Fans, Fan Communities and Game Culture

Over the next few weeks, our theme focus is on game fans and fan communities. Fans have had a significant role to play in taking the initiative to document and preserve videogames – the software, the hardware they were played on, and the memories and experiences of first playing them. Game fans have understood the cultural value of videogames long before universities and museums began addressing this issue. Operating outside institutional structures, fans have drawn on the combined knowledge of large communities to build a history of gaming that’s alive and dynamic and which continues to grow.