Implementing Controlled Vocabularies for Computer Game Platforms and Media Formats in SKOS

Abstract

This article outlines the creation of computer game platform and media format Linked Open Data (LOD) controlled vocabularies by the Game Metadata and Citation Project (GAMECIP). We discuss the need for more consistent and accurate information in computer game library records, define what we mean by "platform" and "media format", and then elaborate on our research process and issues encountered along the way. Our vocabularies were constructed with the Simple Knowledge Organization System to take advantage of its properties and hierarchical structure. After describing our LOD schema in detail, we conclude with a discussion of future work and a call for more collaboration.

Describing, organizing, and maintaining video game development artifacts

“…Throughout the late 20th century, video games rose to prominence as a hugely popular media form, and they continue to push technological and artistic boundaries to this day (Wood & Carter, 2018). Published video games, the final products of game development, are being ingested into cultural heritage institutions including the Library of Congress and game‐focused repositories with increasing frequency, and these acquisitions are used by members of the public for recreational purposes and by scholars across a number of research disciplines (Kaltman et al, 2016; Taves & Gibson, 2011). Although study of final, published video games is unquestionably necessary, these media objects convey only a hint of the larger web.…”

“…The personal papers of video game developers created and used over the course of game development illuminate a host of research questions focused on video games (Winget & Sampson, 2011). Documentary artifacts created by game developers convey information about the context within which a game was created, the creators of the game, and various iterations of the game itself that is not possible to see through examinations of published video games alone (Kaltman et al, 2016; Winget & Sampson, 2011). Although video games have recently become objects of scholarly attention, the role these objects play in contemporary culture indicates a continued scholarly focus; in years to come, game development artifacts, which may be considered unimportant or outdated by game developers, will be incredibly important to game historians, game studies scholars, and other scholars studying video games.…”

“…As academics focus on video games and game development artifacts with increasing frequency, a need has arisen to reevaluate standards for representing these materials within cultural heritage institutions. There have been a few efforts to establish various standards or vocabularies for describing and organizing video games, such as the Video Game Metadata Schema (VGMS) (Lee, Perti, Clarke, Windleharth, & Schmalz, 2017), the GAMECIP platform vocabulary for MAchine‐Readable Cataloging (MARC) records (Kaltman et al, 2016), and the Online Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc. Video Game Resource Description and Access (RDA) Best Practices Task Force's Best Practices for Cataloging Video Games using RDA and MARC21 (2018), but their primary focus has been on published games rather than game development artifacts. The Anglo‐American Cataloguing Rules (AACR), AACR2, and RDA have notable shortcomings when applied to complex digital objects (de Groat, 2015).…”

Publication and evaluation challenges in games & interactive media

“…1) Metadata (schemas and controlled vocabularies) to represent the unique characteristics of games as well as their associated development materials. Significant work in this area has already been done by members of the GAMECIP project [18,[20][21][22], and by Jin-Ha Lee at the University of Washington [27][28][29][30]. However, their excellent foundational work has yet to be implemented in university contexts.…”

Toward a Visualization of Video Game Cultural History: Grasping the French Touch

“…The issue of quantity is becoming more salient lately with the “discovery” of international video game histories; scholars entering the field at this moment have to tackle several tens of thousands of objects emerging from all over the world. Efforts are being made to establish metadata for video games (see Kaltman et al, 2016), but such contributions cannot be integrated within historical video game databases, for very few institutions have undertaken such a sweeping initiative at this point. For the time being, our historical investigations have to rely on user-populated databases such as MobyGames , which documents more than 200,000 games through dozens of overlapping concepts.…”