Mementos from digital worlds: video game photography as documentation

Purpose Video game players, equipped with image capturing and rendering features, are taking photographs within digital worlds. This study examines video game photography as a documentary practice. By considering the experiences of a gamer-turned-photographer, this study offers an initial synthesis of this new document phenomenon and provides considerations for categorizing such photos. Design/methodology/approach To discover the attributes of video game photography, this study utilized an auto-hermeneutic approach with self-interviewing and picture-sorting techniques. The resulting data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings Without tangible artifacts to commemorate gaming experiences, photographs empower the player to document and artistically reconstruct moments from purely digital worlds. The three themes from this study's findings – that video game photographs act as (1) vehicles for storytelling, (2) creative trophies, and (3) aesthetic tokens – reveal how personally meaningful documents emerge from this medium. Furthermore, the findings uncover the fuzzy boundaries between play, artwork, and documentation. Practical implications This study explores techniques for categorizing in-game photographs and eliciting gameplay memories. The methods outlined may assist video game researchers, conservators, and archivists with organizing photographs as context materials. Originality/value By considering the lived experiences between one individual and their video game photographs, this study expands document theory into the underrepresented hobby of video games.