Player as Archivist: A Proposed Analysis of Player-centric Video Game Preservation Practice

This proposal, presented at DiGRA 2026 by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University, argues that video game preservation depends heavily on informal, player-driven labor that remains under-studied relative to institutional archiving. Its central thesis is that player-centric preservation should be investigated through an empirical, reproducible, and transparent methodology, complementing existing qualitative and cultural accounts. The authors frame games as complex digital objects whose authenticity depends not only on technical layers but also on user practice and the lived playing experience, and they contend that formal "technological preservation" alone may lose what makes games culturally distinctive.

The paper outlines a proposed research agenda built around four categories of behavioral determinants: nostalgic motivation, preservation practice orientation (such as emulation, modding, and walkthrough production), community engagement, and technical and resource investment. Each category would be measured through Likert-scale self-report items within a survey instrument featuring randomized item order and attention checks. The planned analysis uses exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis, followed by reliability testing, to identify underlying dimensions of player-driven preservation and the types of practice they form. The authors also draw on the Digital Game Analysis Protocol to justify systematic reporting of methodological choices.

The scope of the proposal is conceptual and forward-looking: it describes a planned model rather than reporting completed empirical results, and no sample size or data collection outcomes are presented. Its intended contribution is a validated, reusable framework for testing how individual player characteristics shape preservation practice, with implications for digital heritage and archival research. The authors also acknowledge the risk of minority viewpoints being marginalized within retro gaming communities, a concern they position as relevant to the agenda's future hypothesis-testing studies.