Retro-Computing Community Sites and the Museum

This chapter focuses on retro-computing community sites and museums, considering the roles of each in the preservation of 1980s digital games. It draws on video-recorded interviews conducted in 2006 with former Beam Software personalities, including owner Alfred Milgrom and game designers and programmers. The chapter surveys some of the literature for the challenges that digital games present for preservation. It explains some of the approaches that have been taken from the perspectives, variously, of researchers, museums, and fans. Two specific fan sites are considered: World of Spectrum and Lemon64. The chapter essays the relationship of fans to museums, considering what scope there is for collaboration between fans and museums and the benefits for each. Finally, it indicates how humanities researchers intend to contribute to and build on the important work of fan sites in writing a more thorough history of games and their sociocultural value.