ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to investigate possible preservation strategies of serious games in order to reflect on the sustainability and long-term accessibility of these digital artefacts. We focus on a case study of the game Memory Gliders (Ulric Games 2019). As a digital game, it is a born-digital artefact and for that reason, it is prone to issues such as technological obsolescence or digital decay. As an educational game, Memory Gliders cannot rely on hobbyist engagement in the preservation work, like in the case of entertainment games and retrogaming communities. Should then the weight of this effort rest on the back of project coordinators (i.e. scientific network members), game developers (as a part of company’s portfolio and legacy), funding bodies (e.g. EU centralised solutions), research centres (e.g. on the history of education), or memory institutions (e.g. local libraries)? In this chapter, we explore short-term solutions for reinforcing the academic and societal impact of the game, as well as long-term solutions for its preservation as a digital heritage artefact.
