The potential use of immersive virtual environments for collecting and archiving heritage gameplay activities in digital libraries

Purpose This paper aims to discuss and propose the potential use of immersive virtual environments (IVEs) for archiving and collecting heritage gameplay activities in digital libraries, which is expected to triangulate further discussions on the said knowledge scopes. Design/methodology/approach The key question of this paper is, how we can preserve and revitalize fading heritage game activities in digital libraries? To answer this, the paper is going to understand the applications of IVEs in heritage studies; the use of telepresence experiences in IVEs for activity-based collection; the creation of virtual and telepresence experiences in digital libraries; and a proposed use of IVEs for archiving heritage gameplay activities. Findings The applications of IVEs and/or other virtual technologies have certainly been gaining positive feedback about their ability to provide vivid images of artefacts and art pieces; perform a high level of interactivity between the exhibits and visitors; enhance visitors’ sense of immersion that evoke their memories of heritage issues; facilitate visitors’ learning process in libraries; increase enjoyment in digital libraries. As mentioned in the previous section, the activity-based historical collection, for instance, the heritage gameplay activities, can be preserved and archived vividly using IVEs. Research limitations/implications This paper is explorative, there is no empirical result for generalization. Originality/value This paper aims to provide librarians with valuable insight to apply IVEs for archiving and collecting heritage gameplay activities. Setting up a new type of digital library is affected greatly by the openness of librarians, visitors’ expectations and a whole lot of things that are happening around the technological world and digital culture. This paper addresses the applications of IVEs in heritage studies, the importance of creating virtual and telepresence experiences for library visits as well as proposing the use of IVEs for archiving heritage gameplay activities.