from the are-you-sure-you-want-to-listen? dept.
David Rosenthal writes in his blog about his brief talk recently given at a video game preservation workshop.
I was asked to give a brief talk to the Video Game Preservation Workshop: Setting the Stage for Multi-Partner Projects at the Stanford Library, discussing the technical and legal aspects of cooperation on preserving software via emulation. Below the fold is an edited text of the talk with links to the sources.
On the basis of the report I wrote on Emulation and Virtualization as Preservation Strategies two years ago, I was asked to give a brief talk today. That may have been a mistake; I retired almost a year ago and I haven't been following developments in the field closely. But I'll do my best and I'm sure you will let me know where I'm out-of-date. As usual, you don't need to take notes, the text of what follows with links to the sources will go up on my blog at the end of this session.
With a lot of digital resources, games especially, there is a conundrum caused by abandonware, or orphaned works, where the owner neglects it due to lack of income but due to increased interest will not change the licensing or availability. With games and other things depending on their original, physical storage media, time runs out quickly before entropy takes it away forever. However, finding a way to preserve games takes money and the actual preservation takes more money...
Source : Brief Talk at Video Game Preservation Workshop
(Score: 3, Informative) by Uncle_Al on Tuesday February 27 2018, @10:24PM (1 child)
and it's hard to fundraise for something that is illegal to do today
thanks a lot, DMCA
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday February 28 2018, @09:46AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday February 27 2018, @11:49PM (1 child)
I pretty much treat GoG as my Game Archive. As far as game preservation goes, I would say that GoG has done more than anyone else. They've resurrected multiplayer on abandoned gamespy games and provide "everything" DRM free. I believe there are a couple of games that have EULA for multiplayer, but all things considered they are doing a great job. The best thing right now, one can do for video game preservation is to support GoG. The best thing one in the long run, one can do for video game preservation is to push for Sane Copyright terms. Copyrights shouldn't be treated as a way to keep a forever monopoly on whatever was created.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Wednesday February 28 2018, @03:34AM
Forever, no. But copyrights are quite different from patents in that anyone can just go out and make their own version.
Where the problem comes in is when the owner no longer cares to provide the work, but greedily clutches to the "rights" and prevents anyone else from providing it either. If a work is genuinely still being sold it is not so big of a deal to have long terms.
Before Disney got all the laws changed, this used to be dealt with by renewals. For a copyright to continue, you would have to keep paying a renewal fee on a regular basis. Under this system, assuming a nontrivial fee, it is only worthwhile to keep paying to renew works that still have a potential to make money. Works the owner doesn't care about anymore, naturally revert to the public domain, which is of course what should happen to any work that the owner ignores*.
*Yes, I know this does not solve every possible problem, such as Disney movies they wish didn't exist, the "I Have a Dream" speech, or whatever. But it's better than what we have now.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday February 28 2018, @03:50AM
> the two better-known legal minefields surrounding old software are copyright and the End User License Agreement (EULA). ... the best we can do is to define, promulgate, and adhere to reasonable "best practices". And to lobby the Copyright Office for exemptions
Maybe bricks and mortar museums and charities that ask the public for donations have little choice but to operate in that fashion. Jump through ridiculous hoops to try to stay legal, and still have to fight the occasional lawsuit brought by the copyright extremists and opportunists. EULAs of course have been shot down on a regular basis, but that's a lot of trouble to go through.
Apart from a few special controls and displays, this is software we're talking about. Operating underground has a lot of advantages. Takes lots of effort for private parties and the authorities to figure out who is responsible and where they are or were, as it is very easy to quickly move hosting elsewhere.
The 55 mph speed limit, alcohol prohibition, and marijuana prohibition weren't repealed by lobbying. Took widespread public scoffing and contempt to end those. Took a war to end slavery in the US.
(Score: 3, Touché) by darkfeline on Thursday March 01 2018, @04:48AM
Actually, preservation is easy. Open source the games, open source the engine and compiler, open source the architecture, open source the hardware design. The torrents will be everywhere and there'll be lots of companies popping up offering hobbyist PCB fabrication for the boards, at least for the older systems. Even unpopular or niche games will have a pool of a half dozen of so top tier seedboxes maintaining them, as niche interests often do.
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