Museums in video games | Video games in museums

Abstract

In the last few years, video games reached a maturity that is now recognized at an institutional level and that led them to enter in schools and museums. The musealization of the video game proposes a series of analysis opportunities. The essay intends to investigate this theme from two different perspectives: first the role of the museum in the videogame that is how it has been represented in some selected case studies such as Tomb Raider: Legend (2006), GTA 4 (2007), Uncharted 2 e 3 (2009, 2011), Bioshock 2 e Bioshock Infinite (2010, 2013) o The Last of Us (2013). On the other side, the role of the video game in the museum has to be considered on three different levels. First, the use of it since the ’90 by artists into artworks that are recognized under different tags such as “game art”; on a secondary level we need to consider the dedicated exhibitions and the acquisitions of videogames in the museums’ collection; lastly the use of video game by the museum itself as didactical and marketing tool. The essay will try to evidence some aspects that video games and museums unexpectedly have in common such as their nature of device system based on storytelling, the theme of collecting and the construction of the experience.