OASIS Lunchtime Talk: Taking the Metso, the Retro, and the Algo(s): On Nostalgia and Video Games

Nostalgia's origins as a Greek word includes the yearning for a return home (nostos) but also the pain (algos) involved. Players, resellers, community members, and companies know what a pain it is to determine why certain games are nostalgic – is it in the console, the content, or the connection to previous games that give it a nostalgic flair? Who determines this? Moreover, the talk explores how retrogames do not only exist in the past; the “pain” involved in figuring out why a game is ‘nostalgic’ generates insights, community, and even hope for the present and future.

Richy Srirachanikorn is a PhD Candidate at Concordia University, Montreal. He studies the generative potentials of nostalgia — cases where people use nostalgia to think about, and create 'lost futures', rather than dwelling on the lost past. Richy also co-founded the NOSTAGAIN Network in 2022, the first student-led research collective studying nostalgia in North America.

OASIS Lunchtime Talks is a series of lectures on current research by fascinating scholars from near and far. The event is free of charge and open for everyone. Welcome!

You can also watch the live stream of this OASIS Lunchtime Talk on the OASIS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/VVvu5IxL770

You may also like the following events from OASIS at the Tampere University:

• Next Wednesday, 17th September, 12:00 pm, OASIS Lunchtime Talk: Remnants of Play in Tampere