A future for game histories?

Abstract

Recent years have seen an efflorescence of writing and curatorial work focused upon the past of video games. However, this work has tended to concentrate on particular forms of analysis, and privileged certain kinds of discourse. This article argues that these approaches limit our capacity to produce effective histories of and around games, and proposes more nuanced histories, informed by Foucauldian ideas of a genealogical approach to historical work, and a clear sense of the voices that present histories fail to represent. Broader, cultural game histories, we contend, offer us a clearer understanding of games’ past, and can move us away from the teleological, deterministic, and “great man” histories which dominate the present landscape. Reflecting on the past in this way also suggests an agenda for the future, in encouraging us to consider how and to what end we preserve video game culture.

Keywords

• games studies
• cultural history
• history
• technology
• education