Games are still a relatively young medium that can nevertheless look back on over 50 years of history. Their history is characterized by constant technological progress: New consoles regularly enabled new gaming experiences that were unthinkable a generation before. But with the new technology, the old became mostly obsolete - and often forgotten. But for some years now, it has been noticeable that gamers as well as numerous developer studios are paying more and more attention to the history of "their" medium: Many of the most successful and highly anticipated games of recent years have been remakes, remasters or reboots of older games. Other games try to evoke a clearly recognizable retro aesthetic through the use of pixel art or crude polygonal rendering like from the days of the first Playstation. The trade in classic consoles is booming and has meanwhile taken on very problematic features due to rising prices.
The culture of games seems to be reflecting on its own past at the moment: Which games have influenced us? Which games fromback then have been lost? Why was the world of games still "in order" back then? The research project "Retro-Games and their Role in the Negotiation of Games Culture in Digital Spaces" aims to provide an overview of the discourses prevailing in digital spaces that relate retro-gaming and today's games culture to each other. Is retro-gaming seen as an attempt to restore an ideal, or rather as a reflection on the development of games culture?
Using netnography, an empirical method to search for cultural meaning attributions in online social media, these discourses will be uncovered, understood and categorized. Particular attention will be paid to the role that nostalgia plays in these discourses, which can act as a mediator between individual and collective fan identities in the field of Games Culture. Furthermore, the role that retro-nostalgia plays in discourses on topics such as diversity in games, difficulty vs. accessibility, and processes of game development will be explored.
- Project lead: Thilo Eisermann
- Contact: t.eisermann(at)filmuniversitaet.de
- Website: www.institut-spawnpoint.de
- CV: Thilo Eisermann (he/him) is a lecturer for theory and practice of Games Culture in the B.A. program Digital Media Culture at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. He is also a media scientist and media educator at the Institute for Games and Media Culture Spawnpoint in Erfurt. The institute develops, among other things, media and game educational model projects as well as artistic and cultural confrontations with the medium "game". He also spends a lot of time in his private life with analog and digital games. His favorite games include the Soulsborne series from From Software as well as many classic games such as Chrono Trigger or the Phantasy Star series.
- PhD Advisors:
- Scientific PhD in the discipline: Media Studies