RARchive Fever: The Materiality of Videogames

The shaping of videogames by material conditions can be uncovered by comparing works across multiple platforms through something analogous to textual criticism: one must understand the digital equivalents of bibliographical codes and be able to relate them to the processes through which players interact with videogames. In this thesis, I extend the siloed approach of Platform Studies and draw on evidence from the past half-century to examine the diverse codes that shape the meaning-making of videogames. Chapter One posits that digital storage media have a knowable topography, and that videogames provide an ideal tool to visualise and navigate it. Additionally, this chapter demonstrates that understanding this topography can enhance our appreciation of videogames by detailing how storage-based glitches make the contours of the storage visible to us. In Chapter Two, I examine what is hidden in digital texts, including comments as well as decoupled portions of code. Although such information cannot be seen by those unaware of how displayed information only partially reflects the content of digital files, it can have industry-shaping consequences. An “Interlude” section concludes my study of digital storage and data and introduces the study of further components, including hardware and print matter. Chapter Three explores mobile devices as collections of sensors continually gathering data. Focussing on the game République, I study how such data can be used without the knowledge of and contrary to the wishes of a device’s owner. République provides a model for making visible the processes in a player’s phone, so as to challenge her trust of her device. Finally, in Chapter Four, I turn to an early Computer Role-Playing Game, The Temple of Apshai. Studying its manual, I demonstrate that print materials can be integral to videogames: they reveal connections to print traditions and allow the games to surpass the limitations of their storage media. My comparative approach to platforms and eras serves to illuminate the nuances of digital materiality in videogames. Advancing our knowledge of this field of study is vital at a time when access to the original objects is waning.Ph.D.2021-11-14 00:00:0