[game_preservation] A Triumph Of Game Preservation

[Andrew Armstrong]

Brilliant! Thanks a lot Chris, outstanding work. I hope he just says 
"IGDA" if he ever mentions the SIG again though, hehehe :)

Looks like a lucky break, but who knows what we can hope to achieve in 
the future. I reported on Sega's archive pictures today 
<http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/the_sega_game_a.html>, 
so there are obviously other publishers with much wider collections (and 
not just of the physical games, as Wing Commander's case shows!). Just 
needs some benevolence, and less lawyers.

I hope Joe joins up, and thanks again Chris,

Andrew

Chris Lepine wrote:

> Per your suggestion Andrew, I contacted Joe Garrity of the Origin 

> Museum and passed along a few of my thoughts. Here is his response:

>

> ///

> I'll be happy to tell the IDGA guys the story, but I'm not sure how 

> much good it'll do.  Our good fortune was not much more than sending 

> an email, and a boatload of luck.  We just happened to catch Paul 

> Barnett at a generous moment in his tenure.  He found what we did 

> interesting, and appreciated our passion.  Our 'technique' probably 

> won't help the GP guys, but they are welcome to use our success as 

> 'proof-of-concept' to other publishers.  Due to our lucky 

> circumstances, I think that other publishers might be more interested 

> in cooperating if they think, "Hmmm--if EA thinks this was a good 

> idea..." (just as long as the other publishers are led to believe that 

> it was EA's idea in the first place--and as long as I'm involved 

> somehow!)  ;)

>

> Like I said, we haven't developed a magic formula, or anythig.  We 

> simply asked, and the planets were in alignment.  But acquiring the 

> data was the easy part--distribution will be more of an issue.  The 

> way I see it, we got the data on the good graces of Paul Barnett.  I'm 

> sure that he told the EA suits in LA, but their legal department may 

> only catch wind of it later.

> "you gave the fans WHAT?!"

> We were told that no code should be released, and that everything else 

> shouldd go thru them first.  But Paul gave us a wink, and said he 

> wants to see this stufff out--This leaves us at an empass.  I want to 

> put some of the more juicy stuff out on the net, but I also want to 

> respect EA's IP as well--it's their stuff after all.  There's also 

> potential legal entanglements.  I'd hate to give the Museum a bad 

> reputation among EA execs--everything we've worked for would be shot 

> to pieces.  Dee the dilemma?

> I think the best strategy is to advertise--and then wait.  I've seen 

> EA do some incredibly nice things for the fans if they are treated 

> with respect.  I've also seen them crush individuals who have good 

> intentions, but get a little snotty/cocky.  I always hated those 

> petitions that make demands of the publisher, based solely on some 

> kid's envy--"It's an old game and you've already made your money--why 

> don't you just give us the scource code?!"

> ///

>

> I'll let Joe know about the mailing list - there's a good chance he 

> might even want to join up here. I'll be speaking to him next week, so 

> hopefully I'll get some more details then.

>

> Cheers,

> - Chris

> ---

> The Artful Gamer: In Search of the Lyrical and Poetic in Video Games

> http://www.artfulgamer.com

>

>>

>> Sure, all those suggestions are very good - you don't want to take the 

>> initiative and do any of them? :) (For the archive repository, if the 

>> data is all digital at the very least I am sure the Internet Archive can 

>> have the majority of it in one form or another).

>>

>> I am still in the process (offline) of thinking how to revamp the wiki 

>> information, and these projects should be listed there along with other 

>> good fansites/source of info. I can't disseminate information on the 

>> wiki, it's just a poor location for it since everything is manual, but I 

>> hope to get some form of DB-run site (perhaps the DGC one) which can 

>> work to do the metadata and linking/searching to media side, especially 

>> Archive.org things which are hopeless to search through :)

>>

>> Andrew

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

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