Aaron C. Thomas

Professor Jacqueline Cano Diaz

ENC 1102

June 2 2025

        Textual Analysis

        For this project, I am using genre analysis to examine how the retro gaming community uses various genres of writing, such as patch notes, READMEs, and translation patches to preserve gaming history and spread the information to as many people as possible. The criteria for selection that I focused on was peer reviewed studies that focus on retro gaming communities and different fan practices, specifically those by Wulf and Mora-Cantallops.

        I analyzed each source thoroughly and by identifying how the authors discuss the different community practices, I was able to gather the different genres used within those practices. I specifically looked for elements like audience, structure, and tone within these writings.

        One of the major findings from this analysis was that fan-created genres are not only used as a form of documentation, but also serve as artifacts within said communities, serving to foster the communities growth and identity. On the other end of the spectrum, a major issue I encountered was how the two sources had some differences in how they viewed community participation. I decided I’d be focusing on how the two studies treated the writing genres specifically.

        Through this genre analysis, I found that genres like READMEs, translation patches, and patch notes are heavily embedded within the retro gaming culture, putting a clear emphasis on how these genres shape how communities preserve and share their collection and preservation efforts.

        The primary sources I will be using for this project go as follows:

Source 1: Wulf et al., “Video Game Nostalgia and Retro Gaming”

URL:https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/1317

Screenshot 1:         Title/Abstract (This explains the research on nostalgia and retro gaming)

Screenshot 2: Community (This explains the places where community practices are done (Pages 2-3))

Screenshot 3: Conclusion on Fan Practices and summarization (Page 6)

Source 2: Mora-Cantallops et al., “Identifying Communities and Fan Practices in Online Retrogaming Forums”

URL:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875952121000070

Screenshot 1:Title/Abstract (This explains the research intention about fan practices)

Screenshot 2: Forum Activities (Talks about the AtariAge & PlanetVB forum sites (Page 4-5))

Screenshot 3: Conclusion on Fan Preservation (Talks more about community driven presentation (Page 7-8))