A noteworthy trend that has developed in video games in recent years is retrogaming. Retrogaming could be defined as a specific subculture of digital gaming typically characterised by playing (or collecting) obsolete personal computer, console or arcade video games in contemporary times, although it can also include playing modern games with “retro” aesthetics. However, it is not limited to that; it is also related to a wider cultural phenomenon that involves research, artistic activities, preservation and online discussions. This paper studies such activity in two separate sites, PlanetVB and AtariAge, aiming to uncover how the fan practices and the social networks that arise in these forums shape their communities, using natural language processing techniques combined with social network analysis. The results of the descriptive analysis on the language used in online forums show how most users participate in such online sites to buy and sell collectibles, to program new games for old systems or to simply socialise with like-minded people, collectively bringing new life into discontinued game systems.

已在视频游戏开发，近年来一个值得注意的趋势是复古游戏。逆向游戏可以定义为数字游戏的特定亚文化，通常以玩（或收集）过时的个人计算机，游戏机或街机视频游戏为特征，尽管它也可以包括玩具有“复古”美感的现代游戏。但是，不限于此。它也与更广泛的文化现象有关，涉及研究，艺术活动，保存和在线讨论。本文在两个单独的网站PlanetVB和AtariAge上研究了此类活动，旨在通过自然语言处理技术结合社交网络分析来揭示这些论坛中出现的粉丝行为和社交网络如何塑造其社区。