Abstract

I examine the evolution of first-person shooter and role-playing games and consider how over the past 30 years the two genres have influenced one another. I trace their development from initial mainframe-based games, though their growth into multiple-player versions and finally the creation of immersive virtual reality environments encountered in current products, highlighting key moments in their evolution. I consider the motivations from the position of different people with an interest in computer games for seeking to preserve them in view of their cultural significance. Finally, I identify the weaknesses in the current arrangements for preservation and advocate a more structured approach in the future.

Introduction

When I was invited to attend the Preservation of Complex Objects Symposia (POCOS), my brief was to speak from a developer's perspective rather than that of an academic. I should explain, however, that I started out as a member of an academic research team considering matters relating to games history. Initially we focused on games history and tried to identify games design spaces which were not being exploited by the games industry.

In our role as academics, we were able to use research programmes to explore these topics, without the pressure that the games industry is normally under to produce a commercially successful game. Researchers have an ability to push the boundaries of design, as they have different objectives, and the production of ‘interesting’ data would still be considered a successful outcome, even if the game ‘failed’ as a cultural artefact. Fortunately, however, the game which we produced, Dear Esther, also achieved praise from the games community leading on to a commercial release.

My topic here is to consider why games history and preservation are of great importance to contemporary games developers and what I, as a developer, would like to become available.

When Dear Esther was released, it received a high score from Edge magazine, but I noted one interesting comment from a reviewer who said that ‘Piece by piece “Dear Esther” makes you forget all you have learned about games and reminds you of a time when genres were still young’.