Preserving mmorpgs before they are lost

Amathe

Back in the early heyday of Hollywood movie making, lots of great films were made with no real effort to preserve them. Many were damaged or lost forever.

That's how I see this industry. Oftentimes an expansion just writes over the original game, without a back up, making it impossible to roll back to how the game was when it launched.

And then, when a game shuts down, who knows what happens to the code? 

There really ought to be a museum, library or preservation center that holds on to all these wonderful games so that they are never lost. 

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears...in...rain." Roy Batty, Blade Runner

Deathofsage

Indeed, it would be awesome for each pc in the library to run a different game.

This reminds me of the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org)

A few years ago, some guy found some of the only known footage of the first Super Bowl, rotting in an attic or something. As big as a spectacle as they planned it to be, noone thought keeping a record of it would be important.

IakXastur

Which iteration of the game would you save? Day one where all the bugs are still in it, and can barely be considered a complete game? After the first expansion pack? or The end of the life of the game?
I ask not to be contrite, but some games change so radically from initial release till they close that you cannot even really consider them the same game, i.e. SWG

Quizzical

An MMORPG isn't just about the code and the artwork.  It's also about the people playing the game.  As anyone who has played truly dying games can attest, if you fire up your favorite MMORPG in a world completely devoid of other players, it's just not the same game.  In that sense, MMORPGs cannot be preserved, whether you want to or not.

Gaming.Rocks2

Quizzical said:

An MMORPG isn't just about the code and the artwork.  It's also about the people playing the game.  As anyone who has played truly dying games can attest, if you fire up your favorite MMORPG in a world completely devoid of other players, it's just not the same game.  In that sense, MMORPGs cannot be preserved, whether you want to or not.

Pretty much this. There's a museum for video games but it just does not work for MMOs. You want to preserve the living and the breathing world. If you just want the code developers probably have it somewhere but without the people it is meaningless. 

Quirhid

Version control is a thing...

Nitth

Quirhid said:

Version control is a thing...

Yes, yes it is.

What is also good is text has a very good compression rate so you wouldn't run into any meaningful space requirement limits if someone tried to hold a "Game Museum Repository".

I personally think it wold be grand to store a record of software achievements of the digital age.

Antiquated

Nitth said:
I personally think it wold be grand to store a record of software achievements of the digital age.

There's a nostalgia market for authentic Space Invaders and Asteroids ports. But it's microscopic.

You buy one and discover that owning it doesn't really make you feel younger.

And without the younger you, the sense of wonder that cannot be re-installed, it's pretty pointless to go back.

I owned an original Captain Fantastic machine. Played it a couple of times a year, else it collected dust. Eventually sold it.

Nostalgia teaches valuable lessons.