What Belongs In The “World Video Game Hall Of Fame”?

Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York.

In a sign of just how far video games have come as both a medium and an industry, Rochester, NY’s The Strong Museum Of National Play has announced the creation of the World Video Game Hall of Fame. The museum, which already houses the International Center for the History of Electronic Games and the National Toy Hall of Fame, is launching the initiative to “advance understanding and appreciation of the impact of video games on culture and society" according to a statement made by Strong president and CEO G. Rollie Adams in recent press release.

Nominations for the inaugural class are open to the public through the end of March, with entry decided by a committee comprised of journalists, academics, and “other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role in society.”

As per the nomination form, the hall of fame will assess entries based on :

Icon status: the game is widely recognized and remembered.

Longevity: the game is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over time.

Geographical reach: the game meets the above criteria across international boundaries.

Influence: The game has exerted significant influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment, or on popular culture and society in general. A game may be inducted on the basis of this criterion without necessarily having met all of the first three.

This is not the first attempt at a hall of fame for video games. Cable network SpikeTV inducted the iconic Legend of Zelda franchise into their “Spike Video Game Hall Of Fame” in 2011, as part of that network’s (since-discontinued) annual video game award show. It remains the only inductee. The Strong, however, sees itself as uniquely positioned to create a hall of fame that is both expansive in its reach, and effective in its educational methodology. As Jon-Paul Dyson, director of The Strong’s International Center For The History Of Electronic Games explains:

“Through The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG), the museum preserves and interprets a growing collection of more than 55,000 video games and related artifacts, plus an extensive array of personal papers and corporate records that document the history of video games. [...] These unparalleled resources uniquely qualify The Strong to create a World Video Game Hall of Fame that identifies and celebrates the most important games of all time.”

Inductees will be announced in July, 2015, and will go on display as part of The Strong’s eGameRevolution exhibit.