Dead MMOs like Star Wars Galaxies or City of Heroes might have a second chance at life thanks to recent changes to US copyright rules. A new decision from the US Copyright Office now allows preservationists to legally run recreations of classic online games, and offers some DRM exemptions to help them get there - though this doesn’t mean your favourite custom server project is suddenly legal. “These rules allow for a museum to bring a dead MMO back online if they have the original source code legally obtained from the IP owners,” Alex Handy, founder of the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment tells me via email. “Once that demand is met, we can open the games for players on the Internet. This is actually more than we asked for.” The new rules come as part of a regular process of revision for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - the DMCA. Section 1201 is the relevant portion for game preservation - and art studies in general - since it covers anti-circumvention measures, including DRM. A 1201 exemption process takes place every few years that allows historians - like Handy - to push for new ways to preserve games.
from PCGamesN https://ift.tt/2D74TmU
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