Feb 13, 2021
Emulators!
Emulators are nifty little softwares that allow us to play games on systems they weren’t designed for! A quick Google search shows up with multiple online emulator programs such as the one from class as well as Emulator.online. Emulators are a way for us to preserve the past and look back on how far our technology has come. By preserving our past technologies, we have the opportunity to look back and compare where we were and where we are now — as well as just enjoy the old games!
Emulators allow us to not only revist games and sites from our past, but they can mimic softwares in order to run files in the version of software they were originally created. According to this article by Oxford, emulators are great for re-living the past through old games and websites, but it has it’s issues when it comes to legality. And while we can have fun playing these old games, we have to think about what is lost. We’re playing these games outside of the environment they were designed for, thus losing the authenticity and originality of the games.
This emulator site reminded me of the Wayback Machine that I learned about in one of my first digital studies courses! I am only now realizing that they are both under the same site, Internet Archive. This makes total sense, but it is still so shocking. The wayback machine is similar to the gaming emulator we used but instead you are able to access websites and pages from whenever you choose! It’s a very useful tool for revisiting the past online and comparing where we are now.
I think what emulators and the wayback machine force us to consider more deeply is where we will be in another 10 years from now, looking back at our current internet archive? What will be lost in translation? And how can we continue to better preserve our online communities?
