He and Ruggill oicially launched their
repository of nerddom in 1999 by combining
their own personal video game collections into
one ledgling library.
They admit they weren’t always taken seriously
at irst.
“It was a very strange experience in a way,”
Ruggill says. “We had a colleague over in what
was then the Department of Media Arts (who)
studied pornography, and somehow that was
more socially acceptable than games.”
Academic attitudes have evolved signiicantly
since then.
According to Ruggill, the UA now ofers
three diferent game-related majors, and
research opportunities in the ield are nearly
endless. Video games can be used to explore
questions about psychology, physiology,
education, geopolitics, art, business, marketing,
engineering, technological advancement and
cultural change.
Simply put, “There are lots and lots of reasons to
have an archive,” Ruggill says.
But browsing through the collection is more
than just an academic exercise. A feeling of
nostalgia is almost inescapable, even for the
men who assembled it.
It’s one of the most rewarding aspects of what
they’ve built, Ruggill says: “seeing people be
transported by the things here.”
And there’s new stuf coming in all the time
— so much of it these days that it’s hard to
keep up, especially with COVID restrictions
on staing.