Video Games and the Cultural Record: Studying the Creation Processes and Artifacts of the Video
Game Industry for the Purpose of Collection and Preservation
This IMLS early career award is an ethnographic research project focused on supporting the collection and preservation of
massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. The process of this project will be twofold: 1) to examine the creation
methods and behaviors of video game developers, designers, and artists through in-depth interviews and work
observation; and 2) to create in-depth inventory lists of their artifacts of creation – the digital or physical doodles or
sketches, manifestos or proposals, early versions of a work, or even 3-D models or visualizations of an environment.
The primary goal of this research project is to come to a better understanding of the video game industry’s creation
methods, behaviors, and attitudes for the purpose of building more meaningful models of preservation and collection of
these materials. Most of the current preservation projects for new media and video games focus on the end products: the
“final” art objects or the released video games themselves. Within the archival community, however, there is the
realization that digital preservation starts with creation; it is impossible to reliably and authentically preserve an object
without having a very good idea of the circumstances and particulars of that object’s creation. This project team hopes to
shed light on those conditions. We believe that the products of this research project will support better collection, access
and preservation of these significant and important cultural artifacts.
Additional and specific project benefits include:
(1) The development of inventory lists of creative artifacts. Collecting institutions currently have very little idea of
what they will be receiving when they begin collecting these materials, and even less idea about how to describe
or provide meaningful access to them. The information gathered from the inventory lists will give collecting
institutions a clear idea of how much, and what kinds of materials are typical in the development process, and will
help these institutions plan accordingly.
(2) Development of models and guidelines for further research in this area. New media is a burgeoning field, and
collecting institutions will need to conduct further research in this area. Recording the processes and challenges
encountered by this project team will encourage and support future work for those archivists, curators, and
librarians who collect video games and similar types of materials, like: new media art, science and engineering
data and artifacts, and output from other fields of new media development.
(3) Theory development on the concept of “authorship” within new media. Video game development is an
exceptionally collaborative process, and is significantly different from the traditional artistic model, (or even the
model of new media art) where one or two people collaborate to create the aesthetic experience, or work. The
interviews and observations will provide valuable information for scholars interested in the concept of authorship
in new media. Again, this will lead to better collection development, access, description, and preservation of these
materials; but will also provide the opportunity for theory development within the field of new media,
communication, and information science.
All of the products of this research: the interview audio and transcripts, the observation transcripts, and the inventory
lists will be made freely available on the Internet, through the Video Game Archive, housed at the Center for American
History at the University of Texas at Austin. This project, based at the School of Information at the University of Texas at
Austin, will be led by Megan Winget, who has extensive experience with project management, digital library design and
development, and representation of complex digital artifacts. Her research strengths include digital preservation,
specifically of new media art; and in addition to holding a Doctorate in Information and Library Science; Professor
Winget has a Master’s degree in the History of Art, with a focus on contemporary aesthetic theory. Brenda Gunn, the
Center for American History’s Associate Director for Research and Collections, and Video Game Archive’s Project
Manager, will be the archival manager for this research project, ensuring the development of viable and dependable
models of collection, preservation, and access.
Massively multiplayer online video games are important and significant cultural artifacts. Not only are they worthy of
meticulous and robust collection, representation, and preservation; it will increasingly become more and more important
for collecting institutions to provide access to these materials. This project will support that endeavor, by talking to and
observing those people work in the industry to provide much needed information on the creative process, the artifacts of
creation, and to build models of collection, preservation and access that will be pertinent not only for the video game
industry, but for other new media fields as well.