A: The National Library of Korea views games not merely as entertainment, but as a complex cultural heritage that encapsulates the technology, culture, publishing, and distribution environment of an era. We believe that due to the ever-changing landscape of media and hardware, these are highly volatile materials that could vanish forever if not preserved immediately. We decided it was our vital mission to preserve everything from classic games in our collection to game-related materials stored on various analog media for future generations.

This exhibition was planned to discover records of Korean games that appeared and vanished—or became inaccessible due to OS and hardware obsolescence—within our library materials, and to expand their role from mere preservation to research and experience, eventually establishing them as national digital cultural heritage.

A: The exhibit is composed of game records from our archives, cases of unreleased or discontinued titles, game music and magazine materials, the process of treating and extracting data from obsolete media, and AI restoration and retro game experiences. We have prepared the exhibition by adding the library's own interpretations to the materials we hold.

Playable titles include Wonder Boy, games restored by Team Neo (the indie team behind Zemmix Neo), and two titles restored by the library itself: 'Chorong's Adventure' and the aforementioned 'If That Day Comes', a title that was advertised in magazines but never completed.

'Chorong's Adventure' is significant as the first domestic FPS. As for 'If That Day Comes', we used AI to adapt the enemies and boss graphics from the original magazine ads to modern standards, and added a fresh interpretation by featuring the library's own mascots, 'Buki' and 'Tumi', as the protagonists.

In total, 13 games are on display. Our selection criteria included historical significance, scarcity of materials, relevance to library holdings, and potential for future preservation. We believe that unreleased games existing only in magazine articles or development logs hold immense value in Korean game history. To help visitors soak in the atmosphere of the time, we have set up CRT monitors, joysticks, and gamepads, complete with guides to help with basic controls.

A: Under the Library Act, we collect and store games that come as supplements to books through mandatory deposits and donations. We have a significant number of PC and console materials, and while browsing them, I often thought, 'There are so many unreleased games here.' Beyond the games themselves, there are meaningful materials like Apple game code once used, which no longer exists on the internet but remains recorded in these books.

While not a game, the Cultural Heritage Administration once attempted to register 'Hangul 1.0' as a cultural asset, but had to cancel it because no one could provide a copy. Even with a reward of 50 million won offered to the owner, it couldn't be secured. I believe we must work hard to preserve games before they meet the same fate.

Furthermore, I looked for things that only a library could do—things that museums run by game companies like Nexon or Netmarble might not be able to tackle. We aim to act as a hub for games that exist only in archives, such as advertisements or news articles, to ensure that domestic games from the 80s and 90s are preserved before they are forgotten, and eventually, to create a space where people can view them offline.

A: After the exhibition, we are exploring methods for permanent viewing and play, while carefully reviewing copyright, preservation status, running environments, and equipment maintenance. By law, libraries can make copies for preservation purposes. While online services for these games are impossible, it is feasible to archive the copies and provide access to them via emulation within the library.

We are also considering distributing 'Chorong's Adventure' and 'If That Day Comes' via Steam. They may not be polished masterpieces, but they serve as a milestone, showing that the library is interested in forgotten games and is taking active steps. It is experimental, but I hope it serves as a catalyst for rediscovering old IP.

A: Currently, we collect games that are included as supplements to books that have received an ISBN under the Library Act; we do not accept standalone games. Games are currently treated as having the characteristics of electronic, multimedia, or non-book materials. When depositing or collecting, we verify the media, packaging, manuals, accessories, and publication/production information. In the long term, I believe it is necessary to manage these while linking them to execution environments such as OS and hardware, as well as rights information like copyright.

A: In a foundational study conducted last year, we determined that basic information like title and developer is insufficient. Taking 'The War of Genesis' as an example, the title alone makes it difficult to distinguish whether it is a game or the Book of Genesis from the Bible.

Accordingly, we have designed metadata capable of expressing rich context. We plan to record basic information like title, genre, and release date, alongside production/distribution/copyright entities, physical media vs. digital distribution methods, execution environments (OS, hardware, controllers), online status, language, age ratings, and current preservation status.

A: 5.25-inch floppy disks, CD-ROMs, packages, and user manuals are suffering from magnetic degradation, mold, scratches, corrosion, and lost components over time. Even if you have the physical media, it is difficult to use the game without the correct execution environment or user manuals. Verifying the physical state and playability of these materials was a crucial part of this exhibition.

Therefore, we are performing annual tasks to ensure these materials can run in digital environments through digital forensics and media migration. We are also working in parallel to develop emulation technology and the necessary OS environments to run them.

A: First is the construction of a database for game lists and material information scattered across the country. To achieve this, we are preparing to build a cooperative system with private game museums, private collectors, and professional agencies like the Korea Creative Content Agency.

Second is to establish metadata standards tailored to the characteristics of games, and to develop and distribute preservation criteria and technologies. We want to go beyond simple lists to grasp the context, serving as a vital access point for future search and utilization.

Third is to build an integrated archive system that preserves everything: original media, executable files, packages, manuals, advertisements, magazine articles, and oral history from developers. Furthermore, I believe continuous investment is needed for environments to preserve specific media and to develop emulation technologies that replace specialized players and operating systems.

This exhibition is the first step in showing the public the results of last year's research. If last year's study focused on conceptualizing game lists and preservation directions, this project connects the actual games and materials held by the library to user experiences, explaining the justification for why a library must preserve games.

A: Digital games do not end with just the preservation of executable files. We must also save servers, patch histories, account systems, user communities, operational notices, and event records. Therefore, we need a cooperative model where developers and platform operators provide data packages for preservation or access procedures for research before service termination. Since building large-scale storage, servers, and network environments requires a massive budget, this must also be considered, but it is clear that management at the national and public level is necessary.

We could apply a method where rights are transferred to users to remain as private servers upon service termination, or discuss with companies to receive version 1.0 deposits. I understand that when Nexon restored The Kingdom of the Winds, they didn't have version 1.0, so they rebuilt it based on the client version included as a book supplement. Archiving version 1.0 is essential. Besides that, it would be interesting to preserve the original character art to observe the evolution of designs over the years.

Part of a curator's work includes oral history collection. This involves listening to the experiences of people who lived through historical events and recording them. For online games, it would be worth considering the preservation of unrecorded content like the experiences, memories, and behind-the-scenes stories of contemporary users.

A: The biggest difficulty is that it is hard to identify who has what materials where, and even when we do, we must resolve rights relationships like copyright. Also, old media are physically prone to damage, and modern digital games are tied to servers and platforms, creating a limitation where a library cannot preserve them alone.

For long-term preservation, we need media preservation, data extraction, emulation, virtualization, and execution environment technologies. We must record sufficient metadata about execution conditions and required environments so that researchers can reproduce games even if the OS or hardware changes, and we must develop emulation technology that can run them in virtual environments in the future.

A: Game preservation is an area where digital cultural heritage conservation, copyright protection, game industry promotion, and user access rights intersect. We need to clarify legal grounds and procedures in the Library Act, the Game Industry Promotion Act, and the Copyright Act so that public institutions can safely deposit, collect, digitize, and provide restricted access for research and preservation purposes. If a game museum is built, we must also prepare data standards for national-level preservation and a rights consultation system for public use.

A: Rights relationships are often unclear due to developer bankruptcy, transfer of rights, joint development, or overseas distribution. For this exhibition, we made it a principle to identify rights holders and obtain permission whenever possible, but for older games, identifying the rights holder itself is often difficult.

To address this, we need to actively search for rights holders, similar to the concept of 'orphan works' in general publishing. A system must be established where public preservation institutions can use works in a limited capacity for preservation and research after a substantial search process, with procedures for compensation or cessation if a rights holder appears later. We must work together with government ministries and copyright organizations to achieve this.

A: The National Library of Korea planned this exhibition because we felt that the games that came with books needed preservation and management, and we wanted to build a consensus on this. We are highlighting the library as a place where 'forgotten games remain right here.' The difficulty level of the restored games is set so that fathers and sons can come and enjoy them together, so I ask for the interest of gamers who want to revive those memories.