Save Point/s: Competing Values and Practices in the Field of Video Game Preservation

摘要

This paper presents a Bourdieuvian way of understanding video game preservation as a nascent field with its discourse and praxis shaped by ontological differences and conflicting power structures. This is illustrated through a spectrum of valuation that treats video games as material artifacts on one end and embraces its ephemerality on the other. Video game preservation literature and initiatives are likely to lean towards one of these extremes which focuses either on ensuring the playability of games or documenting of gameplay and its expressions. These competing values and practices can be seen further by classifying and mapping out participants, illustrating power relations. There are points of overlap and tensions between industry players, cultural institutions, and fans given their respective conflicting nature, intent, and mechanisms when it comes to video game preservation. The shape and sustainability of this emerging field and frontier, the paper posits in the end, depend on how these tensions are addressed, hopefully towards inclusion and collaboration.