. It would be more like if people stopped
making pixel art or 2D games (it's a dying breed, but there are still many
out there, so it won't go away). We would have to study how the games were
made if we ever wanted to make a new one that compared - otherwise, we'd
have to start from scratch.

Anyway, I think getting some oral histories of pinball development might be
a good project for that section, but I honestly don't know enough to see how
far to pursue that. I do think it is going to be pretty important though
because it is a very unique problem.

-Devin

On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:


>  Hey all,

>

> I'm gearing up to revamp the SIG wiki pages, to make them, well, more

> readable for starters. Big blocks of text do not help a casual reader, and

> the page is huge.

>

> So I'm proposing to cut down the front page text and move that into the

> separate pages for more detail. I'll probably make a good list using bullet

> points for the internal SIG projects (Memorials, white paper, information,

> etc.), and another for externally support by SIG member projects (IA, etc.).

>

> This also gives me an opportunity to revamp what the projects actually aim

> to achieve. Most of this will not be necessary to change, but I think rather

> then me determining what is best, people should be able to give a quick

> comment if they see something wrong!

>

> I'll go through briefly what is likely worth changing, from the front page

> top to bottom: http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG

>

> ----------------------------------------

>

> *Overview*

> The main objectives of the SIG should probably still stay the same. The

> history section is actually more important then it seems to be, and I need

> to get more clearer dates (when did Henry take over, what the SIG has done

> in the past before I joined!) and make a new page for this. Contributions

> for this welcome!

>

> The objectives will stay I think, with some additional hyperlinks. If

> anyone has any additions or subtractions from our general list of

> objectives, please say.

>

> *SIG News*

> I'll leave this as this is, but make it into a smaller header.

>

> *Current Initiatives and Projects*

> I'll make this into a list of projects the SIG currently is working on

> internally and externally. I think it is worth keeping the variable naming

> (Initiatives vs. Projects). The list will go alphabetically I think, there

> currently is no order. The list also will possibly be split or marked by

> status ("ongoing", "not started", "on hold" etc.)

>

> *Digital Game Canon*

> I still need to finish the wiki pages for each game, stupidly I've not done

> that yet. However; this project is at the moment "On Hold". GDC just *doesn't

> care* *enough *to host any historically important sessions and the IGDA

> won't ever have space for this kind of thing. Henry said he had worked on

> the 2008 ones too.

>

> Proposal: Make a note that the project is "ON HOLD". Figure out how to get

> this back on track for 2009. This is all Henry's work so he'll be the one

> doing any of this I guess ;)

>

> *Memorial pages*

> The short paragraph is enough for a list item. The project is still ongoing

> (with some backlog to add but nothing immediately coming to the fore).

>

> *Contribution Materials Information*

> A bit messy. I'll clean it up.

>

> Proposal: This should be "Information" not a "Project" (it's basically

> nearly complete now). Make a new section for "SIG Preservation Information"

> of which the list of museums and archives which accept information should go

> along with how developers can contribute information.

>

> *Videogame Collectors Information*

> Proposal: As above, move to an "Information" section. This was ongoing

> research but is a very low priority - without inside knowledge, I certainly

> can't do this myself, and we really need some expert collector to simply

> list the facts behind collectors, the feel of what they do and many

> resources (websites, magazines, ways to trawl ebay or whatever). This needs

> a volunteer!

>

> *Oral Histories*

> This project has officially not started, not even so far as to get it's own

> wiki page. :)

>

> Proposal: This should be possibly looked at with cooperation from archives

> or museums. Issues: we don't have any SIG members who want to do this, since

> it does take a lot of time! (especially if transcribing) Possible solution:

> work on text based interviews, or Skype/whatever calls, or even something in

> a virtual environment. Not as good for documentary work but useful none the

> less. Possibly see what museums and archives are doing specifically in this

> area - I know the UK one won't specifically work on them without needing

> them for a show/exhibit, and likely most of the others will be the same.

>

> *White paper: Importance of archival work

> *This needs retitling as "White Papers". It needs cleaning up. I'll move

> the pages to be more coherant (the brainstorm for this years paper needs to

> be put in a "2008" folder or something). It'll be a new section too,

> probably, or at least sub lists will have the actual paper entries.

>

> *Internet Archive Work*

> Will be moved to "Externally supported projects". Will list the collections

> and their contents in bullet point form too, if it looks good, and get it's

> own wiki page as well.

>

> *IGDA History*

> An internal SIG project (well, more *my* project...). This is "On hold"

> for my time needs to go elsewhere (see this!). Pretty simple to put into a

> bullet point. Anyone who wants to help conduct interviews, provide sources

> and research for this medium-sized project give me a shout.

>

> *External Preservation Projects*

> This really is "Websites and museums doing work". Should really be titled

> better.

>

> *Resources*

> Information lists and so forth. I think there could well be just a big

> section for "Information" and having "Resources", "Projects" and so forth

> there would work better.

>

> *Contact and discussion / Membership*

> Proposal: This can get moved into the "Overview" section at the top.

>

> *External Links*

> Proposal: Remove this. I added this for no reason before, meh.

>

> ----------------------------------------

>

> Now, anyone have any criticisms or whatever on the current list of projects

> (all above) or SIG aims, or any ideas for new projects, please say. If

> you're on the list for some other reason or think all this administrative

> discussion is boring, also say! Sometimes posting on this list and

> requesting information on "Why is no one posting" is like getting water out

> of a rock :) (not counting the half dozen of you who do respond, awesome you

> lot!).

>

> I'd rather like to know what to improve in 2009, what would attract more

> active participation or would be useful for members, members like you! I

> can't know this without someone saying something.

>

> Once the new IGDA site starts btw, we'll be losing the "mailing list",

> since it'll be subscription-based forums (ie; email capacity on forums. sp

> similar functionality. I'll make sure that's open to free members and is

> viewable when logged out like this mailing list is for histories sake,

> hehe), you'll have to sign up for at least a free account to be there, and

> I'll then know how many people we have, so no excuses then! ;)

>

> Once that site is live too, I'll be making 2009 possibly a year to gather

> together people who are in the field into at least a group that has an ear

> in on discussions here. The fact there is no formal organisation for the

> history of videogames (unlike other historically researched fields), and no

> conferences, this is as good as we have right now, so best to try and gather

> together people if possible :)

>

> Thanks,

>

> Andrew

>

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>

>



-- 
The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

"Until next time..."
Captain Commando
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