Halcyon and on and on: an exploratory study of online collections of computer games

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to survey the landscape of online collections of digital games. Design/methodology/approach - First, the study identifies existing sites hosting collections and criteria that make a collection valuable for research, then it reports on sites that fit the criteria and analyzes trends. Findings - Most sites provide simple binary downloads, but some choose encapsulation. Common metadata terms consistently include genre, year of release and publisher. Most sites claim the right to provide their collections as “abandonware,” but remove games if they are asked to. Research limitations/implications - This study was conducted using a very limited subcategory of digital games, which could be expanded in other studies. Future research may require a multilingual team to account for collections based in non–English-speaking countries. Direct communication with sites’ management may be valuable in the future as well, but was not conducted in this study. Practical implications - The study identifies practices that have developed organically in this field without any guiding standards. Understanding these may aid in Humanities research into digital games, as well as potential collection development in the future. Social implications - Digital games are increasingly important as cultural artifacts, and there is a growing effort to preserve them for the future, but there are no standards for collecting and providing them. Understanding how this is currently done can help in providing access into the future for both casual and analytical use. Originality/value - While game preservation is a growing and active field of research, no study has been published in recent years on this particular subject. It will be valuable for the development of future collections and for research using current ones.