[game_preservation] Open Sourcing MMO's that have "died"

[Captain Commando]

Yeah, I can see how that works. There is always a lack of data - while I
have a feeling SOE has a complete list of assets SOMEWHERE for EQ, I know
it's not very well organized as we had problems getting the information when
I was working on a TCG based on the game. A fan site may then be the best,
but still incomplete, archive of all that material (and thankfully all that
should be discoverable through the IA).

Regarding getting the server to run, you could probably just set up a fake
server and run the whole thing off of there. This would require getting
inside the black box of the game, though, and I doubt there would be many
companies willing to take that risk, even if the program is good and dead
(what's to stop them from worrying about whether or not somebody will steal
everything and set up a rogue server?). I know that these things can be
faked, considering how Warp Pipe managed to get the Gamecube running over
LAN for things like Mario Kart. I should think working with a virtual world
would be somewhat more complex, but still analogous.

On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 4:05 PM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>
wrote:


>  Yes, the medium of video and audio probably better preserves the *state*of MMO's, but there is a lot of information that can be gleaned from the

> actual assets. If World of Warcraft were to close tomorrow, I doubt any wiki

> or database is 100% complete and accurate, so you could go into it and get

> the same feeling or see the same things as a player would.

>

> If the games were even just dark archived or whatever, it'd allow

> historians at least to see what exactly the game constituted of, even if it

> lacks the players. This goes for any multiplayer game - look, we preserve

> *pong* for the same reasons - without a second play it is nothing but it

> still matters! :-)

>

> The problem also is since MMO's are obviously tied to a server model that

> does not allow a historian to actually even play the game without connecting

> to a server, once these go down, they disappear forever and are made

> completely unplayable. While some multiplayer games do this too (EA Sport

> ones come to mind, although they might include LAN and IP variants of

> multiplayer) most allow LAN or other play which requires no connection to a

> "master" server, allowing it to be viewed years further on.

>

> In any case, even if there is no one to play it, the model they employ

> makes it the worst kind to archive, which is obviously why the virtual world

> project is so important of course :-)

>

> Andrew

>

> Captain Commando wrote:

>

> Technically, an archived online world would only be what it was like in the

> last stage of its existence (though you could technically load an original

> build if you had the code). You would need many people to play the game in

> order for it to be close to what it was originally. Preserving an online

> would would then be the equivalent of preserving 1888 France minus the

> people.

>

> I think the most interesting thing about preserving MMO's is preserving a

> record of what happened during its life, a record of what the game was about

> and how it was played, and the things that were in the game. If you have the

> code, that's great, but that's basically just like saving the last two

> minutes of an hour-long performance art piece.

>

> On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 12:29 PM, Andrew Armstrong <andrew at aarmstrong.org>

> wrote:

>

>> Relatively interesting look at the reasons for and against open sourcing

>> "dead" MMO games, via. slashdot<http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/23/165237>,

>> here:

>>

>> http://stroppsworld.com/2008/07/22/open-sourcing-the-mmo-game/

>>

>> Fair points most of us know, and it's a patent fact that most companies

>> won't even want to dark archive their code or assets when a MMO or any other

>> game dies, but nice to see a discussion on it.

>>

>> Andrew

>>

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>>

>

>

> --

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

> "Until next time..."

> Captain Commando

>

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-- 
The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

"Until next time..."
Captain Commando
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