An influence on culture, society and aesthetics: the cover of Tetris.
Computer games and their platforms are pieces of history, worth preserving. They are surrounded by their own cultures, which are worthy of academic historical study. If their origins were left to disappear, mirroring the way their hardware becomes forgotten and obsolete, it would be to the detriment not just of the modern computer game industry, but of an art form.
To some, that's a contentious notion today. But Henry Lowood, curator of the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University, believed it back in 1998, when he began collecting and preserving computer game artefacts.
Recently, the US Library of Congress made moves to preserve America's digital cultural heritage. Inspired by this, Lowood and four other members of his committee - fellow Stanford boffin Matteo Bittanti, game designers Warren Spector and Steve Meretsky, and game journalist Christopher Grant, decided to inaugurate a digital gaming canon, similar to the work of the National Film Preservation board, which compiles an annual list of films to be added to a registry at the Library of Congress.
Before getting into what's wrong with the list itself, it's worth noting that this is the first of many lists. But its purpose has been debated. The NY Times has reported that the list is intended to "represent the beginning of a genre still vital in the video game industry". In other words, these are the games that introduced gamers to a genre.
In order to avoid every gamer in digital Christendom taking up arms in vehement disgreement with the sainted canon, Lowood has commented that it was not a list of firsts - but "more generally centred on criteria of influence, importance, impact [...], the aspect of influence not just on other games or on players, but on popular culture, society, aesthetics, etc."
This raises the question of whether this was a group of learned academics, industry professionals and, er, a journalist choosing seminal and vital works of art, or a clique of fanboys voting for the games that meant the most to them growing up. Also, the canon is dominated by the western hemisphere, with Sensible Soccer, Tetris and Mario being the notable exceptions.
Each panellist chose two games, with the inaugural canon running as follows:
· Spacewar! (1962)
Ran on the paper-eating PDP-1‚ and was for all intents and purposes, the world's first "video" game. Play the original in Java.
· Star Raiders (1979)
Arguably the first space combat simulator. The godfather of games like Elite, Wing Commander and X-wing vs TIE Fighter.
· Zork (1980)
Arguably the most famous text adventure, Zork used about as much memory as a modern ballpoint pen. But the first text-based adventure game was Colossal Cave Adventure, which used as much memory as a modern pocket handkerchief.
· Tetris (1985)
Either you know this game, and are cursing because you can't get the music out of your head, or you think computers are magic and hand-cranked by tiny pixies.
· SimCity (1989)
Build your own burgeoning city out of nothing. That's it. With no real way to win, but almost infinite ways to play, the player can set their own goals. Cross this with Civilisation, and you have the advent of the God sim.
· Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)
Possibly the bestselling game of all time. But is this concept really in danger of being forgotten?
· Civilization I (1991)
Bridged the gap for the first time between board games like Risk and the computer screen, Civilisation was nothing short of a gaming revolution.
· Doom (1993)
The original deathmatch game. Spawned innumerable clones, comic books and a film. One-time Scapegoat for the Columbine massacre, and now available on your mobile phone.
· Warcraft series (1994 onwards)
The only entrant which justified the inclusion of its truly behemoth series. Contentious, because just as many people prefer Command and Conquer, or Morrowind, etc. etc. etc.
· Sensible World of Soccer (1994)
Probably only squeezed in because Matteo Bittanti is Italian. This must have raised a few eyebrows with the Americans, who wondered why they'd left out John Madden Football.
