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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Nothing to add to the below that hasn’t already been said, other
than to say that I would be happy to participate in this project if needed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Actually, I do have a question. Other than the actual selection,
is anything special currently being done to preserve the 10 titles that have
been added to the Canon so far?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Stuart<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> game_preservation-bounces@igda.org
[mailto:game_preservation-bounces@igda.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Andrew
Armstrong<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, February 06, 2009 2:22 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> IGDA Game Preservation SIG<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [game_preservation] Project Discussion: Digital Game Canon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>This is a bump of the below discussion. The Digital Game
Canon project needs input, and I was glad Stuart brought it up before.<br>
<br>
Thoughts on the need for this, if anyone is interested in helping, or just
ideas about what a good future system would help.<br>
<br>
As Henry said, similar projects in film include the AFI ( <a
href="http://www.afi.com/">http://www.afi.com/</a> ) and also the National Film
Preservation Board ( <a href="http://www.loc.gov/film/">http://www.loc.gov/film/</a>
) who run the National Film Registry ( <a
href="http://www.loc.gov/film/filmnfr.html">http://www.loc.gov/film/filmnfr.html</a>
), as part of the Library of Congress A/V Conversation ( <a
href="http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/">http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/</a>
)<br>
<br>
There is no comparable project from the games industry or related
organisations. Most organisations barely keep their own history preserved, to
be honest. Even finding academic projects related to researching which games
are important to preserve has come up, basically, entirely empty (there is some
material on game preservation in general, but not much of that really). General
preservation is great, but are those top games well preserved yet? I bet no one
on this list knows the answer. :)<br>
<br>
I'd love for this to be the basis of some American (or hopefully worldwide!)
project which actually could fund the preservation of certain games (and
related media) as the National Film Preservation Board does. This is certainly
also one of the main projects which has some good stuff to read for everyone -
gamers, developers, academics, and even non-gamers to a degree (just like
someone who watched few films would look at the Film Registry). It'd require
some real lawmaking, funding, or other stuff though, but I'd be happy if it
started as a collaboration of interested archives who can store the games
independently! :) I hope they would be interested in acquiring titles
specifically if listed, and would be forerunners involved in the project I
presume.<br>
<br>
As for how it could be run now, I'm happy with experts. It'd be good to get
another GDC session, or have something put online (audio, or filmed) related to
the explanations behind the games. In the future, to have more input, we could
have an active committee who runs the project with input from the public (lists
of games they think need preserving - similar to the NFPB - <a
href="http://www.loc.gov/film/vote.html">http://www.loc.gov/film/vote.html</a>
) as well as internal SIG suggestions. A set of guidelines (necessary age, the
selection of a single title or a "range" allowed, and significance
guidelines) would be a good idea, made public so it has more credit.<br>
<br>
Suggestions from Devin include publishing the list in Computer Game Studies, or
Gamastura (or both) as well as our site, which sound like a good idea if we can
provide context and reasoning behind the decision (rather then just "a
list" which is actually incredibly boring, see: most blog content ;) ).
It'd be nice to advertise it further afield, but for starters - it really just
needs to be got going again! The wiki needs finishing for the previous entries,
or a new small website built to hold the information (I have the domains, and
might be able to cook up something for this). Getting researched articles and
lists of resources related to each chosen game is also important - when
Wikipedia is the *best* description of a given historical game's content, you
know something is wrong.<br>
<br>
These are only my ideas - the project is currently run by Henry, who's a lot
more knowledgeable about game history in general, and why he decided to do this
in the first place :)<br>
<br>
Please put forward ideas, it'd be good to get this going again in some way.<br>
<br>
Andrew<br>
<br>
Andrew Armstrong wrote: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>This is coming on from our previous discussion over spring
cleaning the SIG.<br>
<br>
<b>Digital Game Canon</b><br>
<a href="http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/Digital_Game_Canon">http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/Digital_Game_Canon</a><br>
Status: <i>On Hold</i><br>
Currently lead by: Henry Lowood. <br>
Short description: <i>Started for a GDC 2007 session. This project recognizes
the importance of digital game culture. The Canon provides a starting-point for
the difficult task of preserving its history. This project will need to be
restarted in some capacity in the future.</i><br>
<br>
Concerns raised previously:<br>
- Basis for choosing 10 games a year.<br>
- How to get it restarted without a GDC session<br>
- Who are the people choosing the games, and the criteria they choose them<br>
<br>
>From Henry, running the project: "Well, the criteria were discussed
within the group, but not openly because there was no open forum. Recall
that it was a GDC event, then it became a website after that. If we
continue the project with a mode of presentation more focused on dissemination
over the web and documentation, that would give us an opportunity to explain
the criteria<br>
<br>
That said, the heart and soul of the enterprise is to create a list a la what
the American Film Institute has done for U.S. cinema. The AFI's
work has been a basis for preservation activities, as well."<br>
<br>
<br>
You can look back to some of the older emails on some of the points raised, but
I'd prefer if they were raised again by those who are concerned so we can get
discussing them again a bit more on topic. I do have in mind a new website to
build in my spare time (which might take a while) to host information and
metadata on the different games we add, which is doable since we'll have a
small list, and soon will have more collections for different videogame
material on the IA.<br>
<br>
Bring whatever you can to the discussion, although Henry leads the project so
it's in his ballpark where it goes from here.<br>
<br>
Andrew<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre style='text-align:center'>
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</pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>game_preservation mailing list<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a
href="mailto:game_preservation@igda.org">game_preservation@igda.org</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a
href="http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation">http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre> <o:p></o:p></pre></div>
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