Video game preservation: Difference between revisions

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===Live-service killing===

[[Games as a service|Live-service games]] are very difficult to preserve due to their reliance on the parent company's will to keep the service online. ~~However~~, ~~in some cases~~ communities ~~create private servers in order~~ to ~~make~~ the ~~game completely playable~~.

[[Games as a service|Live-service games]] are very difficult to preserve due to their reliance on the parent company's will to keep the service online. Rarely companies adapt the games to be completely playable offline with all the available features that used to exist when the game was a live-service. Despite that, dedicated communities have tried to keep these games alive with their own time, money, resources and dedication out of their own will, for the love of preserving the experiences that they love.

~~Rarely some companies adapt~~ the ~~game to be completely~~ playable ~~offline with all the available features that used to exist when the game was a live-service~~.

[https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Main_Page City of Heroes - Homecoming], [https://www.cplegacy.com/ Club Penguin Legacy], [https://www.returnofreckoning.com/ Warhammer Online - Return of Reckoning], [https://github.com/NexusForever/NexusForever WildStar Nexus Forever], [https://legends.ml/ MapleStory MapleLegends] and many more are examples of community-created private servers in order to keep the games playable.

===Death of a technology===

~~For example, when~~ Flash ~~stopped being supported in browsers~~, many people ~~made~~ effort in preserving flash video games by porting them to ~~html5.~~ Flash emulators like [https://ruffle.rs/ Ruffle] ~~allow~~ to run flash games and content on web browsers. [https://flashpointarchive.org/ Flashpoint Archive] is a community project dedicated to preserve content that runs on Flash~~. It counts~~ with downloadable applications that allow to download and run Flash content ~~from~~ the device.

When [[Adobe]] announced the end of life date of [[Adobe Flash Player]] for the 31st December 2020, many people have put effort in preserving flash video games by porting them to HTML5 or with the creation of Flash emulators like [https://ruffle.rs/ Ruffle], which allows to run flash games and content on web browsers. Additionally, [https://flashpointarchive.org/ Flashpoint Archive] is a community project dedicated to preserve content that runs on Flash and it comes with downloadable applications that allow to download and run Flash content on the device.

===Few numbers of physical copies===

Some video games only exist in physical copies and these copies are in a limited quantity. ~~Also the~~ amount of playable copies could be reduced because of the possibility that ~~copies could~~ deteriorate over time. Digitalization makes easier to copy, adapt and create backups of the original video game, making it more available to ~~public as well~~.

Some video games only exist in physical copies and these copies are in a limited quantity. The amount of physical playable copies could be reduced because of the possibility that the media can deteriorate over time. Digitalization makes easier to copy, adapt and create backups of the original video game, making it more available for the public and the generations to come. Preservation of these physical copies are often handled by museums and non-profit organizations that try to ensure the longevity of the media in its original form.

===Cultural Heritage===

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[[Id Software]] has published<ref>{{Cite web |title=id Software GitHub |url=https://github.com/id-Software |url-status=live |website=GitHub}}</ref> the source code of various games and tools on [[GitHub]]. The repositories are for DOOM, DOOM Classic for iOS (two versions), Doom 3 BFG Edition, Quake, Quake 2, Quake 2 Tools, Quake III Arena, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Single Player and Multiplayer), Wolfenstein 3D for iOS, WOLF3D Browser Version and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.

=== Museums and archives ===

Museums such as [https://www.museumofplay.org/collections/icheg/ The Strong National Museum of Play] and [https://gamehistory.org/ Video Game History Foundation] collect consoles, cartridges, design documents and promotional materials to document the evolution of the gaming industry. On the other hand, archive website and digital libraries like [https://archive.org/details/classicpcgames Internet Archive] and [https://www.gog.com/en/gog-preservation-program GOG Preservation Program] work to preserve games, magazines and software that might otherwise disappear due to hardware failure, discontinued support or physical media being lost.

==Further reading==

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ===Live-service killing===
-[[Games as a service|Live-service games]] are very difficult to preserve due to their reliance on the parent company's will to keep the service online. However, in some cases communities create private servers in order to make the game completely playable.
+[[Games as a service|Live-service games]] are very difficult to preserve due to their reliance on the parent company's will to keep the service online. Rarely companies adapt the games to be completely playable offline with all the available features that used to exist when the game was a live-service. Despite that, dedicated communities have tried to keep these games alive with their own time, money, resources and dedication out of their own will, for the love of preserving the experiences that they love.
-Rarely some companies adapt the game to be completely playable offline with all the available features that used to exist when the game was a live-service.
+[https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Main_Page City of Heroes - Homecoming], [https://www.cplegacy.com/ Club Penguin Legacy], [https://www.returnofreckoning.com/ Warhammer Online - Return of Reckoning], [https://github.com/NexusForever/NexusForever WildStar Nexus Forever], [https://legends.ml/ MapleStory MapleLegends] and many more are examples of community-created private servers in order to keep the games playable.
 ===Death of a technology===
-For example, when Flash stopped being supported in browsers, many people made effort in preserving flash video games by porting them to html5. Flash emulators like [https://ruffle.rs/ Ruffle] allow to run flash games and content on web browsers. [https://flashpointarchive.org/ Flashpoint Archive] is a community project dedicated to preserve content that runs on Flash. It counts with downloadable applications that allow to download and run Flash content from the device.
+When [[Adobe]] announced the end of life date of [[Adobe Flash Player]] for the 31st December 2020, many people have put effort in preserving flash video games by porting them to HTML5 or with the creation of Flash emulators like [https://ruffle.rs/ Ruffle], which allows to run flash games and content on web browsers. Additionally, [https://flashpointarchive.org/ Flashpoint Archive] is a community project dedicated to preserve content that runs on Flash and it comes with downloadable applications that allow to download and run Flash content on the device.
 ===Few numbers of physical copies===
-Some video games only exist in physical copies and these copies are in a limited quantity. Also the amount of playable copies could be reduced because of the possibility that copies could deteriorate over time. Digitalization makes easier to copy, adapt and create backups of the original video game, making it more available to public as well.
+Some video games only exist in physical copies and these copies are in a limited quantity. The amount of physical playable copies could be reduced because of the possibility that the media can deteriorate over time. Digitalization makes easier to copy, adapt and create backups of the original video game, making it more available for the public and the generations to come. Preservation of these physical copies are often handled by museums and non-profit organizations that try to ensure the longevity of the media in its original form.
 ===Cultural Heritage===
@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 [[Id Software]] has published<ref>{{Cite web |title=id Software GitHub |url=https://github.com/id-Software |url-status=live |website=GitHub}}</ref> the source code of various games and tools on [[GitHub]]. The repositories are for DOOM, DOOM Classic for iOS (two versions), Doom 3 BFG Edition, Quake, Quake 2, Quake 2 Tools, Quake III Arena, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Single Player and Multiplayer), Wolfenstein 3D for iOS, WOLF3D Browser Version and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.
+=== Museums and archives ===
+Museums such as [https://www.museumofplay.org/collections/icheg/ The Strong National Museum of Play] and [https://gamehistory.org/ Video Game History Foundation] collect consoles, cartridges, design documents and promotional materials to document the evolution of the gaming industry. On the other hand, archive website and digital libraries like [https://archive.org/details/classicpcgames Internet Archive] and [https://www.gog.com/en/gog-preservation-program GOG Preservation Program] work to preserve games, magazines and software that might otherwise disappear due to hardware failure, discontinued support or physical media being lost.
 ==Further reading==