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. This book serves as a general introduction to "archaeogaming"; it describes the intersection of archaeology and video games and applies archaeological method and theory into understanding game-spaces as both site and artifact.
Andrew Reinhard is the Director of Publications for the American Numismatic Society and is currently working towards his PhD in archaeology at the University of York's (UK) Centre for Digital Heritage. He coined the term "archaeogaming" and runs the archaeogaming.com blog and twitter. In 2014, he and a team of archaeologists helped excavate the Atari Burial Ground in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Real-World ArchaeogamingChapter 2. Playing as ArchaeologistsChapter 3. Video Games as Archaeological SitesChapter 4. Material Culture of the ImmaterialConclusionAppendix: No Man’s Sky Archaeological Survey (NMSAS) Code of EthicsWorks CitedGames CitedIndex
"This is a stellar piece of work that moves beyond disciplines and worlds." - Anna Foka, Umea University