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<p class="h1 text-white">The <span style="font-family: Montserrat; font-weight: 700;">Morgue File</span> is a wiki for materials that '''give videogames context'''.</h1>
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<p class="lead">Our aim is to build an archive of information, links and media open to all researchers of videogame history, bringing scattered, difficult-to-find resources together into a single reference. And we need your help to build it!</p>
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<p class="mb-0">"You can't understand a game by playing it"</p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 700;">"You don't understand a game by playing it."</span></h3>
<p class="blockquote-footer">Frank Cifaldi</p>
<p class="blockquote-footer">Frank Cifaldi, Video Game History Foundation</p>
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<h1 class="text-light">The Video Game Morgue File is a collection of reference material to provide context around video games.</h1>
<p class="lead">The aim is to build an archive of information, links and media of value to researchers of video game history, bringing resources that are currently scattered across the internet into one place, for every game ever made.</p>
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== What's with the name? ==
== Who is this for? ==


"A morgue file originally was a collection of paper folders containing old files and notes kept by criminal investigators, as well as old article clippings kept by newspaper reporters, in case they became of later use as a quick reference collection."
* Researchers
* Academics
* Journalists
* YouTubers
* Anyone else interested in the history of videogames


== What kind of resources belong here? ==


* Design documents
== What's with the name? ==
* Advertising
 
* Trade press
<blockquote class="blockquote mt-4 px-4">
* Newspaper clippings
<p><em>"A morgue file originally was a collection of paper folders containing old files and notes kept by criminal investigators, as well as old article clippings kept by newspaper reporters, in case they became of later use as a quick reference collection."</em></p>
* Reviews
<p class="blockquote-footer">definition from Wikipedia</p>
* Interviews
</blockquote>
* Retrospectives


And all of this is medium-agnostic: whether it's text, graphics, audio, or video, it's all good.


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== Want to help? ==
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== Upload policy ==
This wiki is still young. Please, join in and help shape this community project! We have a [[Help:Getting_Started|Getting Started guide]], and we're open to suggestions.


It is the nature of game research that the entire history of the field falls under the current term of copyright, and all of the material we study, whether advertising, press coverage, or fan reaction, is still technically owned by some company or individual. Whether this material was originally provided voluntarily, and under what terms, is usually undocumented and unknowable; it's simply impossible to clear the copyright for the majority of materials.
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As such, we can not implement a blanket ban policy for copyrighted material... but we should try to stay on the right side of both fair use and the unwritten rules of acceptable material that cause sites like MobyGames and TCRF to operate with few problems.
== What belongs here? ==


# If it's possible, please link to large files at their original locations instead of uploading them here.
If it's relevant to videogames, and it's not made of code, this is probably the place for it. A non-exhaustive list:
# If it was never officially made available online, or no longer exists at its original location, try to find it at the Internet Archive and link to that copy.
# If there's no other copy publicly accessible online, please consider its copyright status.
# If it's no longer being actively sold, consider whether it would be fair use to excerpt it.
# Never upload more than is relevant. Pages, not entire magazines. Segments of a podcast or show where a subject is discussed, not the whole thing.
# Don't upload any materials with a known history of DMCA reaction or other litigation.


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* Design documents
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* Advertisements
* Trade press
* Newspaper clippings
* Reviews
* Interviews
* Talks
* Histories
* Letters to the editor
* Old messageboard threads
* Cultural ephemera




== Sample Collections ==


Why not take a look at the resources we've gathered for...


* [[Computer Space|...the first commercial videogame?]]
* [[Amsterdoom|...an obscure Dutch first-person shooter?]]
* [[Lemmings|...one of the most ported games of all time?]]




Or see the list of [[:Category:Game|all {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Game|pages}} games on the wiki]].




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Latest revision as of 19:32, 12 October 2025

The Morgue File is a wiki for materials that give videogames context.

Our aim is to build an archive of information, links and media open to all researchers of videogame history, bringing scattered, difficult-to-find resources together into a single reference. And we need your help to build it!


"You don't understand a game by playing it."

Frank Cifaldi, Video Game History Foundation


Who is this for?

  • Researchers
  • Academics
  • Journalists
  • YouTubers
  • Anyone else interested in the history of videogames


What's with the name?

"A morgue file originally was a collection of paper folders containing old files and notes kept by criminal investigators, as well as old article clippings kept by newspaper reporters, in case they became of later use as a quick reference collection."

definition from Wikipedia


Want to help?

This wiki is still young. Please, join in and help shape this community project! We have a Getting Started guide, and we're open to suggestions.

What belongs here?

If it's relevant to videogames, and it's not made of code, this is probably the place for it. A non-exhaustive list:

  • Design documents
  • Advertisements
  • Trade press
  • Newspaper clippings
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Talks
  • Histories
  • Letters to the editor
  • Old messageboard threads
  • Cultural ephemera


Sample Collections

Why not take a look at the resources we've gathered for...


Or see the list of all 284 games on the wiki.



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