MMU, Geoffrey Manton 301
4.00–5.30pm
Florence Smith Nicholls (Queen Mary University)

Video game archaeology, or archaeogaming, broadly refers to the study of how the past is represented in the medium, retro-engineering games through code archaeology, and conducting fieldwork in digital space. My doctoral work has specialised in the latter area. In this talk I will present the three main case studies from this research; an archaeological survey of player messages in Elden Ring, in-game interviews in the MMO Wurm Online, and a player study of an archaeology game I co-developed called Nothing Beside Remains.
While much discussion about video game preservation focuses on access to original hardware and software, it's important to preserve the social and historical context in which games are played as well. This work represents my development of novel methodologies for recording play experiences.  I will also reflect on the importance of recording and disseminating my research through physical media, such as zines. 

Bio:

Florence Smith Nicholls is a PhD researcher in video game archaeology at Queen Mary University of London. Prior to their doctoral studies they worked as an archaeologist for Museum of London Archaeology. They are also a game writer, designer and larpwright; they were a Story Tech at the indie studio Die Gute Fabrik, and ran a sci-fi larp, Funeral for an AI God, at the Stockholm Scenario Festival. Check out Florence’s website here.

A stack of lil zines