What video game ephemera tell us about ourselves

Ahead of a new digital archive of video game history, I got to thinking about how the games, magazines and other material says as much about the player as the games themselves

I just finished writing a feature about the Video Game History Foundation in Oakland, California, and how it is preparing to share its digital archive of games magazines. From 30 January, you’ll be able to visit the institute’s website and explore a collection of about 1,500 publications from throughout the history of games, all scanned in high detail, all searchable for keywords. It’s a magnificent resource for researchers and those who just want to find the first-ever review of Tetris or Pokémon. I can’t wait to visit.

While researching the article, I spoke to John O’Shea and Ann Wain from the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, which is also collecting games mags and other printed ephemera. They said something that really fascinated me. The museum is looking for donations to build its archive, but its focus is not so much on the magazines themselves, but on who brings them in. “We’re particularly interested in fan perspectives,” O’Shea told me. “We’re not intending to develop an exhaustive collection of every video game magazine ever made – we’re interested in the full suite of an individual’s video game experience … in how games connect to their lives.” Wain continued: “We’re interested in the stories of why – why did they collect these particular things, what were they looking for? It’s that kind of social context we’re after.”

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