<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Preserving Games &#187; archive</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/tag/archive/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.ibiblio.org/winget</link>
	<description>Archiving the Creation Processes of the Video Game Industry</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:06:17 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4</generator>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
			<item>
		<title>Video Game &#8220;Extras&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/2009/04/video-game-extras/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/2009/04/video-game-extras/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:06:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News and Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[archive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[creation process]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[preservation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/?p=133</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In his article &#8220;Toward a Virtual Reenactment of History: Video Games and the Recreation of the Past,&#8221; Brian Rejack discusses the game Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 and its &#8220;extras.&#8221;  As the player progresses through the game, he or she can unlock bonus features that can be accessed from the main menu.  Similar [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In his article &#8220;Toward a Virtual Reenactment of History: Video Games and the Recreation of the Past,&#8221; Brian Rejack discusses the game <em>Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 </em>and its &#8220;extras.&#8221;  As the player progresses through the game, he or she can unlock bonus features that can be accessed from the main menu.  Similar to the extras that accompany films on DVD, these extras take gamers behind the scenes to see how the game was made. </p>
<p>In the case of <em>Brothers in Arms</em>, the game developers provide side-by-side comparisons of World War II photographs showing, for example, soldiers standing next to a tank with the corresponding image from the game in order to strengthen the game&#8217;s claim to authenticity.  However, the player only has full access to these extras once he or she has completed the game.  Thus, Rejack argues, only when the player plays through the game a second time will he or she recognize those parts of the game that are based on historical truths.</p>
<p>In the months following the publication of Rejack&#8217;s article in September 2007, though, many games have provided these extras immediately to the player as DVDs do.  In fact, a large number of major video game releases are now offered in a &#8220;collector&#8217;s edition&#8221; package that includes a bonus DVD disc containing behind-the-scenes footage.  In these instances, the back of the game box, in addition to describing the game itself, will point out that the game includes bonus features; the Platinum Edition release of <em>Call of Duty 3</em>, for example, notes that a bonus disc includes the &#8220;Making of <em>Call of Duty 3</em>&#8221; feature.</p>
<p>With these bonus features becoming increasingly prevalent, we ought to consider how these videos should be treated with regard to archival video game preservation.  As we have discovered with our own project, many major developers are naturally unwilling to provide behind-the-scenes access to their programming innovations or their artistic creations, worried that competitors might steal their ideas or that their designs might become known to the public too early.  Thus, in our understanding of the creation process for a game like <em>Gears of War</em>, we may be limited  to the official &#8220;making of&#8221; features that the developers provide in these collector&#8217;s edition game packages.</p>
<p>So, should we be preserving these features in our video game archives?  When the developer is so hesitant to contribute the material creations that would normally be considered primary sources of research, do these documentary features then become our primary sources, or the closest thing to primary sources that we can obtain?  How will the archives be affected if game developers continue to commodify information?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/2009/04/video-game-extras/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A New Kind of Archive</title>
		<link>http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/2008/11/a-new-kind-of-archive/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/2008/11/a-new-kind-of-archive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:45:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TimA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News and Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[archive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/?p=22</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Unlike books, movies, or even console videogames, the design process of MMORPGs does not have a fixed endpoint. After the MMO is initially released, designers continue to work on patches and expansion packages and game content is updated continuously. This presents a unique challenge to the archivist, especially one who is interested in preserving content [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Unlike books, movies, or even console videogames, the design process of MMORPGs does not have a fixed endpoint.<span> </span>After the MMO is initially released, designers continue to work on patches and expansion packages and game content is updated continuously.<span> </span>This presents a unique challenge to the archivist, especially one who is interested in preserving content created during the design of the MMO.<span> </span>If MMOs, much like living organisms, are never explicitly “finished,” at what time does the archivist stop archiving artifacts developed during the creation process?<span> </span>Would a collection of artifacts that document the development of the “World of Warcraft” software package released in 2005 accurately represent the design of the state of the MMO in 2008?<span> </span>The short answer, of course, is “no.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>While the consistent incompleteness of the MMO presents a challenge, it also presents an opportunity to create a new kind of archive.<span> </span>Alterations that are made to the source code of a particular MMO are recorded by game designers in what are called “living documents.”<span> </span>These documents were originally saved individually as MS Word files on local workstations, however developers are increasingly using Wikis instead of Word files so that multiple developers can update the design documentation simultaneously.<span> </span>Like the design documentation, the source code for an MMO is also updated continuously.<span> </span>Initially, when updates were made to the source code, the code that was being replaced was lost forever.<span> </span>Increasingly, however, programmers archive their source codes in databases so that previously replaced code is retrievable.<span> </span>They do this largely because updates will frequently cause unintended errors, and the only way to determine at what point the error was introduced is to revert to previous code. What this means for the archivist, however, is that it is within the realm of possibility to preserve the design documentation along with the databases that contain the various versions of the source code.<span> </span>One could then, theoretically, examine the updates to the design documentation and access the state of the game content at the time that the design changes were implemented.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>This prospect is certainly ambitious.<span> </span>The most salient issue standing in the way of the archivist is intellectual property.<span> </span>Game development companies will not likely allow access to their source code or even their design documentation.<span> </span>One would hope, however, that with time, executives will become less protective of outdated source codes and design documents that are no longer explicitly relevant to maintaining the current functionality of the MMO.<span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>The archivist, as always, has other options.<span> </span>If the source code, for example, is just too valuable for company executives to allow access to it, there are periodic “snapshots” of the current state of the MMO that executives release internally.<span> </span>A “snapshot” includes an executable file and a copy of all of the files in the game at a given point in time.<span> </span>Since these snapshots are released internally to all members of the company, executives may be less protective of them.<span> </span>While they would not allow access to an uninterrupted history of the evolution of the MMO, the snapshots would at least lend some idea, however incomplete, of the various stages in the MMO’s development.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="&quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">There are certainly some significant challenges to achieving this goal, however to know that it is possible to preserve both the evolution of the game content of the MMO and the documents that illustrate the design changes to that content is nothing short of<span style="black;"> inspirational</span>.</span></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.ibiblio.org/winget/2008/11/a-new-kind-of-archive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

