From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Thu Oct  1 05:17:03 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:17:03 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] More Retro Machinima (with Andrew raving
 about glossaries, oh yay)
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50909301734t3ae0fe41y4c446846d1e9970f@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50909272015j4f2f32cfha809d0dc76684924@mail.gmail.com>	<4AC39332.8070000@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50909301734t3ae0fe41y4c446846d1e9970f@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4AC4738F.1070907@aarmstrong.org>

You kind of get into weird territory trying to define "game engine" then 
:) Why not just any animation engine? (or going further, animation 
studio/toolset). What about compositing video effects or other work on 
top of original footage? (how much editing is allowed before it goes 
into the realm of raw "animation"). Are live actors allowed to be 
involved? what about if only screenshots are used?

Oh, nevermind the borderlines on the content aspect - is a raw recording 
of a videogame machinima? what about with some commentary? what about it 
being played through in a specific intentional way? what about the 
addition or lack of original music, models, animations, sounds, voices, 
script or story? Lots more too, hmm...

I think it's well worth defining at some point, I'm trying to write a 
small glossary of videogame terms and this is one I've not got around to 
doing because it is one of those things best "show by example" and "I 
know it when I see it". It'd be worth finding some good examples at some 
point to outline the core cases, and the more borderline ones.

Doesn't help when the game researchers at DiGRA basically are all about 
defining things and they can't even agree on many items. I'm not trying 
to argue btw, I just am interested in these definitions. At some point 
getting some experts to define Machinima (Henry at the forefront of this 
specific example I'm sure, but this is only one example ;) ) along with 
a whole host of videogame-specific terms from their own fields would be 
cool. I'm going to contact DiGRA members about this, although a balance 
between "human readable" and "scientifically correct" would be a good 
idea (or at least, having both at the same time). For histories sake, I 
frankly am finding it hard myself to figure out some well-used terms, 
say, in the MMO space which I have next to no playtime in when reading 
things/investigating things, so I can't believe it'll be any easier in 
the future when those games have stopped operating, or areas die out, or 
move around.

On this topic has anyone got any good glossaries? My current references 
are the Videogame Style Guide which is neat (and we used as our standard 
for the white paper) and a odd few websites. Annoyingly Wikipedia has 
deleted all of its pages on such terms ages ago, and I don't know of any 
specific "videogame dictionary/glossary" site :)

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:
> I would say the bare bones is a video or film created using a game 
> engine. Performance need not be part of it (a real-time cutscene is 
> machinima; a pre-rendered cutscene is not). If this includes using 
> game animations (like say taking an Unreal or Halo character and 
> sticking him in front of a blue screen), then that broadens the 
> definition (part of the film must be created using a game engine). 
> Spartan X probably doesn't count because the animations are composed 
> and compiled separate.
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 11:19 AM, Andrew Armstrong 
> <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:
>
>     Hahaha, very good :)
>
>     Not sure what the "one true definition" of Machinima is (no doubt
>     there isn't one!). Wikipedia is all over the place on it ;)
>
>     Andrew
>
>
>     Devin Monnens wrote:
>>     Here is some more Japanese Retro Machinima (or maybe you can't
>>     specifically call it machinima because it isn't recordings of
>>     gameplay) I can't recognize everything, but it's pretty cool
>>     nonetheless!
>>
>>     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEEfy0nt1fo
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Devin Monnens
>>     www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>>
>>     The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>>       
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     game_preservation mailing list
>     game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>
>     http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>   
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Thu Oct  1 05:22:52 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:22:52 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] More Retro Machinima (with Andrew raving
 about glossaries, oh yay)
In-Reply-To: <4AC4738F.1070907@aarmstrong.org>
References: <9d1cf2d50909272015j4f2f32cfha809d0dc76684924@mail.gmail.com>	<4AC39332.8070000@aarmstrong.org>	<9d1cf2d50909301734t3ae0fe41y4c446846d1e9970f@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC4738F.1070907@aarmstrong.org>
Message-ID: <4AC474EC.3020507@aarmstrong.org>

Oh, hold my own horses, my mini-glossary I did write a mini machinima 
definition for myself, I wonder if this fits. Again, I wanted to find 
examples (there should be a lot more blue links or references!) but not 
too bad re-reading it now for 2 paragraphs despite being a bit "meh" on 
the descriptive side of content. Note while I want to get 
pronounciations, alternative spellings etc. I've obviously not done it 
to any standard here ;)

Just an example as it were.


      Machinima

    /Pronounced:/ "Ma-shin-e-ma" 

 From the words "Machine", "Animation" and "Cinema", it is the 
description of a range of videos made from filming videogames. These 
sometimes are specially made for a game to explain some story (released 
separately from the game, so thus not a cutscene), or be a fully 
released online video of a games content and playthrough (such as 
Anachronox 
<http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Anachronox%22%20AND%20collection%3Aanimationandcartoons>). 


Most commonly they are fictional films, based sometimes on the original 
characters but often new ones, with their own plot and filming unrelated 
to the normal game. There are also music videos, films, and series of 
works rather then one off's, or series based on the original characters. 
Usually the "cast" is played by player avatars in the multiplayer mode 
of the game.

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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Thu Oct  1 09:25:32 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:25:32 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] More Retro Machinima (with Andrew raving
	about glossaries, oh yay)
In-Reply-To: <4AC474EC.3020507@aarmstrong.org>
References: <9d1cf2d50909272015j4f2f32cfha809d0dc76684924@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC39332.8070000@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50909301734t3ae0fe41y4c446846d1e9970f@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC4738F.1070907@aarmstrong.org> <4AC474EC.3020507@aarmstrong.org>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910010625m3ac754adv7bd85f6d699d3bd1@mail.gmail.com>

So we would differentiate these from real-time video because RTV does not
use human players?
The reason I brought up blue screens is because if we had a modern
equivalent to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (say a sci fi war film with some guy
from Unreal in it). Roger Rabbit is animation, but it is not a fully
animated film.

I'm going to leave the rest of the defining to Henry for now as he's covered
more terrain than I have.

Regarding your glossary, I think such a book would be incredibly helpful,
especially if it is including technical terms used by artists and
programmers. Someone who is familiar with all the terms will be able to
communicate with fellow artists and programmers (something that seems to be
a problem in the industry as well as in education).

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 3:22 AM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:

>  Oh, hold my own horses, my mini-glossary I did write a mini machinima
> definition for myself, I wonder if this fits. Again, I wanted to find
> examples (there should be a lot more blue links or references!) but not too
> bad re-reading it now for 2 paragraphs despite being a bit "meh" on the
> descriptive side of content. Note while I want to get pronounciations,
> alternative spellings etc. I've obviously not done it to any standard here
> ;)
>
> Just an example as it were.
>
> Machinima
>  *Pronounced:* "Ma-shin-e-ma"
>
> From the words "Machine", "Animation" and "Cinema", it is the description
> of a range of videos made from filming videogames. These sometimes are
> specially made for a game to explain some story (released separately from
> the game, so thus not a cutscene), or be a fully released online video of a
> games content and playthrough (such as Anachronox<http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Anachronox%22%20AND%20collection%3Aanimationandcartoons>).
>
>
> Most commonly they are fictional films, based sometimes on the original
> characters but often new ones, with their own plot and filming unrelated to
> the normal game. There are also music videos, films, and series of works
> rather then one off's, or series based on the original characters. Usually
> the "cast" is played by player avatars in the multiplayer mode of the game.
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>


-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Thu Oct  1 09:33:16 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:33:16 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] New MLA Format for 2009
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910010633v6b1258d5ueacc259397940903@mail.gmail.com>

I feel this has some relevance to us as preservationists. While there is no
'Game' listing, the new updates do include a section on medium:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/15/
*Publication Medium.* Every entry receives a medium of publication marker.
Most entries will be listed as Print or Web, but other possibilities include
Performance, DVD, or TV. Most of these markers will appear at the end of
entries; however, markers for Web sources are followed by the date of
access.

Sadly, listing it as 'DVD' or 'CD' doesn't let you know what platform it is
for! What if I am referencing the Stephen Jay Gould interview on Bully for
Brontosaurus interactive CD for Windows 95? I don't think this will run in
Vista. Or, for a better example, an Amiga CDROM?

I find this surprising because either a) MLA does not care about getting
software to run or b) they do not have a need to reference older digital
media. Their desire to remove URLs from web references seems to indicate
that they aren't that interested in getting the referenced source to run.
And after all, how can you fact-check a primary source such as an interview
with a dead man or an e-mail interview? You have to take it at face value.

-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Thu Oct  1 09:35:10 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:35:10 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] More Retro Machinima (with Andrew raving
 about glossaries, oh yay)
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910010625m3ac754adv7bd85f6d699d3bd1@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50909272015j4f2f32cfha809d0dc76684924@mail.gmail.com>	<4AC39332.8070000@aarmstrong.org>	<9d1cf2d50909301734t3ae0fe41y4c446846d1e9970f@mail.gmail.com>	<4AC4738F.1070907@aarmstrong.org>
	<4AC474EC.3020507@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50910010625m3ac754adv7bd85f6d699d3bd1@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4AC4B00E.3010100@aarmstrong.org>

Yeah, that definition leaves a lot to be desired. My questions in my 
previous post were a lot more varied.

Glad you think a glossary might be useful. I dare not put it on the 
wiki, not because I care about being wrong (it can be corrected) just 
I've got it as a huge wiki list right now and it's impossible to find 
anything (the TOC is a few pages long...). I'm still slowly working on 
other php stuff so this was going to be part of that. Technical content 
is important. For browsing I'll have to make sure they can be separated 
- the main terms for videogame things are more specialised then most, if 
not all, graphical and programming terms, which is where there is little 
information available.

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:
> So we would differentiate these from real-time video because RTV does 
> not use human players?
>
> The reason I brought up blue screens is because if we had a modern 
> equivalent to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (say a sci fi war film with some 
> guy from Unreal in it). Roger Rabbit is animation, but it is not a 
> fully animated film.
>
> I'm going to leave the rest of the defining to Henry for now as he's 
> covered more terrain than I have.
>
> Regarding your glossary, I think such a book would be incredibly 
> helpful, especially if it is including technical terms used by artists 
> and programmers. Someone who is familiar with all the terms will be 
> able to communicate with fellow artists and programmers (something 
> that seems to be a problem in the industry as well as in education).
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 3:22 AM, Andrew Armstrong 
> <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:
>
>     Oh, hold my own horses, my mini-glossary I did write a mini
>     machinima definition for myself, I wonder if this fits. Again, I
>     wanted to find examples (there should be a lot more blue links or
>     references!) but not too bad re-reading it now for 2 paragraphs
>     despite being a bit "meh" on the descriptive side of content. Note
>     while I want to get pronounciations, alternative spellings etc.
>     I've obviously not done it to any standard here ;)
>
>     Just an example as it were.
>
>
>           Machinima
>
>         /Pronounced:/ "Ma-shin-e-ma" 
>
>     From the words "Machine", "Animation" and "Cinema", it is the
>     description of a range of videos made from filming videogames.
>     These sometimes are specially made for a game to explain some
>     story (released separately from the game, so thus not a cutscene),
>     or be a fully released online video of a games content and
>     playthrough (such as Anachronox
>     <http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Anachronox%22%20AND%20collection%3Aanimationandcartoons>).
>
>
>     Most commonly they are fictional films, based sometimes on the
>     original characters but often new ones, with their own plot and
>     filming unrelated to the normal game. There are also music videos,
>     films, and series of works rather then one off's, or series based
>     on the original characters. Usually the "cast" is played by player
>     avatars in the multiplayer mode of the game.
>
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     game_preservation mailing list
>     game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>
>     http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>   
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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Thu Oct  1 09:40:44 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:40:44 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] More Retro Machinima (with Andrew raving
	about glossaries, oh yay)
In-Reply-To: <4AC4B00E.3010100@aarmstrong.org>
References: <9d1cf2d50909272015j4f2f32cfha809d0dc76684924@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC39332.8070000@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50909301734t3ae0fe41y4c446846d1e9970f@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC4738F.1070907@aarmstrong.org> <4AC474EC.3020507@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50910010625m3ac754adv7bd85f6d699d3bd1@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC4B00E.3010100@aarmstrong.org>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910010640qc4e0576kc1f87b8bbcd62912@mail.gmail.com>

Hmm. Well, this might be something we could get game developers interested
in contributing to. If a term is used differently in your studio, then you
would say 'at our studio, we use this term in this way'. I think this works
as well for definitions of game - don't just have one definition, but
outline several key definitions that are in use.

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 7:35 AM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:

>  Yeah, that definition leaves a lot to be desired. My questions in my
> previous post were a lot more varied.
>
> Glad you think a glossary might be useful. I dare not put it on the wiki,
> not because I care about being wrong (it can be corrected) just I've got it
> as a huge wiki list right now and it's impossible to find anything (the TOC
> is a few pages long...). I'm still slowly working on other php stuff so this
> was going to be part of that. Technical content is important. For browsing
> I'll have to make sure they can be separated - the main terms for videogame
> things are more specialised then most, if not all, graphical and programming
> terms, which is where there is little information available.
>
> Andrew
>
> Devin Monnens wrote:
>
> So we would differentiate these from real-time video because RTV does not
> use human players?
>  The reason I brought up blue screens is because if we had a modern
> equivalent to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (say a sci fi war film with some guy
> from Unreal in it). Roger Rabbit is animation, but it is not a fully
> animated film.
>
>  I'm going to leave the rest of the defining to Henry for now as he's
> covered more terrain than I have.
>
>  Regarding your glossary, I think such a book would be incredibly helpful,
> especially if it is including technical terms used by artists and
> programmers. Someone who is familiar with all the terms will be able to
> communicate with fellow artists and programmers (something that seems to be
> a problem in the industry as well as in education).
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 3:22 AM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:
>
>> Oh, hold my own horses, my mini-glossary I did write a mini machinima
>> definition for myself, I wonder if this fits. Again, I wanted to find
>> examples (there should be a lot more blue links or references!) but not too
>> bad re-reading it now for 2 paragraphs despite being a bit "meh" on the
>> descriptive side of content. Note while I want to get pronounciations,
>> alternative spellings etc. I've obviously not done it to any standard here
>> ;)
>>
>> Just an example as it were.
>>
>> Machinima
>>  *Pronounced:* "Ma-shin-e-ma"
>>
>> From the words "Machine", "Animation" and "Cinema", it is the description
>> of a range of videos made from filming videogames. These sometimes are
>> specially made for a game to explain some story (released separately from
>> the game, so thus not a cutscene), or be a fully released online video of a
>> games content and playthrough (such as Anachronox<http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Anachronox%22%20AND%20collection%3Aanimationandcartoons>).
>>
>>
>> Most commonly they are fictional films, based sometimes on the original
>> characters but often new ones, with their own plot and filming unrelated to
>> the normal game. There are also music videos, films, and series of works
>> rather then one off's, or series based on the original characters. Usually
>> the "cast" is played by player avatars in the multiplayer mode of the game.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> game_preservation mailing list
>> game_preservation at igda.org
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>


-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Thu Oct  1 09:42:59 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:42:59 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] New MLA Format for 2009
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910010633v6b1258d5ueacc259397940903@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50910010633v6b1258d5ueacc259397940903@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4AC4B1E3.5050207@aarmstrong.org>

They do mention "Writers are, however, encouraged to provide a URL if 
the citation information does not lead readers to easily find the 
source." for URL's. I think it is stupid to not reference a URL, it'd be 
like referencing a newspaper collectoin without a date and page (which 
in fact you might do if you...reference a online news article). Bemusing...

As for if they understand technology, who knows...looks a bit backwards 
to me on the CD/DVD thing. However any interview correspondence - if not 
published somewhere publicly available (ie; not just email) is always a 
problem right? Fact-checking unpublished things is next to impossible, 
having better or worse references to impossible to get information is a 
bit moot :)

Is this MLA stuff used as a standard in the USA then?

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:
> I feel this has some relevance to us as preservationists. While there 
> is no 'Game' listing, the new updates do include a section on medium:
>
> http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/15/
> *Publication Medium.* Every entry receives a medium of publication 
> marker. Most entries will be listed as Print or Web, but other 
> possibilities include Performance, DVD, or TV. Most of these markers 
> will appear at the end of entries; however, markers for Web sources 
> are followed by the date of access.
>
> Sadly, listing it as 'DVD' or 'CD' doesn't let you know what platform 
> it is for! What if I am referencing the Stephen Jay Gould interview on 
> Bully for Brontosaurus interactive CD for Windows 95? I don't think 
> this will run in Vista. Or, for a better example, an Amiga CDROM? 
>
> I find this surprising because either a) MLA does not care about 
> getting software to run or b) they do not have a need to reference 
> older digital media. Their desire to remove URLs from web references 
> seems to indicate that they aren't that interested in getting the 
> referenced source to run. And after all, how can you fact-check a 
> primary source such as an interview with a dead man or an e-mail 
> interview? You have to take it at face value.
>
> -- 
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>   
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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Thu Oct  1 09:46:54 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 07:46:54 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] New MLA Format for 2009
In-Reply-To: <4AC4B1E3.5050207@aarmstrong.org>
References: <9d1cf2d50910010633v6b1258d5ueacc259397940903@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC4B1E3.5050207@aarmstrong.org>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910010646n1217b674p31255b4205403133@mail.gmail.com>

MLA is a standard in the English department.APA is used by history and the
sciences (we also adopted it in media studies).
Chicago... I honestly don't remember who uses that.
There's also the style used for DiGRA submissions, which is a whole other
format (ACM - American Computer Magazine or something).

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 7:42 AM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:

>  They do mention "Writers are, however, encouraged to provide a URL if the
> citation information does not lead readers to easily find the source." for
> URL's. I think it is stupid to not reference a URL, it'd be like referencing
> a newspaper collectoin without a date and page (which in fact you might do
> if you...reference a online news article). Bemusing...
>
> As for if they understand technology, who knows...looks a bit backwards to
> me on the CD/DVD thing. However any interview correspondence - if not
> published somewhere publicly available (ie; not just email) is always a
> problem right? Fact-checking unpublished things is next to impossible,
> having better or worse references to impossible to get information is a bit
> moot :)
>
> Is this MLA stuff used as a standard in the USA then?
>
> Andrew
>
> Devin Monnens wrote:
>
> I feel this has some relevance to us as preservationists. While there is no
> 'Game' listing, the new updates do include a section on medium:
>  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/15/
> *Publication Medium.* Every entry receives a medium of publication marker.
> Most entries will be listed as Print or Web, but other possibilities include
> Performance, DVD, or TV. Most of these markers will appear at the end of
> entries; however, markers for Web sources are followed by the date of
> access.
>
>  Sadly, listing it as 'DVD' or 'CD' doesn't let you know what platform it
> is for! What if I am referencing the Stephen Jay Gould interview on Bully
> for Brontosaurus interactive CD for Windows 95? I don't think this will run
> in Vista. Or, for a better example, an Amiga CDROM?
>
>  I find this surprising because either a) MLA does not care about getting
> software to run or b) they do not have a need to reference older digital
> media. Their desire to remove URLs from web references seems to indicate
> that they aren't that interested in getting the referenced source to run.
> And after all, how can you fact-check a primary source such as an interview
> with a dead man or an e-mail interview? You have to take it at face value.
>
> --
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>


-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Thu Oct  1 11:21:35 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:21:35 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] More Retro Machinima (with Andrew raving
 about glossaries, oh yay)
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910010640qc4e0576kc1f87b8bbcd62912@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50909272015j4f2f32cfha809d0dc76684924@mail.gmail.com>	<4AC39332.8070000@aarmstrong.org>	<9d1cf2d50909301734t3ae0fe41y4c446846d1e9970f@mail.gmail.com>	<4AC4738F.1070907@aarmstrong.org>
	<4AC474EC.3020507@aarmstrong.org>	<9d1cf2d50910010625m3ac754adv7bd85f6d699d3bd1@mail.gmail.com>	<4AC4B00E.3010100@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50910010640qc4e0576kc1f87b8bbcd62912@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4AC4C8FF.7080804@aarmstrong.org>

I know I'm being pedantic, but of course terms change and get reused - 
is one studio enough to say it's a key definition? :) Even the largest 
studio is hardly a fraction of a percent of the industry after all. :)

It's a tough call - for this though, anything further then the 
glossary-size would go in a full article on the subject, which allows 
that kind of depth :)

What to put actually as the brief glossary entry though...well, then we 
come around to this again, groan...good point to raise though.

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:
> Hmm. Well, this might be something we could get game developers 
> interested in contributing to. If a term is used differently in your 
> studio, then you would say 'at our studio, we use this term in this 
> way'. I think this works as well for definitions of game - don't just 
> have one definition, but outline several key definitions that are in use.
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 7:35 AM, Andrew Armstrong 
> <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:
>
>     Yeah, that definition leaves a lot to be desired. My questions in
>     my previous post were a lot more varied.
>
>     Glad you think a glossary might be useful. I dare not put it on
>     the wiki, not because I care about being wrong (it can be
>     corrected) just I've got it as a huge wiki list right now and it's
>     impossible to find anything (the TOC is a few pages long...). I'm
>     still slowly working on other php stuff so this was going to be
>     part of that. Technical content is important. For browsing I'll
>     have to make sure they can be separated - the main terms for
>     videogame things are more specialised then most, if not all,
>     graphical and programming terms, which is where there is little
>     information available.
>
>     Andrew
>
>     Devin Monnens wrote:
>>     So we would differentiate these from real-time video because RTV
>>     does not use human players?
>>
>>     The reason I brought up blue screens is because if we had a
>>     modern equivalent to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (say a sci fi war
>>     film with some guy from Unreal in it). Roger Rabbit is animation,
>>     but it is not a fully animated film.
>>
>>     I'm going to leave the rest of the defining to Henry for now as
>>     he's covered more terrain than I have.
>>
>>     Regarding your glossary, I think such a book would be incredibly
>>     helpful, especially if it is including technical terms used by
>>     artists and programmers. Someone who is familiar with all the
>>     terms will be able to communicate with fellow artists and
>>     programmers (something that seems to be a problem in the industry
>>     as well as in education).
>>
>>     On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 3:22 AM, Andrew Armstrong
>>     <andrew at aarmstrong.org <mailto:andrew at aarmstrong.org>> wrote:
>>
>>         Oh, hold my own horses, my mini-glossary I did write a mini
>>         machinima definition for myself, I wonder if this fits.
>>         Again, I wanted to find examples (there should be a lot more
>>         blue links or references!) but not too bad re-reading it now
>>         for 2 paragraphs despite being a bit "meh" on the descriptive
>>         side of content. Note while I want to get pronounciations,
>>         alternative spellings etc. I've obviously not done it to any
>>         standard here ;)
>>
>>         Just an example as it were.
>>
>>
>>               Machinima
>>
>>             /Pronounced:/ "Ma-shin-e-ma" 
>>
>>         From the words "Machine", "Animation" and "Cinema", it is the
>>         description of a range of videos made from filming
>>         videogames. These sometimes are specially made for a game to
>>         explain some story (released separately from the game, so
>>         thus not a cutscene), or be a fully released online video of
>>         a games content and playthrough (such as Anachronox
>>         <http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Anachronox%22%20AND%20collection%3Aanimationandcartoons>).
>>
>>
>>         Most commonly they are fictional films, based sometimes on
>>         the original characters but often new ones, with their own
>>         plot and filming unrelated to the normal game. There are also
>>         music videos, films, and series of works rather then one
>>         off's, or series based on the original characters. Usually
>>         the "cast" is played by player avatars in the multiplayer
>>         mode of the game.
>>
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         game_preservation mailing list
>>         game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>
>>         http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Devin Monnens
>>     www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>>
>>     The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>     _______________________________________________ game_preservation
>>     mailing list game_preservation at igda.org
>>     <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>
>>     http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     game_preservation mailing list
>     game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>
>     http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>   
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Thu Oct  1 11:58:51 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:58:51 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] [Monthly SIG Roundup] October 2009
Message-ID: <4AC4D1BB.3000808@aarmstrong.org>

We've had DiGRA during September, if anyone has any future or past 
events they want to have put in the newsletter make sure to email in :)


      Preservation SIG September 2009 Work

The SIG presented the edited 2009 white paper on preservation at DiGRA 
2009 
<http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/SIG_Resources/DiGRA_2009>, 
along with other members presenting on diverse topics on the subject of 
preservation - very interesting panel, and thank you to Dan Pinchbeck, 
Andreas Lange, Jo Barwick, James Newman and Tom Wooley.

DiGRA was also helpful with some historical papers. The main one I got 
permission to upload was related to the history of Tetris 
<http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/Digital_Game_Canon/Tetris>, 
and might be of interest. Thanks to Will Jordan for permission to upload 
this.

If you are interested in helping the SIG work you can handily volunteer 
for some projects <http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG>, or 
create your own if something is missing!


      Future Work for October 2009

If anyone has any suggestions for work please bring them up on the 
mailing list. I am personally too busy, and at this very moment too ill, 
to do much more then discuss things.


      Mailing List Discussions

If you've not joined our mailing list 
<http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation>, please do 
so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to 
old-fangled email. This will eventually change when the IGDA site 
changes over - although those wanting email can still get it.

September 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/thread.html> 
had Henry Lowood bring up the manifest for preserving Doom 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001381.html>, 
which we discussed a lot. There was also a brief discussion on the 
definition and thinginess of games from DiGRA keynote 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001376.html>, 
arty games 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001401.html>, 
and a longer discussion on how best to get ISO data onto a usable 
external harddrive 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001405.html> 
for hobbyist preservation (if anyone wants to help write guides or 
provide them, feel free!). Finally serious games 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001429.html> 
might get a canon-like list sorted for themselves, and some cool retro 
"machinima" 
<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001427.html> 
was posted.


      Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

/Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to 
preservation_news @ igda.org !/

    * DiGRA 2009 Panel
      <http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2009/09/digra_2009_pane.html>
      - /Yes, I realise this is a duplicate. :/ No one sent anything in
      and I've not seen anything else!/


      Final Thoughts

I hope you'll get a good Halloween costume made up for the end of 
October ;) (what? you don't do Halloween? man, well, play some scary 
videogames instead then!). There is Game City at the end of the month in 
the UK, and if they host any more history-based things I'll post up 
anything I find interesting on the mailing list.

Andrew Armstrong

IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Thu Oct  1 12:05:55 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 10:05:55 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] [Monthly SIG Roundup] October 2009
In-Reply-To: <4AC4D1BB.3000808@aarmstrong.org>
References: <4AC4D1BB.3000808@aarmstrong.org>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910010905j70ce3483g655a5347ed0fef7d@mail.gmail.com>

What if my costume is a copy of Ultima IV that's become unreadable due to
bit rot? That would be pretty scary :)
Actually, I was curious if the SIG blog/wiki has an RSS feed. We can
integrate that into the Facebook.

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 9:58 AM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:

>  We've had DiGRA during September, if anyone has any future or past events
> they want to have put in the newsletter make sure to email in :)
>  Preservation SIG September 2009 Work
>
> The SIG presented the edited 2009 white paper on preservation at DiGRA
> 2009<http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/SIG_Resources/DiGRA_2009>,
> along with other members presenting on diverse topics on the subject of
> preservation - very interesting panel, and thank you to Dan Pinchbeck,
> Andreas Lange, Jo Barwick, James Newman and Tom Wooley.
>
> DiGRA was also helpful with some historical papers. The main one I got
> permission to upload was related to the history of Tetris<http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/Digital_Game_Canon/Tetris>,
> and might be of interest. Thanks to Will Jordan for permission to upload
> this.
>
> If you are interested in helping the SIG work you can handily volunteer for
> some projects <http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG>, or create
> your own if something is missing!
>  Future Work for October 2009
>
> If anyone has any suggestions for work please bring them up on the mailing
> list. I am personally too busy, and at this very moment too ill, to do much
> more then discuss things.
>  Mailing List Discussions
>
> If you've not joined our mailing list<http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation>,
> please do so. We've never tried using our forums it seems :) we stick to
> old-fangled email. This will eventually change when the IGDA site changes
> over - although those wanting email can still get it.
>
> September<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/thread.html>had Henry
> Lowood bring up the manifest for preserving Doom<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001381.html>,
> which we discussed a lot. There was also a brief discussion on the
> definition and thinginess of games from DiGRA keynote<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001376.html>,
> arty games<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001401.html>,
> and a longer discussion on how best to get ISO data onto a usable external
> harddrive<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001405.html>for hobbyist preservation (if anyone wants to help write guides or provide
> them, feel free!). Finally serious games<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001429.html>might get a canon-like list sorted for themselves, and some
> cool retro "machinima"<http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/2009-September/001427.html>was posted.
>  Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links
>
> *Have I missed anything this month? Then email it in to preservation_news
> @ igda.org !*
>
>    - DiGRA 2009 Panel<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2009/09/digra_2009_pane.html>-
>    *Yes, I realise this is a duplicate. :/ No one sent anything in and
>    I've not seen anything else!*
>
>  Final Thoughts
>
> I hope you'll get a good Halloween costume made up for the end of
> October ;) (what? you don't do Halloween? man, well, play some scary
> videogames instead then!). There is Game City at the end of the month in the
> UK, and if they host any more history-based things I'll post up anything I
> find interesting on the mailing list.
>
> Andrew Armstrong
>
> IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>


-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Thu Oct  1 12:19:48 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:19:48 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] [Monthly SIG Roundup] October 2009
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910010905j70ce3483g655a5347ed0fef7d@mail.gmail.com>
References: <4AC4D1BB.3000808@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50910010905j70ce3483g655a5347ed0fef7d@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4AC4D6A4.8030603@aarmstrong.org>

You mean you're not subscribed?! *falls over* but all the /news!/ 
There's so /much!/

Here it is: http://www.igda.org/preservation/index.xml (or other links 
which most web browsers pick up if you go to the main page).

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:
> Actually, I was curious if the SIG blog/wiki has an RSS feed. We can 
> integrate that into the Facebook.
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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Thu Oct  1 22:41:15 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 20:41:15 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] [Monthly SIG Roundup] October 2009
In-Reply-To: <4AC4D6A4.8030603@aarmstrong.org>
References: <4AC4D1BB.3000808@aarmstrong.org>
	<9d1cf2d50910010905j70ce3483g655a5347ed0fef7d@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AC4D6A4.8030603@aarmstrong.org>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910011941k7614c5fifd684f59d29b7b4c@mail.gmail.com>

Ok great. I seem to have forgotten how to add an RSS though. This may be
because I just spent 11 hours at work.

On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:

>  You mean you're not subscribed?! *falls over* but all the *news!* There's
> so *much!*
>
> Here it is: http://www.igda.org/preservation/index.xml (or other links
> which most web browsers pick up if you go to the main page).
>
> Andrew
>
> Devin Monnens wrote:
>
> Actually, I was curious if the SIG blog/wiki has an RSS feed. We can
> integrate that into the Facebook.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>


-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From jan_baart at yahoo.de  Wed Oct 14 14:10:03 2009
From: jan_baart at yahoo.de (Jan Baart)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:10:03 +0200
Subject: [game_preservation] Archivist's Burden
In-Reply-To: <4ABC40DA.2000502@multimedia.cx>
References: <4ABC40DA.2000502@multimedia.cx>
Message-ID: <4AD613FB.2030506@yahoo.de>

I know I'm late to the party but I still wanted to add this. There is 
actually a CD-ROM game backup community out there at redump.org. They 
also have a guide to preserve CD-ROM based games without copy 
protection, either with or without audio tracks. It's not the easiest 
method to grasp but apparently it's the most accurate one.

Here's a link to their guide:

http://redump.org/guide/cddumping/

, Jan

Mike Melanson schrieb:
> So I was thinking recently about how I didn't have enough to do with 
> my life (that's sarcasm at work) and I came up with yet another project:
>
> I have a 750 GB RAID-1 storage device (i.e., mirrored 750 GB drives 
> for redundancy) that recently freed up. I have somewhere around 800 
> games on CD-ROM (of which a fair number consist of multiple discs). So 
> how about archiving the discs? I guess it's sort of a duty when I am 
> sitting on this kind of collection. Who else knows more about 
> forgotten educational games and licensed Barbie titles?
>
> The question becomes "how to archive?"
>
> My first impulse: Write a Python script that automatically copies the 
> data track from a CD-ROM ('dd' Unix command). Additionally, for any 
> audio tracks, automatically rip them and compress them losslessly 
> using either FLAC or ALAC (Apple Lossless).
>
> Comments?
>


From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Wed Oct 14 15:31:27 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:31:27 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] Archivist's Burden
In-Reply-To: <4AD613FB.2030506@yahoo.de>
References: <4ABC40DA.2000502@multimedia.cx> <4AD613FB.2030506@yahoo.de>
Message-ID: <4AD6270F.5040306@aarmstrong.org>

That was an interesting read (mainly for how to get the audio tracks 
separate to the data...although why you'd do that for true dumping is a 
bit odd). A real shame it's windows only, then again, windows only helps 
for a lot of people.

I'll add this now to our resources list and should contact them at some 
point. We've also still got a need to do some general guides for "end 
users" who want to backup things, and this would be good to use there :)

Andrew

Jan Baart wrote:
> I know I'm late to the party but I still wanted to add this. There is 
> actually a CD-ROM game backup community out there at redump.org. They 
> also have a guide to preserve CD-ROM based games without copy 
> protection, either with or without audio tracks. It's not the easiest 
> method to grasp but apparently it's the most accurate one.
>
> Here's a link to their guide:
>
> http://redump.org/guide/cddumping/
>
> , Jan
>
> Mike Melanson schrieb:
>> So I was thinking recently about how I didn't have enough to do with 
>> my life (that's sarcasm at work) and I came up with yet another project:
>>
>> I have a 750 GB RAID-1 storage device (i.e., mirrored 750 GB drives 
>> for redundancy) that recently freed up. I have somewhere around 800 
>> games on CD-ROM (of which a fair number consist of multiple discs). 
>> So how about archiving the discs? I guess it's sort of a duty when I 
>> am sitting on this kind of collection. Who else knows more about 
>> forgotten educational games and licensed Barbie titles?
>>
>> The question becomes "how to archive?"
>>
>> My first impulse: Write a Python script that automatically copies the 
>> data track from a CD-ROM ('dd' Unix command). Additionally, for any 
>> audio tracks, automatically rip them and compress them losslessly 
>> using either FLAC or ALAC (Apple Lossless).
>>
>> Comments?
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

From dmonnens at gmail.com  Wed Oct 14 22:27:14 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:27:14 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] Archivist's Burden
In-Reply-To: <4AD6270F.5040306@aarmstrong.org>
References: <4ABC40DA.2000502@multimedia.cx> <4AD613FB.2030506@yahoo.de>
	<4AD6270F.5040306@aarmstrong.org>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910141927y24138ddfve23405b767655675@mail.gmail.com>

I've mentioned Redump a few times before (introduced through the list
actually). Trouble is they don't explain why they chose the method they did
- they just say 'do it'. The Slightly Dark disc backup technique explains
why they chose the software and methods they did (however, it's not
specifically for lossless, though it does include instructions for FLAC -
I'm not sold on an archival method for audio CDs).

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 1:31 PM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>wrote:

> That was an interesting read (mainly for how to get the audio tracks
> separate to the data...although why you'd do that for true dumping is a bit
> odd). A real shame it's windows only, then again, windows only helps for a
> lot of people.
>
> I'll add this now to our resources list and should contact them at some
> point. We've also still got a need to do some general guides for "end users"
> who want to backup things, and this would be good to use there :)
>
> Andrew
>
>
> Jan Baart wrote:
>
>> I know I'm late to the party but I still wanted to add this. There is
>> actually a CD-ROM game backup community out there at redump.org. They
>> also have a guide to preserve CD-ROM based games without copy protection,
>> either with or without audio tracks. It's not the easiest method to grasp
>> but apparently it's the most accurate one.
>>
>> Here's a link to their guide:
>>
>> http://redump.org/guide/cddumping/
>>
>> , Jan
>>
>> Mike Melanson schrieb:
>>
>>> So I was thinking recently about how I didn't have enough to do with my
>>> life (that's sarcasm at work) and I came up with yet another project:
>>>
>>> I have a 750 GB RAID-1 storage device (i.e., mirrored 750 GB drives for
>>> redundancy) that recently freed up. I have somewhere around 800 games on
>>> CD-ROM (of which a fair number consist of multiple discs). So how about
>>> archiving the discs? I guess it's sort of a duty when I am sitting on this
>>> kind of collection. Who else knows more about forgotten educational games
>>> and licensed Barbie titles?
>>>
>>> The question becomes "how to archive?"
>>>
>>> My first impulse: Write a Python script that automatically copies the
>>> data track from a CD-ROM ('dd' Unix command). Additionally, for any audio
>>> tracks, automatically rip them and compress them losslessly using either
>>> FLAC or ALAC (Apple Lossless).
>>>
>>> Comments?
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> game_preservation mailing list
>> game_preservation at igda.org
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>



-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Fri Oct 16 15:13:57 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:13:57 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] MIT Research
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910161213j2fda4467l3644467a9b69a69f@mail.gmail.com>

I am interested in doing research on mainframe computer games produced
before 1975. I will be in Boston from November 6-9 on an unrelated trip, but
will be visiting MIT for their open house. I was curious if anyone here knew
someone at MIT who would have knowledge about this period who I could meet
with while there. Any other resources would also be greatly appreciated!
-Devin

-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From lowood at stanford.edu  Fri Oct 16 17:58:29 2009
From: lowood at stanford.edu (Henry Lowood)
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:58:29 -0700
Subject: [game_preservation] MIT Research
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910161213j2fda4467l3644467a9b69a69f@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50910161213j2fda4467l3644467a9b69a69f@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4AD8EC85.70607@stanford.edu>

Devin,

All the MIT people I know from that era probably live within ten miles 
of Stanford these days.  Another confirmation of how smart they are!

Henry

Devin Monnens wrote:
> I am interested in doing research on mainframe computer games produced 
> before 1975. I will be in Boston from November 6-9 on an unrelated 
> trip, but will be visiting MIT for their open house. I was curious if 
> anyone here knew someone at MIT who would have knowledge about this 
> period who I could meet with while there. Any other resources would 
> also be greatly appreciated!
>
> -Devin
>
> -- 
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>   

-- 
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 USA
http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood
lowood at stanford.edu; 650-723-4602

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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Fri Oct 16 22:34:38 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:34:38 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] MIT Research
In-Reply-To: <4AD8EC85.70607@stanford.edu>
References: <9d1cf2d50910161213j2fda4467l3644467a9b69a69f@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AD8EC85.70607@stanford.edu>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910161934w3e4408bak78de797fc0a20c0@mail.gmail.com>

Henry,
I don't mind contacting them over telephone or e-mail. Do you think any of
them might be interested in talking to a game history researcher about this?
I'm trying to understand why there were so few games aside from Spacewar
mods documented from that time period.

-Devin

On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:

>  Devin,
>
> All the MIT people I know from that era probably live within ten miles of
> Stanford these days.  Another confirmation of how smart they are!
>
> Henry
>
> Devin Monnens wrote:
>
> I am interested in doing research on mainframe computer games produced
> before 1975. I will be in Boston from November 6-9 on an unrelated trip, but
> will be visiting MIT for their open house. I was curious if anyone here knew
> someone at MIT who would have knowledge about this period who I could meet
> with while there. Any other resources would also be greatly appreciated!
>  -Devin
>
> --
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
> --
> 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 USAhttp://www.stanford.edu/~lowoodlowood at stanford.edu; 650-723-4602
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>


-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From trixter at oldskool.org  Fri Oct 16 23:28:01 2009
From: trixter at oldskool.org (Jim Leonard)
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:28:01 -0500
Subject: [game_preservation] Archivist's Burden
In-Reply-To: <4ABD65E1.9080906@multimedia.cx>
References: <4ABC40DA.2000502@multimedia.cx> <op.u0tgi6sifmh8gn@sherpa.umd.edu>
	<4ABD65E1.9080906@multimedia.cx>
Message-ID: <4AD939C1.9070400@oldskool.org>

Mike Melanson wrote:
> Rachel "Sheepy" Donahue wrote:
>> When/if you do decide to preserve the audio separately, the 
>> International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
>> recommends WAV or BWF. Regardless of format, they and ARSC recommend a 
>> sampling rate of at least 96 kHz with 24 bit resolution.
> 
> If you're digitizing from an analog source, 96 kHz/24-bit might be 
> warranted. But this is just redbook CD audio which is already digital 
> and is natively 44.1 kHz/16-bit stereo. That's what I would compress from.

...unless you don't have access to the digital original, in which case 
you should use 24/96 to account for sampling period overlap.  Or maybe 
because hard drives are the cheapest they've ever been in history.
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)            http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project:           http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at     http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/

From lowood at stanford.edu  Mon Oct 19 12:07:54 2009
From: lowood at stanford.edu (Henry Lowood)
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:07:54 -0700
Subject: [game_preservation] [Fwd: Re: [SIGs-Admin] Website Status]
Message-ID: <4ADC8EDA.9090902@stanford.edu>

FYI - latest update and testing on the new IGDA website.  There has been 
a huge amount of traffic on this, which I have kept from our group 
discussion (you can thank me later).   Suffice it to say, it is a big 
project and has taken longer than expected; however, it looks like the 
new site may be launched before too long.

I think Andrew may be more familiar with the technical issues involved.  
He has been involved in the testing and has been bird-dogging esp. the 
issues that affect our wiki.

Henry

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: [SIGs-Admin] Website Status
Date: 	Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:17:21 -0400
From: 	Joshua Caulfield <Joshua at igda.org>
Reply-To: 	Private list for SIG leaders <sigs-admin at igda.org>
To: 	Private list for SIG leaders <sigs-admin at igda.org>
References: 
<4AAADB15.60009 at designdirectdeliver.com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA0288D6E7 at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><00ad01ca4a6a$084b93c0$18e2bb40$@com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA01E7EC52 at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><c7aae75c041959424be8ce13c8f3324d.squirrel at webmail.wendydespain.com><8fcdaf7c0910121705h7643e898i21baf40ad520b825 at mail.gmail.com><c217f81f2ab2dd19f777e2e350800323.squirrel at webmail.wendydespain.com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA02C1009A at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><7a48dd2063861376aa45914d49265843.squirrel at webmail.wendydespain.com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA02C1009E at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><F35564F8-6898-4EF4-A797-0628BAB64350 at uiuc.edu><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA02C100A3 at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM> 
<C05565EC-5C4A-49BF-B18C-D23715F8F992 at uiuc.edu>



 
Good Morning,
 
(I want to keep all of you in the loop as much as possible, so I am sorry if there are a bunch of emails today and tomorrow.  I'll try and keep them focused.)
 
Over the weekend we had the site up and running and pulled it offline as Joseph and myself combed through and found a few things.  The good news is the migration was successful, and the site is stable on the new server.  There are still a number of items we're cleaning up now and as we get notes from folks we'll be taking care of them.
 
Lots of positive initial feedback.  
 
We seem to be having a little trouble with the group security implementation, so that is our top priority at the moment.  Because that is site wide and user specific we may need to pull down the site here and there for updates/testing and the like.  This is a core issue and the top of our priority list.  It also looks like something that got twitched as we were doing other clean up items, since it was working earlier, so I do not anticipate a long delay on this.
 
As an aside: I have rewritten the "SITE OFFLINE" message to be a little more user friendly for when the site is down.
 
Joseph and I have a system in place for tracking trouble tickets, and it seems to be working at the moment.  Again, if anyone has any issues to report, please pop an email to webmaster at igda.org, and it will come to both of us.  You'll get an autoreceipt email, and if we need clarification, you'll get a follow up from us.
 
We've got a couple of items via this method already, mostly cosmetic, but a couple that need to be addressed soon, and we're working on those.
 
Joseph and I are also doing some work on video demos and FAQs and the like, to make it easier for folks to get around.
 
Once the front end is up and prime time, we'll be digging into the new back end system that should allow us a great deal more capacity for the business end of IGDA that you folks don't usually see much of. 
 
Any questions, as always direct to myself or Joe or use the webmaster email.
 
Thanks,
Joshua



-- 
Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
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 
<http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>
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From lowood at stanford.edu  Mon Oct 19 12:17:21 2009
From: lowood at stanford.edu (Henry Lowood)
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:17:21 -0700
Subject: [game_preservation] MIT Research
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910161934w3e4408bak78de797fc0a20c0@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50910161213j2fda4467l3644467a9b69a69f@mail.gmail.com>	<4AD8EC85.70607@stanford.edu>
	<9d1cf2d50910161934w3e4408bak78de797fc0a20c0@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4ADC9111.2010209@stanford.edu>

Devin,

Is that true?  There is quite a bit on SHRDLU, for example, or the Game 
of Life (I think the computer version was at MIT).  Also, Eliza, if you 
consider that a game.   Was there a game in particular that you had in 
mind? 

Also, for non-MIT games, the PLATO (Empire, Mines of Moria, etc.) games 
and Adventure.  Are you looking at non-academic games like Hunt the 
Wumpus?  There were a lot of BASIC games, and those are pretty well 
documented. 

Henry

Devin Monnens wrote:
> Henry,
>
> I don't mind contacting them over telephone or e-mail. Do you think 
> any of them might be interested in talking to a game history 
> researcher about this? I'm trying to understand why there were so few 
> games aside from Spacewar mods documented from that time period.
>
> -Devin
>
> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu 
> <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>> wrote:
>
>     Devin,
>
>     All the MIT people I know from that era probably live within ten
>     miles of Stanford these days.  Another confirmation of how smart
>     they are!
>
>     Henry
>
>     Devin Monnens wrote:
>>     I am interested in doing research on mainframe computer games
>>     produced before 1975. I will be in Boston from November 6-9 on an
>>     unrelated trip, but will be visiting MIT for their open house. I
>>     was curious if anyone here knew someone at MIT who would have
>>     knowledge about this period who I could meet with while there.
>>     Any other resources would also be greatly appreciated!
>>
>>     -Devin
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Devin Monnens
>>     www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>>
>>     The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     game_preservation mailing list
>>     game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>
>>     http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>       
>
>     -- 
>     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 USA
>     http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>
>     lowood at stanford.edu <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>; 650-723-4602
>         
>
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     game_preservation mailing list
>     game_preservation at igda.org <mailto:game_preservation at igda.org>
>     http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>   

-- 
Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
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 
<http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Mon Oct 19 13:38:08 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:38:08 +0100
Subject: [game_preservation] [Fwd: Re: [SIGs-Admin] Website Status]
In-Reply-To: <4ADC8EDA.9090902@stanford.edu>
References: <4ADC8EDA.9090902@stanford.edu>
Message-ID: <4ADCA400.50805@aarmstrong.org>

One thing I've been at them about is I have said that we'd welcome a 
backup of the site to reside permanently online or, probably more 
likely, an offline copy taken.

I hope that a few of the archives or places represented here might be 
willing to have a copy, if we can prise it off them. I have a copy of 
the front pages, but the forums and other pages on the site are a bit 
too big to scrape (tried the IA crawler, which can't do "continue", and 
HTTrack I did once, but man, it took forever).

Oh, how I note how my test content still exists for our SIG pages. I'll 
spend some time this week updating this. Black mark for them, they 
didn't say they'd import the content over like that!

Andrew

Henry Lowood wrote:
> FYI - latest update and testing on the new IGDA website.  There has 
> been a huge amount of traffic on this, which I have kept from our 
> group discussion (you can thank me later).   Suffice it to say, it is 
> a big project and has taken longer than expected; however, it looks 
> like the new site may be launched before too long.
>
> I think Andrew may be more familiar with the technical issues 
> involved.  He has been involved in the testing and has been 
> bird-dogging esp. the issues that affect our wiki.
>
> Henry
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: 	Re: [SIGs-Admin] Website Status
> Date: 	Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:17:21 -0400
> From: 	Joshua Caulfield <Joshua at igda.org>
> Reply-To: 	Private list for SIG leaders <sigs-admin at igda.org>
> To: 	Private list for SIG leaders <sigs-admin at igda.org>
> References: 
> <4AAADB15.60009 at designdirectdeliver.com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA0288D6E7 at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><00ad01ca4a6a$084b93c0$18e2bb40$@com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA01E7EC52 at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><c7aae75c041959424be8ce13c8f3324d.squirrel at webmail.wendydespain.com><8fcdaf7c0910121705h7643e898i21baf40ad520b825 at mail.gmail.com><c217f81f2ab2dd19f777e2e350800323.squirrel at webmail.wendydespain.com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA02C1009A at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><7a48dd2063861376aa45914d49265843.squirrel at webmail.wendydespain.com><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA02C1009E at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM><F35564F8-6898-4EF4-A797-0628BAB64350 at uiuc.edu><7D4E2A3629B61948BB695BA5C4CBF0FA02C100A3 at tmgmail.TALLEY.COM> 
> <C05565EC-5C4A-49BF-B18C-D23715F8F992 at uiuc.edu>
>
>
>
>  
> Good Morning,
>  
> (I want to keep all of you in the loop as much as possible, so I am sorry if there are a bunch of emails today and tomorrow.  I'll try and keep them focused.)
>  
> Over the weekend we had the site up and running and pulled it offline as Joseph and myself combed through and found a few things.  The good news is the migration was successful, and the site is stable on the new server.  There are still a number of items we're cleaning up now and as we get notes from folks we'll be taking care of them.
>  
> Lots of positive initial feedback.  
>  
> We seem to be having a little trouble with the group security implementation, so that is our top priority at the moment.  Because that is site wide and user specific we may need to pull down the site here and there for updates/testing and the like.  This is a core issue and the top of our priority list.  It also looks like something that got twitched as we were doing other clean up items, since it was working earlier, so I do not anticipate a long delay on this.
>  
> As an aside: I have rewritten the "SITE OFFLINE" message to be a little more user friendly for when the site is down.
>  
> Joseph and I have a system in place for tracking trouble tickets, and it seems to be working at the moment.  Again, if anyone has any issues to report, please pop an email to webmaster at igda.org, and it will come to both of us.  You'll get an autoreceipt email, and if we need clarification, you'll get a follow up from us.
>  
> We've got a couple of items via this method already, mostly cosmetic, but a couple that need to be addressed soon, and we're working on those.
>  
> Joseph and I are also doing some work on video demos and FAQs and the like, to make it easier for folks to get around.
>  
> Once the front end is up and prime time, we'll be digging into the new back end system that should allow us a great deal more capacity for the business end of IGDA that you folks don't usually see much of. 
>  
> Any questions, as always direct to myself or Joe or use the webmaster email.
>  
> Thanks,
> Joshua
>
>   
>
> -- 
> Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
> 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 
> <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Mon Oct 19 17:32:38 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:32:38 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] MIT Research
In-Reply-To: <4ADC9111.2010209@stanford.edu>
References: <9d1cf2d50910161213j2fda4467l3644467a9b69a69f@mail.gmail.com>
	<4AD8EC85.70607@stanford.edu>
	<9d1cf2d50910161934w3e4408bak78de797fc0a20c0@mail.gmail.com>
	<4ADC9111.2010209@stanford.edu>
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910191432u64b37118m536f813199ada1fa@mail.gmail.com>

Henry,
I am focusing primarily on games prior to 1972. Simply put, while Spacewar
was INCREDIBLY popular, there is surprisingly little documentation of other
games you might otherwise expect to be developed based on Spacewar's design
- aside from, of course, Spacewar mods. My primary focus of research is why
this at least appears to be the case (lack of documentation? Or students
just didn't make them?). The focus is primarily this period from 1962-1972,
but it really goes up to about 1976 with the release of Colossal Cave
Adventure (say, the first 15 years of the computer game; I initially picked
1972 to coincide with the launch of the Odyssey and Pong).

I hadn't considered Eliza and SHRDLU, but was looking primarily at games. I
am interested in tracking the different memes that developed the videogame
industry. There seems to be a direct correlation between what people played
and what they developed later on (whether it was for computer systems or
console systems).

BASIC I haven't really looked at. I wasn't aware of any BASIC games
developed in this time period, but I know that many were made for the
platform. It isn't so much important that a BASIC game could run on older
hardware but whether it was developed before 1972 (or 1976 if I go up to
CCA).

PLATO is another interesting meme, but most of their games are developed
after 1972, so I have to wonder what their influences were (is there a book
or paper about PLATO?). PARC was incredibly influential (just now surprised
to see they developed the emoticon, too!) and so this is one strong
influence thread on computer games (as opposed to console and arcade).

Another area that tends to get dismissed in game history is Chess AI
(despite the fact that they are videogames in every sense of the word!).
Eliza and SHRDLU certainly had strong influences on language parsers. I'm a
little surprised they don't seem to be in use for modern CRPGs and that we
still use text menus...

-Devin

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 10:17 AM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:

>  Devin,
>
> Is that true?  There is quite a bit on SHRDLU, for example, or the Game of
> Life (I think the computer version was at MIT).  Also, Eliza, if you
> consider that a game.   Was there a game in particular that you had in
> mind?
>
> Also, for non-MIT games, the PLATO (Empire, Mines of Moria, etc.) games and
> Adventure.  Are you looking at non-academic games like Hunt the Wumpus?
> There were a lot of BASIC games, and those are pretty well documented.
>
> Henry
>
>
> Devin Monnens wrote:
>
> Henry,
>  I don't mind contacting them over telephone or e-mail. Do you think any
> of them might be interested in talking to a game history researcher about
> this? I'm trying to understand why there were so few games aside from
> Spacewar mods documented from that time period.
>
>  -Devin
>
> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>> Devin,
>>
>> All the MIT people I know from that era probably live within ten miles of
>> Stanford these days.  Another confirmation of how smart they are!
>>
>> Henry
>>
>> Devin Monnens wrote:
>>
>>  I am interested in doing research on mainframe computer games produced
>> before 1975. I will be in Boston from November 6-9 on an unrelated trip, but
>> will be visiting MIT for their open house. I was curious if anyone here knew
>> someone at MIT who would have knowledge about this period who I could meet
>> with while there. Any other resources would also be greatly appreciated!
>>  -Devin
>>
>> --
>> Devin Monnens
>> www.deserthat.com
>>
>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>
>>
>> --
>> 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 USAhttp://www.stanford.edu/~lowood <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>lowood at stanford.edu; 650-723-4602
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> game_preservation mailing list
>> game_preservation at igda.org
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing listgame_preservation at igda.orghttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>
> --
> Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
> 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<http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>
>


-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From dmonnens at gmail.com  Wed Oct 28 20:26:02 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:26:02 -0600
Subject: [game_preservation] White Paper blogged by Bruce Sterling!
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910281726n78a1f7abga54ed281442bb9cc@mail.gmail.com>

Bruce Sterling blogged the IGDA White Paper! Sadly, there's no commentary on
it, just a big quote letting people know it's there. But it's still really
great!

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/10/dead-media-beat-computer-game-preservation/

Incidentally, he's also got a post on The Underdogs, which at least still
seems to be there with the metadata, if not the games themselves.

-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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From andrew at aarmstrong.org  Wed Oct 28 20:35:59 2009
From: andrew at aarmstrong.org (Andrew Armstrong)
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:35:59 +0000
Subject: [game_preservation] White Paper blogged by Bruce Sterling!
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910281726n78a1f7abga54ed281442bb9cc@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50910281726n78a1f7abga54ed281442bb9cc@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4AE8E36F.4060404@aarmstrong.org>

Oh, don't get me started on the splintered Underdogs thing. There are a 
few sites that have the data running on them, lets leave it at that to 
be honest.

Good to see people posting about the white paper though! We'll need to 
think of doing some more at some point as was said at the end of that 
whitepaper.

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:
> Bruce Sterling blogged the IGDA White Paper! Sadly, there's no 
> commentary on it, just a big quote letting people know it's there. But 
> it's still really great!
>
> http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/10/dead-media-beat-computer-game-preservation/
>
> Incidentally, he's also got a post on The Underdogs, which at least 
> still seems to be there with the metadata, if not the games themselves.
>
> -- 
> Devin Monnens
> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> game_preservation mailing list
> game_preservation at igda.org
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>   
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From donahrm at gmail.com  Wed Oct 28 20:36:00 2009
From: donahrm at gmail.com (Rachel "Sheepy" Donahue)
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:36:00 -0400
Subject: [game_preservation] White Paper blogged by Bruce Sterling!
In-Reply-To: <9d1cf2d50910281726n78a1f7abga54ed281442bb9cc@mail.gmail.com>
References: <9d1cf2d50910281726n78a1f7abga54ed281442bb9cc@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <op.u2jdaaygfmh8gn@sherpa.umd.edu>

I knew he'd tweeted it, but didn't realize he'd blogged it, too!

On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:26:02 -0400, Devin Monnens <dmonnens at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> Bruce Sterling blogged the IGDA White Paper! Sadly, there's no  
> commentary on
> it, just a big quote letting people know it's there. But it's still  
> really
> great!
>
> http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2009/10/dead-media-beat-computer-game-preservation/
>
> Incidentally, he's also got a post on The Underdogs, which at least still
> seems to be there with the metadata, if not the games themselves.
>


-- 
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

From dmonnens at gmail.com  Wed Oct 28 22:59:50 2009
From: dmonnens at gmail.com (Devin Monnens)
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:59:50 -0700
Subject: [game_preservation] CFP: PCA/ACA Conference, Albuquerque
Message-ID: <9d1cf2d50910281959q23e1f9f8s86d7ee385e721b1c@mail.gmail.com>

Just a reminder to everybody, the early deadline for paper proposals to the
PCA/ACA Conference in Albuquerque is almost here! I will be chairing a panel
on Game Preservation, so anyone from this list is welcome to submit a
proposal! The general Computer Culture Studies CFP is below. It's a fun
conference and Albuquerque is nice that time of year. I was hoping we might
get a mini Game Preservation conference there. If anyone has questions, feel
free to ask!

-Devin Monnens

CFP: Game Preservation
Computer Culture Area
31st Annual SW/TX PCA/ACA Conference
February 10-13, 2010

Participants sought for a panel on computer game preservation. The
longevity of computer games is threatened by the decay of digital
storage media (bit rot), the obsolescence of older hardware and
software formats, and copyright laws that prevent their archiving. If
preservation efforts are not initiated soon, a vast part of computer
game history stands to be lost. This panel will explore in detail the
issues surrounding game preservation, including preservation
strategies, areas of focus for the archive, and case studies of
computer game archiving. The panel will look to expand on research
conducted by the International Game Developers Association Game
Preservation Special Interest Group and their 2009 White Paper.

Please send a 250 word presentation proposal and your full contact
information to Devin Monnens via e-mail (dmonnens at gmail.com) no later
than 12/15/2009 (11/01/09 priority).


CFP: Games and Game Culture
Computer Culture Area
31st Annual SW/TX PCA/ACA Conference
February 10-13, 2010

The Computer Culture Area of the SW/TX PCA/ACA welcomes paper, panel,
and other proposals on any aspect of games or game culture. Possible
topics include (but are not limited to):

Alternative reality games
Archiving and artifactual preservation
Economic and industrial histories
Educational game design and development
Foreign language games and culture
Game advertising (both in-game and out)
Haptics and interface studies
Localization
Luddology and other theories of play
Machinima
MOGs, MMOGs, and other forms of online/networked gaming
Narratology
Performance
Pornographic games
Religion and games
Representations of race and gender
Representations of space and place
The rhetoric of games and game systems
Serious games
Table-top game design and theory
Technological, aesthetic, economic, and ideological convergence
Wireless and mobile gaming

For paper proposals: Please submit a 250 word abstract embedded in the
body of an email. Include contact information (e.g., postal and
preferred email address, phone and fax numbers, etc.) and a
biographical note about your connection to the topic.

For panel and other proposals: Feel free to query first. Panel and
other proposals should include all of the information requested for
individual paper proposals, as well as a 100-word statement of the
panel?s raison d?etre and any noteworthy organizational features.

As always, proposals are welcome from any and all scholars, including
graduate students, independent scholars, and tenured, tenure-track,
and emeritus faculty. Also, unusual formats, technologies, and the
like are encouraged.

Please submit proposals to Judd Ruggill (jruggill at asu.edu) by
12/15/2009 (11/01/09 priority). Information on the SW/TX PCA/ACA and
its conference can be found at: http://swtxpca.org.

-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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