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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Gamers Want DMCA Exemption for 'Abandoned' Online Games [torrentfreak.com]

The U.S. Copyright Office is considering whether or not to update the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions, which prevent the public from tinkering with DRM-protected content and devices. These provisions are renewed every three years. To allow individuals and organizations to chime in, the Office traditionally launches a public consultation, before it makes any decisions.

This week a series of new responses were received and many of these focused on abandoned games. As is true for most software, games have a limited lifespan, so after a few years they are no longer supported by manufacturers. To preserve these games for future generations and nostalgic gamers, the Copyright Office previously included game preservation exemptions. This means that libraries, archives and museums can use emulators and other circumvention tools to make old classics playable. However, these exemptions are limited and do not apply to games that require a connection to an online server, which includes most recent games. When the online servers are taken down, the game simply disappears forever.

This should be prevented, according to The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (the MADE), a nonprofit organization operating in California. "Although the Current Exemption does not cover it, preservation of online video games is now critical," MADE writes in its comment to the Copyright Office. "Online games have become ubiquitous and are only growing in popularity. For example, an estimated fifty-three percent of gamers play multiplayer games at least once a week, and spend, on average, six hours a week playing with others online."

During the previous review, similar calls for an online exemption were made but, at the time, the Register of Copyrights noted that multiplayer games could still be played on local area networks. "Today, however, local multiplayer options are increasingly rare, and many games no longer support LAN connected multiplayer capability," MADE counters, adding that nowadays even some single-player games require an online connection.

Original Submission