The Confusing Quest of Videogame Classification: A Platform Analysis of Mobygames' Videogame Classification System

Abstract

Videogame preservation and therefore videogame documentation have been getting increased attention over the past few years. Mobygames, a database dedicated to collecting and presenting information about videogames has become an active and well-known player in this area. Mobygames’ platform and navigational structure is heavily reliant on a classification system with the ability to filter games based on their genre. Clarke et al. have shown how classification systems are used to make sense of the medium that is classified, by imposing characteristics upon the medium that are familiar to the user. Classifications within media usually consist of genres, which are often socially constructed. Genres and genre ideals are made up of intertextual characteristics related to the medium and differ per individual or group. Classification systems on databases such as Mobygames are shaped by the structure of the database, its technological design, the knowledge production by users and the active governance on the platform. In this thesis, I researched Mobygames’ classification system based on a platform analysis method coined by José van Dijck. My analysis shows that videogame classification on Mobygames frames videogames as messy, as the classification system itself is also messy and sometimes very difficult to understand and use. Ideas about the classification system and thus the games on the platform are shaped by a pre-defined genre glossary that is used throughout the website. Because of the ways in which Mobygames is structured, such as the technological design, the user activity and the governing policies, the ideas of the pre-defined genres are strengthened within these individual games. Games are put together in too broad or too specific categories. Games are therefore sometimes overgeneralized or oversimplified and based purely on their supposed genre. Furthermore, some games lose their visibility on the platform due to their niche character. Concluding, classifying games is a difficult exercise and the platform’s features contribute to continuing to perceive videogames as messy and comprehensive media products.