[-empyre-] pre-designed decay / gamifing the archive

[Rafael Trindade]

>
> "one historical analogue might be the published lecture notes of various
> teaching philosophers (What you see, in the form of the published manuscript
> is something akin to what you might find in a natural history museum. (...)
> Before long, you have an idea of what this creature was, how it acted, and
> what it looked like." [davin heckman]
>

Oh, good example, methinks. From Plato to Lacan. And it's interesting how a
so *hic-et-nunc-*ish thing like a series of talks, or the very discipline of
peripathetic learning, have been ordinarily transformed into an object, like
a book, with everybody dealing with it as such, disciples included. Taking
notes from what you listen at a conference is something different from being
a commentator on some work of philosophy or literature, as organizing
jottings from, say, Saussure's classes in a coherent book is different from
organizing a critical edition.

Even so it is not a problem. This is similar to the context of some literary
cultures - I think on Roman [late republic/early] empire's. It's a general
agreement today that classical Latin works were meant to be performed rather
to be only read. Poems, rhetorical speeches and exercises (quite obviously,
ok), even historiography were read aloud by professional actors, or the
author himself, in case he could make a good recitation. The written word
was more like a musical score; the real* *work of art lies in the theater.
However, people were able to read alone and silently, buy books etc.

Copying performances in books is a form of pre-designed decay, just to make
sure of their preservation. In this very case, the same strategy is present
on gaming, too.

Fighting games tournaments are possible, sometimes, by emulation. While Ian
Cofino discussed their dynamics - really exciting theme, thanks! - I
remembered our experience (mine and Menotti's) on KinoArcade, our very
fighting tournament. We were, back then, members of Cine Falcatrua, some
kind of a cinema ensemble, a film society less interested in *what* to show
than *how *to do it. KinoArcade was a tournament being displayed as a
cinematographic experience - after the daily violence sessions, we showed a
selection of machinimas - the opposite of what we were doing right before;
first, games being exhibited as cinema; then, movies made out of gaming
material.

Well, our tournament was made possible by the use of MAME, the famous
Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. The software enabled us to re-enact
arcade-dwelling experience, playing some canonical titles - in addition,
there were, by the projection arena, lots of rebuilt arcade machines. At the
finals the game chosen was the terrible, hard-to-maneuver 1987's original
Street Fighter, inspiring awe (and some mocking, too) among some people
young enough to never have been at arcades by the game's time.

In this case, it was possible some reenactment. But generally MAME is used
alone, or at private parties, keeping games and game experiences alive by
the same way Loeb books keep Cicero's performances.

Finally, the difference between this calculated decay (is it the same
calculus from translating poetry, for instance?) and just plain degeneration
could be shown in another example: GeoCities. Two attempts to preserve this
monument of The Early Internet: the gigantic, 700 GB ArchiveTeam's torrent,
and InternetArchaeology's "artifacts". The latter represents, unlike ROM
collections or abandoware sites' directories, maybe a unusable bunch of
data; the former is an artificial crafting of ruins: there are just isolated
pics and the such. Geocities, as retro games, is solid past; unlike our
subject, however, cannot be preserved the same way, because do not inspire
traditions or continuity.


Have a splendid weekend,
Rafael
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