The Game Inspector: a case study in gameplay preservation

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On 28 March 2015, the UK’s National Videogame Arcade (NVA) opened its doors to the public. Located in the centre of Nottingham, it is a ‘cultural centre for video games…equal parts art gallery, museum exhibit and educational centre’ (Parkin 2015a). Alongside myriad consoles, computers and Coin-Op cabinets, objects and artefacts specifically collected and donated by members of the public and industry veterans alike, a new category of interpretative exhibit was unveiled: The Game Inspector. Bespoke devices designed and fabricated by the NVA’s curatorial and engineering teams, the Game Inspectors allow visitors to explore a variety of videogames, investigating their level designs, object and enemy placement, discovering multiple routes and exits, and revealing hidden items, power-ups, secret rooms and even secret stages - with one important twist. All of this discovery and investigation is achieved without actually playing the games themselves. Instead, the Game Inspectors make use of annotated maps of specific levels overlaid with contextual information and numerous video captures that demonstrate and unpack different gameplay techniques, design elements, and glitches. The Game Inspectors seek to account for the ludic potential of a videogame by demonstrating it at play in a host of different ways all of which can be accessed through an interface that allows scrutiny and movement through the game’s space which is littered with the palimpsests of previous play and/or its design.