Niklas Nylund tells me that this could become the norm for many institutions as we consider the environmental implications of ad hoc, mass digital storage. “In a world where the environmental impact of computer systems is increasingly under scrutiny,” he says, such storage of digital games “may not be a sustainable way forward.”
Instead, he suggests a long-term triage in which “we concentrate on preserving certain key games that help understand the past.” This would not necessarily prioritize the most popular games, but games that “convey the facts of the past”. But the criteria for such a selection process remain uncertain, especially among different conservation efforts.
For Pennington, however, “emulation is the key to unlocking the future of conservation”. The power to present exact facsimiles of games outside of their original hardware is incredibly valuable, but as gaming hardware evolves and becomes more difficult to emulate, emulation may only be feasible for older hardware. As Nylund points out, “We have to make sure that the quality of the emulation is good enough so that it doesn’t create a false image of how games work.”
Ultimately, the legal ramifications of imitation can prove insurmountable. As corporations try to preserve the value of their IPs, preservation may conflict with corporate interests. But it’s also an area where Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft could get involved. This could take the form of lobbying for clearer legislation – fair use laws in many countries supposedly allow academics to make copies of games, but it is legally untested – allowing access to their own archives, or simply acknowledging that without transparent preservation on their part, the industry demands ad hoc (and perhaps more popular) solutions.
There is a possibility that the future of conservation cannot be played and that certain properties may not be preserved. At that point, elements like video and other footage become incredibly powerful tools for demonstrating what gaming looks like in 2022.
It’s something security guards are thinking about. “We could say there’s a documentary approach to game conservation,” says Pennington, “which thinks about the cultural meanings or the social and economic aspects of games.”
Activists like Straka already collect physical and digital ephemera, such as “trailers, advertisements, press kits or magazine reviews,” all of which provide context and complement existing practices.
Niklas Nylund suggests that these materials, whether game manuals or forum discussions, “may be the only sources available to shed light on how the games were perceived when they came out.”
Many of us think of preservation solely as playing old games beyond their apparent life cycle, but Straka says that’s a “layman’s understanding” of preservation. According to him, “the context and story of things are just as important, if not more important.”
It is difficult to determine a concrete form for preservation in 10, 20 or 50 years. Conservation advocates remain cautious, focused on the present, and pragmatic about what is needed. More. More money, more legislative freedom, more resources—and more people. There have never been more people working on conservation, but it’s still not enough. “The more people involved,” says Jonas Rosland, CEO of Hit Save!, “the more we can save for the future.”
Beyond the technical and legal challenges, video game preservation is a human endeavor that captures human stories.
“What I appreciate is how there are efforts to make digital objects meaningful,” says Straka. “A lot of what I do may be important to someone decades from now. But most stories about products, technologies, these are ultimately human stories. Like all stories. They are products of hope and ingenuity, and right now we can talk to those people and connect that story to a digital object that is itself very shallow.”
Better legislation could help, along with greater cooperation and transparency from larger entities, and make conservation part of the development process. But what really represents the future of video game preservation is – people.
