Students at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor have access to 7,000 video games that span decades
Ally Moreo | Photo Editor
The Computer and Video Game Archive at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor contains 7,000 video games.
There is a gamer’s paradise tucked away in a library at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
The university’s Computer and Video Game Archive contains 7,000 video games, ranging from all-time favorites such as “Pac-Man” and “Frogger,” to newer fare, including “Call of Duty” and “Halo,” all on various gaming systems.
The 10-year-old archive collects materials relating to games for the purpose of academic inquiry, including but not limited to programming and technology, artistic and literary expression, social and cultural impact and instruction and education, according to the collection’s website.
People visiting the archive have the opportunity to play a wide variety of games from the 1970s to the present. The archive also provides a large online catalog listing the games available. The Computer and Video Game Archive is located in the lower level of the Art, Architecture and Engineering Library of the University of Michigan.
The archive was founded in 2008 by David Carter, who is a reference services librarian and the CVGA’s archivist. Carter was previously a lecturer at Michigan’s School of Information and is trained as an electrical engineer specializing in optics and radio waves.
Carter said in an Oakland Press interview that it is important to have an archive like the one at Ann Arbor because videos games are part of culture.
Kelli Wood, an assistant professor of the history of art and a postdoctoral scholar in the Michigan Society of Fellows, is one of the instructors who hold class sessions in the archive. This semester she is offering a freshman seminar, “Video Games: Cultures in Play.”
Wood said she wanted to bring video games into the cannon of art history.
“The archive allows students to learn from video games though interactive experiences and labs that focus on visual and material culture, close looking and game critiques,” she said.
Each week Wood’s seminar meets in the Computer and Video Game Archive to play games on consoles ranging from 1980s classics such as the Atari 2600 and Sega Genesis to contemporary best sellers.
“This course utilizes the technology and holdings of the archive to show students how video games over the past decades reflect the play element of culture as an artistic medium, narrative format and social platform,” Wood said.
Published on February 8, 2017 at 10:12 pm
Contact Deniz: dsahintu@syr.edu
