Maximilian Stefan Mohr is enrolled in the master program Media and Digital Studies at Leuphana University in Lüneburg where he also works as a student assistant at the Leuphana Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture and Society. His main research interests include critical theory, phenomenological and social impacts of media and technology, as well game studies, where Mohr is still trying to find his niche. His favourite games combine artful presentation with strong gameplay ideas, such as Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013) and Ori and the Blind Forest (2015).
Monetising Nostalgia – Artificial scarcity of retro games and how it “forces” players behaviour.
FROG 2023 – Talk
Video Game Preservation and access is a topic which only grows in relevance as the history of games gains not only in years, but also in number of game titles and technical progress or change. As studios and hardware manufacturers continuously offer new platforms and games, pursue different revenue ideas or questions of licensing arise, older titles often get left behind, even though there is still, for various reasons, a demand for them. While there may be all kinds of motivations for several actions on the site of said companies, in the end they organise players into different positions of spending, corporate dependency or “legal grey areas”.
As a specific example, this talk will look at the organisational force that Super Mario 64, or rather its legacy and developer Nintendo’s dealing with said legacy, expresses onto fans of the game and players in general. As a very much still sought after and popular game, Super Mario 64 will be representative of many games that might have been lost to time amidst questions of intellectual property, cultural heritage, legality vs morality and profit driven market interests. This talk will pose the question “What can be done about it?” in different ways.
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