[game_preservation] Old PC Game Sales for XP/Vista‏

[Henry Lowood]

Alan,

More power to GOG.com, but in the U.S. removing copy protection and 
distributing for payment is almost certainly a violation of DMCA.  There 
was an exemption for cultural institutions if the original medium was 
associated with an "obsolete" platform, but that has expired, I believe. 

And, of course, removing copy protection means the software has been 
"hacked" to some degree, so it's not the original version of the 
software.   Likewise, I would think, the "guarantee" of hardware 
compatibility points to a possible alteration of the software.

So, yes, accessibility is very important for the current generation.  
This is not a long-term preservation solution, but the DRM issues are 
significant, and it is interesting to see how GOG is tackling that problem.

Henry

Alan Au wrote:

> I know a fair bit about GOG.com, and the main appeal of their service is that when you buy a game from them, you own that copy outright.  They also 1. remove the copy protection and 2. guarantee compatibility with modern hardware.  The service is deliberately catering to the anti-DRM crowd, particularly after the "limited activation" fiascos with Bioshock and Mass Effect.  

>

> While GOG.com isn't a replacement for preservation, it provides a valuable resource because of their focus on accessibility.  That is, original copies are important but runnable copies are important too.  The main shortcoming is that they focus on "popular PC classics."  Still, it might be worthwhile shooting off an email to Tom Ohle (their press guy) to see if/how they are archiving their stuff.  

>

> LucasArts and Sierra released their old collections on Steam.  This is good but less than ideal (we're waiting to see if they show up on GOG).  For one thing, compatibility is a bit touch and go; I've been told the LucasArts stuff relies on the 3rd party ScummVM utility and that the Sierra stuff relies on DOSBox, although I haven't confirmed this myself.  In fact, the rumor is that the classic Sierra stuff was hastily released in response to the LucasArts announcement, a sort of "keeping up with the Joneses" move.

>

> Then there's the Steam accessibility thing.  People aren't worried about Steam going away anytime soon, but that might change in 20 years.

>

> So in summary, GOG.com has some pretty good policies regarding accessibility and ownership, but the selection is limited.  As for Steam stuff, caveat emptor.

>

> - Alan

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-- 
Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;
 Film & Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford CA 94305-6004
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood 
<http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>
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