The Interactive Pasts Conference 2: René Glas et al.
0Video presentation for the Interactive Pasts Conference 2, October 8-10 2018, Center for Sound and Vision.
René Glas (Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play)
Dennis Jansen (Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play)
Brian de Lint (Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play)
Amanda Moss (Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play)
Andrea di Pastena (Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play)
Jasper van Vught (Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play)
Stefan Werning (Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play)
Playing (Dutch) Game History. Designing Games with Historical Datasets
Over the past two decades, games have increasingly been acknowledged as importanttechnologicaland cultural historical artifacts.Consequently, various initiatives have been undertaken to preserve games as part of acountry’s , an industry’s , or a community’s heritage. Moreover, online archives likeMobygames or Boardgamegeek catalogue and categorize both current and past titles togetherwith a wide range of other information such as the year of release, platform(s), or genre. Allthese initiatives are presenting a wide range of information about the complex genealogies ofgame history. However, due to the abundance of information and sorting criteria, these datasetsdo not easily reveal the historical insights and narratives they contain.
To address this issue, we propose a practice-based method, drawing on critical making and experimental, self-reflexive game design, to interpret (game-)historical datasets by developing, play- testing and remixing multiple game prototypes based on the same material. More specifically, we explore the recently created historical dataset of Dutch games to assess how the prototypes as historiographical ‘lenses’ produce different, interrelated views on game history. We draw on the notions of narrative sensemaking and narrative inquiry to explore how designing and playing the prototypes produces numerous, partially overlapping emergent historiographical narratives. This approach allows for a critical discussion of the “complex course of descent” which has formed the Dutch gaming present, laying bare the accidents, deviations and different emplotments that produce histories of companies, of genres, and of appropriating foreign motifs and themes. Finally, the method promises an exploration of the politics of canonization of (Dutch) games, which still constitute an understudied aspect of contemporary game history.