Software Emulation and the Video Game Community: A Web Content Analysis of User Needs

In the past decade, archives have utilized emulation to preserve older pieces of software including video games and make them accessible to patrons. However, recent literature neglects user needs for emulated software in archives. Using web content analysis, this study examines the text of nearly 1,200 online comments, threads, and forum posts about software emulation from four different websites. The findings suggest that audiences are keenly aware of software emulation but not of emulation as a way to preserve video games. It also found that user needs are often unique or even contradictory, and much user attention is paid to the visual quality of emulation systems as well as the quality of the emulated experience. The author suggests a number of policy proposals for libraries and archives that argue greater public input is necessary in the creation and development of systems that preserve software through the process of emulation.Master of Science in Library Scienc