Host: Eugen Pfister (Bern Academy of the Arts)
Ewa Swietlik (C2DH, University of Luxembourg)
Narratives of video game history in amateur museums
Gaming being perceived as a cultural practice that is deeply embedded in the history of everyday life is already a well-established statement among researchers. This has influenced certain approaches and modes for presenting video games in museums (Garda 2014; Swalwell 2013). Similarly, the creation of video gaming narratives by retro gaming communities can be considered as a culturally and historically important practice that museum institutions can employ to provide social and cultural context for artifacts on display (Stuckey, Swalwell & Ndalianis 2013; Stuckey, Swalwell, Ndalianis & de Vries 2015). The postulate of introducing the community of video game enthusiasts, collectors, and amateur historians into cooperation with museum professionals is repeated by subsequent authors (Naskali, Suominen & Saarikoski 2013; Prax, Sjöblom, Eklund, Nylund & Sköld 2019) who emphasize the value of the “vernacular histories” created by these groups around the production, use, and reception of video games (Stuckey, Richardson, Swalwell & de Vries 2015).The recognized strength of the retro gaming community results from the collectively generated knowledge and ownership that these groups have over the popular narrative that shapes current gaming culture. They widely disseminate information and memories based on stories that are periodically repeated in their circles (Stuckey & Swalwell 2014; Stuckey, Swalwell, Ndalianis & de Vries 2015). Whilst researchers undertake the task of analysing retro gaming sites, identifying the types of content they produce (Suominen 2011) and considering the potential inclusion of these narratives into national libraries, archives, and public museums, some new, specialized video game and computer museums are emerging, which originate directly from amateur initiatives, constituting the official representation for the retro gaming community.
The aim of this presentation is to examine the popularization of video game knowledge by these amateur museums, driven by the retro gaming community, and their approach to creating historical narratives. The specific case of the Games and Computers Museum of the Past Era in Wroclaw (2017) and their retro gaming initiative, RetroGralnia (2011) will be discussed. This invites us to investigate the interplay between academic knowledge and its counterparts circulating in the public sphere. This also raises questions about the viability of researchers’ postulates regarding the inclusion of retro gaming communities in museum curatorial processes, given that these communities already assume the role of experts and gain a sound voice through their own museal initiatives.
The museum in question, which is dedicated to presenting the history of games, consoles, computers, and computer science, was opened in 2017 by four members of RetroGralnia, a non-formal organization active since 2011. It is a continuation of the earlier activities of this retro gaming community. Interestingly, both initiatives continue to operate and co-create narratives about video games through intersecting forms of digital and physical media. The museum in its current form can be characterized as an amateur one, because it does not have statutes and rules approved by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Poland (as indicated by the absence of its inclusion in the State Register of Museums or the List of Museums of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Poland). It is managed solely by the private and non-profit Foundation Games and Computers of the Past Era, which is owned by the same four individuals as the museum. Their primary backgrounds are in information technology, computer programming, and project management, and the only experience with museum practice that they have comes from organizing temporary exhibitions and events for RetroGralnia and similar initiatives. Rak & Pstrocka-Rak (2020) have already provided a basic description of the museum’s operation and its exhibition, which can serve as a concise introduction to a more comprehensive investigation. RetroGralnia is described by its own creators as a platform that offers a perspective on the gaming world from the viewpoint of experienced retro gamers. Long-time enthusiasts of games, consoles, computers, technology, gadgets, and pop culture, who consider themselves old geeks, run the website RetroGralnia.pl and all related social media channels to popularize knowledge about retro gaming among everyone interested (RetroGralnia, n. d.).
We conducted field observations there, combined with an interview with one of the museum’s founders and detailed analysis of the intertwining of on-site and online narratives. Field observations, which include photographic documentation of artifacts and descriptions of the exhibition (Preece et al. 2015), are complemented with a semi-structured interview based on pre-prepared scenario (Goodman et al. 2012), which follows established practice in similar studies carried out on video game exhibitions (Eklund et al. 2019; Prax, Eklund & Sjöblom 2019). Moreover, we have decided to use for analyses of the display Nylund’s (2018) matrix model consisting of object, experience, and context of: play, game development or public reception, expanded by Harrington (2023), who added new categories in the field of experience: playable, collective, and situational. Nevertheless, to comprehensively examine the interpretation and representation of video games in the Games and Computers Museum of the Past Era in Wroclaw, it is necessary to explore subsequent layers of narration in supplementary digital media created for and related to the museum. That leads to an analysis of the content not only on the museum website (https://gikme.pl) and the digital guide application (accessible on-site in the paper copy), but also the RetroGralnia website (https://retrogralnia.pl) and its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@RetroGralnia). This analysis provides an overview of various stakeholders in video game narration, including “amateur historians (collectors, fans, retro-gamers)” and “amateur collections turned professional museums” (Nylund 2020) and some model of game history and heritage discourses, with special focus on the historical, heritage and retrospective discursive patterns on retro gaming websites (Suominen 2011; Suominem 2017).
A concise examination of the content was carried out with a critical perspective in mind on the knowledge produced by retro gaming communities, as suggested by specialists (Nylund et al. 2021), who argue that these groups often fail to adopt a reflective approach when discussing video games. It reveals the occurrence of an interesting phenomenon in this case. The museum’s retro gaming enthusiasts constructed museal display based on their own interests and perspectives, as commonly indicated by researchers regarding amateur video game exhibitions. They present video games as playable entertainment and explain them through a layer of textual narration, focusing primarily on the exhibits’ technical qualities and specificities. They also try to sporadically provide interpretation and situate video games within a context. Several parts of the display illustrate these attempts. Examples can include prehistoric gaming machines, textual information about the beginnings of the video game market, a cabinet with Polish computers, or replica of the teenage Eastern/Western room. All the above can be considered typical practices occurring in amateur museums; however, interestingly, when compared, the RetroGralnia platform offers a more extensive and enlightening experience. Creators utilize this platform to preserve and disseminate their own knowledge together with experience, community practices, and local histories. These aspects are acknowledged by experts (Nylund et al. 2021) as significant forms of historical and cultural contextualization of video games. Furthermore, platform owners’ main objective is to increase their audience’s overall knowledge and understanding of retro games and gaming culture. This is particularly important considering the dominance of popular narratives of video game history over academic discourses in the public sphere (Suominem 2017). We argue that this case study provides valuable insights into the approach of retro gaming groups and their work on video game topics. It illustrates how participatory and amateur narratives about video games can now readily achieve institutional recognition among the public through private museum efforts.
References
Eklund, L., Sjöblom, B., & Prax, P. (2019). Lost in translation: Video games becoming cultural heritage? Cultural Sociology, 13(4), 444-460.
Garda, M. B. (2014). Gry komputerowe jako dziedzictwo kulturowe. Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies, 1, 119-128.
Goodman, E., Kuniavsky, M., & Moed, A. (2012). Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research. (2nd ed) Waltham, MA: Elsevier Science & Technology.
Harrington C. (2023). Experience in Videogame Display: An Extension of the Matrix Model. Games and Culture, vol. Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231209801
Naskali, T., Suominen, J. & Saarikoski, P. (2013). The Introduction of Computer and Video Games in Museums – Experiences and Possibilities. International Conference on History of Computing (HC), Jun 2013, London, United Kingdom.
Nylund, N. (2018). Constructing digital game exhibitions: Objects, experiences, and context. Arts, 7(4), 1-14.
Nylund, N. (2020). Heritage: Digital Games in Museum Collections and Exhibitions. PhD dissertation. Tampere: Tampere University, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences.
Nylund N., Prax P., & Sotamaa O. (2021).Rethinking game heritage – towards reflexivity in game preservation, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 27:3, 268-280.
Prax P., Eklund L., & Sjöblom B. (2019). More like an Arcade – The Limitations of Playable Games in Museum Exhibitions, Museum & Society, 17(3), 437-452.
Prax, P., Sjöblom, B., Eklund, L., Nylund, N. & Sköld, O. (2019). Drawing Things Together: Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities of a Cross-LAM Approach to Digital Game Preservation and Exhibition. Nordisk kulturpolitisk tidsskrift 22 (2), 332-354.
Preece, J., Rogers, Y., & Sharp, H. (2015). Interaction Design: beyond human-computer interaction. (4th ed) Chichester, West Sussex: JohnWiley & Sons Ltd.
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RetroGralnia (n.d.). Home [YouTube channel]. YouTube. Retrieved April 30, 2024 from https://www.youtube.com/retrogralniapl
Stuckey, H., Richardson, N., Swalwell, M. & de Vries, D. (2015). What retrogamers can teach the museum. MWA 2015: Museums and the Web Asia 2015.
Stuckey, H. & Swalwell, M. (2014). Retro-Computing Community Sites and the Museum. In M. C. Angelides & H. Agius (ed) Handbook of Digital Games, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 523 – 547.
Stuckey, H., Swalwell, M. & Ndalianis, A. (2013). The Popular Memory Archive: Collecting and Exhibiting Player Culture from the 1980s. In A. Tatnall (ed) Making the History of Computing Relevant, Berlin: IFIP Springer.
Stuckey, H, Swalwell, M, Ndalianis, A & de Vries, D (2015). Remembering & Exhibiting Games Past: The Popular Memory Archive. Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, vol. 2, no. 1.
Suominen, J. (2011). Retrogaming Community Memory and Discourses of Digital History. In P. Wilson & P. McEntaggart (ed) Navigating Landscapes of Mediated Memory, Inter-Disiplinary Press.
Suominen, J. (2017). How to Present the History of Digital Games: Enthusiast, Emancipatory, Genealogical, and Pathological Approaches. Games and Culture,12(6), 544-562.
Swalwell, M (2013). Moving on from the original experience: Games history, preservation, and presentation. DiGRA 2013: DeFragging Game Studies. Atlanta, GA, USA, 26 – 29 August 2013.
Boris Krywicki (Liège Game Lab, University of Liège)
An inescapable period of hindsight? Journalistic investigation as a way of raising awareness of the cultural and historical value of the first video games
This proposal outlines a comparative analysis aiming to explore the relationship between journalistic practices and historical research within the realm of video game studies. Drawing upon scholarly literature and journalistic sources, the study seeks to investigate the influence of temporal distance on investigative endeavors, the quality of historical insights generated, and the extent to which journalistic approaches contribute to the understanding of video games as cultural artifacts. Methodologically, the study will employ text analysis and comprehensive interviews to examine the strengths and limitations of journalistic methods utilized in both early French video game press and contemporary specialized publications.
In recent years, scholarly attention has increasingly turned towards the press (Chollet et al., 2012 ; Sidre, 2014 ; Perron, 2017 ; Blanchet et Montagnon, 2020…), encompassing both general and specialized outlets, as valuable historical resources in the study of video games. This proposal seeks to interrogate the intersection between journalistic practices and historical methodologies within this burgeoning field of inquiry. Specifically, it aims to explore how journalistic approaches influence the understanding and representation of video games as cultural objects eligible for inclusion in art historical discourse.
Existing literature highlights the significance of journalistic sources in documenting the development, proliferation, and cultural significance of video games. However, questions remain regarding the efficacy of journalistic methods in generating historical insights and the extent to which contemporary journalists prioritize the collection of historical data within their reporting.
The proposed study will conduct a comparative analysis of journalistic approaches employed by early French video game press (Tilt, Jeux & Stratégie, L’Ordinateur Individuel) and contemporary specialized publications and books (the section of JV Le Mag called “L”histoire”, books published by Pix’N Love or Third Editions, etc.),. Text analysis, following methodological frameworks outlined by Ringoot’s discourse analysis method (2014) and Kirkpatrick’s corpus selection (2015), will be employed to examine the content of journalistic outputs. Additionally, comprehensive interviews, guided by Kaufmann’s (1999) approach, will be conducted to elucidate the underlying methodologies and editorial decisions shaping journalistic narratives.
Specifically, to ensure specificity in study methodology, the selection of interviewees will focus on individuals with dual expertise in journalism and video game studies, ensuring their relevance to the study’s objectives. Moreover, the examination of temporal distance will entail analyzing historical contexts, technological advancements, and cultural shifts within the video game industry over time. This is mainly feasible for present journalists, as those from the past are sometimes deceased or impossible to locate, but we have notably been able to interview Jacques Harbonn (Tilt) and benefit from interviews with the journalists from Jeux & Stratégie through the work of Vincent Berry (2022).
In terms of concrete results, our research hypothesis concerning these three case studies is as follows: contemporary video game press of its subject would suffice with valorization and celebration of the « intra-video game », (Krywicki, 2022) the video game itself, whereas video game press subsequent to the work would develop a more « peri-video game » perspective, capable of informing us about the creation context, documenting the struggles of development, or its wanderings. We will limit ourselves to three main case studies, analyzed in a cross-sectional manner across the media of the corpus, supplemented by some additional observations. To select these cases, we started from the present looking towards the past, by selecting the themes that stood out the most from the corpus of our doctoral work (in which we analyzed nearly 800 video game press articles published between 1982 and 2019) – the French video game designer Eric Chahi and the Legend of Zelda franchise, for example. We mainly used the « Retro Magazine Search » engine to gather this corpus of articles on these subjects, introducing terms related to the studied works, and for journals we had not yet examined, more general words related to investigative journalism: investigation, portrait, or interview.
Beyond the practical considerations of data collection and analysis, this study will dive deeper into the epistemological issues underlying the comparison of different methods, disciplines, and contexts. We will explore how differing epistemological frameworks inherent in journalism and historical research shape the interpretation and representation of video games as cultural artifacts. Additionally, we will consider how the disciplinary boundaries between journalism and art history influence the construction of knowledge about video games.
This study carries significance for both academic scholarship and journalistic practice within video game studies. By critically examining the interplay between journalistic inquiry and historical research, it aims to deepen understanding of how video games are recognized as cultural artifacts deserving scrutiny within art historical discourse. Furthermore, it seeks to elucidate the strengths and limitations of journalistic methods in documenting and interpreting the historical trajectory of video games.
Through analyzing the impact of temporal distance on investigative approaches, the research contributes to ongoing discussions about portraying and analyzing video games as cultural artifacts. By comparing journalistic methods, the study aims to provide nuanced insights into the evolving recognition of video games within art historical discourse, while also highlighting inherent strengths and limitations in documenting and interpreting their historical trajectory.
References
Berry, Vincent. 2022. « Quand le jeu vidéo était un jeu parmi d’autres : le cas du magazine Jeux et Stratégie (1980-1990). » In Lire les magazines de jeux vidéo, edited by Presses Universitaires de Liège, pp.139-154.
Blanchet, Alexis, and Montagnon, Guillaume. 2020. Une histoire du jeu vidéo en France. Pix’n Love.
Chollet, Antoine, Bourdon, Isabelle, and Rodhain, Florence. 2012. « État de l’art du jeu vidéo : histoires et usages ». Colloque « Congrès de l’Association Information et Management 2012 » (Université Montpellier II). https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00784724/document.
Kaufmann, Jean-Claude. 1999. L’entretien compréhensif. Armand Colin.
Kirkpatrick, Graeme. 2015. The Formation of Gaming Culture. Palgrave MacMillan.
Krywicki, Boris. 2022. « En quête d’enquête. Généalogie et analyse des techniques d’investigation pratiquées par les journalistes spécialisés en jeu vidéo », Thèse de doctorat, Université de Liège.
Perron, Bernard. 2017. « Le Survival Horror : Marquer la culture vidéoludique avec un écran de chargement ». Colloque « Penser (avec) la culture vidéoludique » (Université de Lausanne). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgPS-38a_HA.
Ringoot, Roselyne. 2014. Analyser le discours de presse. Armand Colin.
Rouillon, Pierre-Alexandre. 2017. « Borderland. Le Mortal Kombat fauché de la région parisienne ». CanardPC.com. https://www.canardpc.com/370/mortal-kombat-fauche-de-la-banlieue-parisienne-borderland.
Sidre, Colin. 2014. « L’objet vidéoludique et ses réseaux de distribution (1974-1988) ». Theses.enc.sorbonne.fr. http://theses.enc.sorbonne.fr/2014/sidre.