Game Documentation Study

This is a research project being conducted by Rachel Donahue, under the supervision of Dr. Kari Kraus at the University of Maryland, College Park. We are inviting you to participate in this research project because of your involvement with the video game industry and/or user community.

The purpose of this survey is to gather information related to the records management and preservation activities of the video game industry and the gaming community. Over the last several decades, video games have become more than simple entertainment for individuals. They’ve begun engaging the imagination and commenting on society in ways previously reserved for the book. As the cultural importance of video games (and other software) grows, professionals in the information world are faced with the challenge of keeping these digital objects accessible indefinitely into the future.

The results of this survey will benefit everyone involved in the gaming community by providing: an increased understanding of methods currently used to preserve culturally important software; starting point for scholars to explore the technical history of video games; a starting point for archivists to develop a documentation strategy for the video game industry; and a look into the ways amateur and professional preservationist activities intersect and deviate, complement and contradict one another.

The survey is made up of both multiple choice and free text questions, with the option to add free-text responses to many of the multiple choice questions. These free text fields are completely optional, but your response to them could greatly improve the quality of this study. The survey may take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, depending on the level of detail you choose to provide. These questions are intended to collect data and not to imply that any form of records management or preservation is better than any other. If you dislike the options available, please feel free to use the free text fields to elaborate. For questions with numerous, non-exclusive options, check all that apply.