Archaeogaming: An Introduction to Archaeology in and of Video Games

by Andrew Reinhard

A general introduction to archeogaming describing the intersection of archaeology and video games and applying archaeological method and theory into understanding game-spaces. “[T]he author’s clarity of style makes it accessible to all readers, with or without an archaeological background. Moreover, his personal anecdotes and gameplay experiences with different game titles, from which his ideas often develop, make it very enjoyable reading.”― Antiquity Video games exemplify contemporary material objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. Video games also serve as archaeological sites in the traditional sense as a place, in which evidence of past activity is preserved and has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology, and which represents a part of the archaeological record. From the
Archaeogaming, broadly defined, is the archaeology both in and of digital games…  As will be described in the following chapters, digital games are archaeological sites,  landscapes, and artifacts, and the game-spaces held within those media can also be understood archaeologically as digital built environments containing their own material culture… Archaeogaming does not limit its study to those video games that are set in the past or that are treated as “historical games,” nor does it focus solely on the exploration and analysis of ruins or of other built environments that appear in the world of the game. Any video game―from Pac-Man to Super Meat Boy―can be studied archaeologically.

Genres: Archaeology, Nonfiction, Video Games, History, Games

ebook

Published May 1, 2018

About the author

Andrew Reinhard has been described as a "punk archaeologist without borders." He excavated the Atari Burial Ground in 2014 and appeared in the documentary Atari: Game Over. A Classical archaeologist by training, he focuses now on the archaeology of the recent past and video game archaeology (aka archaeogaming), as well as the archaeology of other interactive digital built environments. He earned his PhD in archaeology at the University of York (UK) in 2020.

Reviews

[dill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good archaeology book doesn't just make you think about the research material, it makes you think about the discipline too, and this definitely did. I love the way Reinhard constructs his arguments- it's all very charming, you can almost imagine him grinning as he reads it to you. Aside from the writing style, there are some really good arguments made, and it's clearly something Reinhard is passionate about. I think archaeogaming really is quite an untapped academic field, especially more contemporary research, and even more so outside of classical reception studies. This book serves as a really sturdy introduction to the field, and the proposals made for further studies are all pretty logical and intriguing. It does, like most books on archaeological theory, have a tendency to go on a bit, but I can appreciate that sort of comes with the discipline, and as textbooks go, it's not a particularly bad case. I'd recommend checking it out if you're interested, especially considering the lack of alternate scholarship on the concept.

[Ocean Dattani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I accidentally read every chapter of this for my dissertation and by gods goodreads has to count that.

Very good book! Interesting ideas explained well. Its always nice to see video games treated with respect and interdisciplinary approaches to my discipline are always fascinating to read. Especially one im interested in. Looking at the same things with different frameworks is so fascinating.

Some chapters i liked more than others.