Our archive supports research and teaching in the fields of game studies, game design, and related scholarship. 

This includes wide-ranging academic work in fields such as computer science, music, art, architecture, and humanities.

• Check out our video game studies guide for information about using games in your research.
• Request to teach a class session with us.
• Fill out our research form to request priority status when reserving individual game stations.

Examples of scholarly work 

Students and faculty have used our archive to enhance research in a wide range of disciplines. This has included topics in:

• Architecture. Comparing physical spaces versus digital spaces through games.
• English. Exploring violence in the media and apocalypses in games.
• Culture and society. Exploring how various cultures and groups are portrayed in popular media, including video games. For example, portrayals of Japanese culture, samurai, mafia culture, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and more.
• Game design. Using our game collection to find examples of scenes and mechanics that developers might employ in their own games.  
• Language and area studies. Teaching and practicing verbal communication skills in a target language, and learning about informal language and popular culture in an area of study.
• Music. Exploring video game music to see how it affects the mood of a particular scene and aids in the narrative of the game.
• School of Information. Evaluating the collection to inform projects around creating a collection development policy, a needs assessment, and more.