What game would you put in your PC gaming time capsule?

[Lauren Morton]

Hey PC gamers, welcome back to the chat log. This week it's just me and Mollie talking time capsules. You know those things you did as a class project in grade school where you bring in something to stick in the capsule and maybe someone buries it and then supposedly 50 years later the people of the future open it up to be astounded by your cereal box toys? We're doing that, but theoretically, with PC gaming. We tried to figure out what artifacts, loosely, because non-physical things like trends also count as artifacts here, we would bury in the big backyard of gaming for our future players.

What would you put in your PC gaming time capsule?​

You can pick just one game if you want to, but if you want to play along pick one from all the following:

1. A game
2. A physical copy of a game
3. A peripheral or piece of hardware
4. A gaming trend
5. A story about a gaming community
6. Wildcard!

Mollie took a pretty historical view of PC gaming, choosing some old favorites from years past while I took a more recent capsule of the 2020s approach.

 

[Colif]

1. A game
2. A physical copy of a game

Sacred 2 + expansion pack + a USB stick with the community patch so it can be installed

A peripheral or piece of hardware

Current PC so that they can play the game. (Need a cd player or dvd player as well, expect finding one of those in 50 years will be fun)

 

[Frindis]

Right off the bat, I was thinking about old game manuals. Back in the good old days a lot of the manuals used to be thick with info. It would be anything from how to run the game well, game configurations, introduction to the game to hints/tricks, and more in-depth guides on how to play the game often with art from the game.

 

[Lauren Morton]

Sacred 2 + expansion pack + a USB stick with the community patch so it can be installed

Current PC so that they can play the game. (Need a cd player or dvd player as well, expect finding one of those in 50 years will be fun)

This has crossed the line from time capsule to care package, I approve 😆

Right off the bat, I was thinking about old game manuals. Back in the good old days a lot of the manuals used to be thick with info. It would be anything from how to run the game well, game configurations, introduction to the game to hints/tricks, and more in-depth guides on how to play the game often with art from the game.

Yes, game manuals were amazing!

 

[Brian Boru]

A game

Myst.
It's not my fav or anywhere close, but it launched CD drives into the mainstream n the 90s, which made a lot more possible for subsequent devs.

A physical copy of a game

The Operative: No One Lives Forever.
A great game which fell into legal hell, so that it can't be legally acquired digitally—in short, nobody knows who owns it, but nobody will let interested parties revive it either.

A real shame, and a warning to the present and future custodians of gaming heritage.

1. A peripheral or piece of hardware
2. A gaming trend

Combine these two:
3½" floppy and Shareware.
Again from 90s, the solid 3½" taking over from the flexible 5¼" disc made acquiring Shareware by mail much better—far fewer DOAs.
Shareware was a great idea back then for indie devs to get some decent exposure and buzz. Apart from mail order, magazines like PC Gamer used to include cover CDs—see #1 above, what synergy! —jam packed with dozens or hundreds of Shareware games.

A story about a gaming community

CivFanatics forums.
The best forum of any kind I've been involved with. Standard of discourse there is very high quality, and the facilities they supply for the members are top notch—eg game competitions, game customization.

Wildcard!

Could have been under the previous heading too, but a big shout-out to the wonderful Modding community which has done so much to enlarge, enhance and even rescue so many games. Thank you all!

 

[red_5ive]

#4: A gaming trend

I'll contribute an article on A brief history of the death of PC gaming

Computer games will be our decades (sic) 8 track tape or beta max

I remember I couldn't visit a gaming forum without seeing post after post from console gamers rejoicing in their short-sighted and premature victory. Not to put down console gaming, I've owned a couple Xboxes and each Playstation iteration except for the PS2. It was just fun watching the circus.

 

[Colif]

PC gaming has been dying since birth. Every few years its announced and it keeps going. Like all prophecies, without an end date, they might come true eventually. Might still be dying in 50 years and they be amazed its been happening forever.

Its the same as Windows itself. People always say the next version will kill it and yet, it keeps going. Mainly as there isn't much difference between each version apart from UI.

I wonder how many of those links work still.

 

[red_5ive]

Indeed, things come to an end, that's just how it is. Nevertheless, I think it's an important part of the history of PC gaming as that topic was at hysteric levels for a good number of years.

And yes, there isn't a whole lot out there on the topic at the height of its years (mid-to-end 2000's). I also searched for info from CNET, who I recall were one of the bigger names that published article(s) on the looming demise of PC gaming.