Abstract
A large number of exhibitions worldwide deal with digital games, but curators lack a coherent understanding of the different aspects of games that can be exhibited or a clear vocabulary for talking about them. Based on a literature review on game preservation and visitor behavior in exhibitions, the paper makes an argument for understanding digital games on display as made up of object, experience, and context aspects. The study further presents a matrix model for understanding and working with games in exhibitions. The model makes for a more nuanced understanding of the different ways digital games can be exhibited. Additionally, it clarifies the position of games in exhibitions as socioculturally constructed through inherently ideological curatorial choices.
Highlights
Several museums dedicated to exhibiting digital games1 have opened around the world lately. their exhibitions have many things in common, it is striking how different they are in the strategies they employ toward exhibiting and preserving games
Based on a literature review of studies dealing with games as interactive exhibits and on case examples from the Finnish Museum of Games, the paper aims to build a theoretical argument about understanding games on display and to provide a comprehensive model and vocabulary for understanding them
As we have seen, are complex things, and their ontological position in museum collections and exhibitions is riddled with questions and ambiguities
Summary
Several museums dedicated to exhibiting digital games have opened around the world lately. Based on a literature review of studies dealing with games as interactive exhibits and on case examples from the Finnish Museum of Games, the paper aims to build a theoretical argument about understanding games on display and to provide a comprehensive model and vocabulary for understanding them. The study draws from different traditions and approaches while it aims at building bridges between game studies and museology, museum pedagogy, heritage studies, and the study of exhibitions It contributes to building a critical vocabulary for talking about and understanding games on display, which can be used in analyzing, planning, and criticizing game exhibitions. The analysis and resultant table help in building the preservation model presented in the article, and provide insight into how the various parts of games on display interact with each other. The discussion touches on the way different kinds of exhibitions and stakeholders might benefit from the presented model it uses in long-term preservation, as well as the ideological issues of exhibiting and preserving games
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
