The Dark Souls of Archaeology: Recording Elden Ring

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel archaeological approach to studying a single-player video game, Elden Ring, by analyzing player-generated content to interpret in-game social and cultural phenomena.

Contribution

It is the first formal archaeological survey of a single-player game focusing on player-created content and its implications for understanding virtual worlds.

Findings

Player-generated content reveals social interactions within the game.

Analysis provides insights into player behavior and community formation.

Methodology can be applied to other digital and virtual environments.

Abstract

Archaeology can be broadly defined as the study and interpretation of the past through material remains. Videogame worlds, though immaterial in nature, can also afford opportunities to study the people who existed within them based on what they leave behind. In this paper we present the first formal archaeological survey of a predominantly single-player game, by examining the player-generated content that is asynchronously distributed to players in the videogame Elden Ring.