Project Description:
The aim of this project is to explore the history and
cultural impact of a crucial segment of New Media: interactive
simulations and video games. The current generation of video and PC
games has established genres that effectively use narrative,
competitive, and play structures for community-based interaction,
performance and content development, and push the boundaries of
computer-generated animation, graphics, and audio.
Our contributors are conducting research in five-genre
defined areas of computer games: storytelling, strategy,
simulation, sports, and shooters (3d first-person games). In
addition to traditional methods of publication, we are working
on web-based presentations of our content, including
collaborative timelines, digital archives, and high doses of
interactivity. Another important aspect of the project is the
preservation of software, media streams, screenshots, and
documentation; we are constructing a digital archive of source
materials. The project has also led to the introduction of a
Stanford class offered in the Science, Technology and Society
Program and now in its fifth year: STS145. "History of Computer Game Design:
Technology, Culture, Business".
One of our goals is an edited volume of papers on the topic
of our project, including several contributions from students
who have taken this course. Student papers from this course
(nearly 200 from the first four years) are available through a
project website. Accomplishments of the project
thus far include two significant museum exhibits that took
place in 2003 and 2004, featuring installations from the
worlds of computer games, art and military simulation; the Machinima Archive, a digital archival repository
for this new game-based medium; the 73 Easting archives at
Stanford University, which documents the most important
military simulation of the 1990s; and numerous panels,
conferences, and publications. Currently, the project is in
the second year of a three-year project with HPS Simulations
to develop historical conflict simulations using HPS' new
Point of Attack 2 game, funded by the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research.
Core Personnel:
Contributors:
- Casey Alt
- Georgios Panzaris
- Rene Patnode
- Doug Wilson
- Waynn Lue
- David Liu
- Sarah Wilson
Technical Development:
Visit the How They
Got Game website.
Read about the Fictional
Worlds exhibit at Cantor Center.
Read about the Story
Engines conference at Stanford.
Read about the Game
Scenes exhibit at Yerba Buena.
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