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Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 6 months ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
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[-] Don_alForno@feddit.org 28 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

A "DRM-Free" game is only as preserved as the hard drive space you dedicate to it.

You mean, just like any pre digital purchasing game that you own on disks? Or similar to any physical object you ever bought (hard drive space / shelf space), for that matter?

They're preserving it as much as they're able to without being a government funded museum.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip -1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to

So we are giving participation awards? GoG use digital preservation as a marketing point. They aren't doing that. And they are arguably making for a false sense of security (some might go even farther...) when people think that buying a game from a major dev and European publisher is digital preservation.

How would you feel if Crunchyroll started arguing they were the good guys because they were releasing Witch from Mercury for 100 USD?

Now for the fun part!

Or similar to any physical object you ever bought (hard drive space / shelf space), for that matter?

Yeah. As in it is "preserved" up until someone does a cross country move or merges their life with a partner who doesn't see why you need to have every single Blizzard Battle Chest on a giant shelf in the living room.

You mean, just like any pre digital purchasing game that you own on disks?

Yes. Because bit rot is a thing and people need to be aware of that and actually preserve that data. Hmm, I wonder who could help with that...

They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to without being a government funded museum.

Good news. You don't have to be a government funded museum. In fact, governments are kind of an active threat to these because they are in a REALLY grey area legally. And publishers (like CD Projekt...) tend to go after them both legally and not legally.

I very much disagree that just having a copy of a game is games preservation but it is part of it. And orgs like The Internet Archive are preserving both the media itself AND the media and culture about said media. And they and their associates put the legwork in to reach out to people who have those big boxes or scratched up discs and preserve things BEFORE it is time to make room for the new baby. And they don't have fancy deals with publishers to help market for donations. They have to ask.

So if you actually care about digital preservation? https://archive.org/donate?origin=iawww-TopNavDonateButton

Whereas, if you just want to spend money and react to FOMO?

[-] Don_alForno@feddit.org 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

So we are giving participation awards?

Huh?

Are you blaming them for not preserving things more than actual physical objects that you bought are preserved in your house? The whole root of the matter was people complaining about companies obsoleting or taking away games they paid for. What GOG is doing counters just that. It is now once again in your hands and your hands only to preserve and maintain your property, and if the data gets corrupted, you only have time, physics and yourself to blame.

I couldn't care less about anybody creating some kind of eternal video game archive for archaeologists of the post apocalyptic world to find. I care about if I will still be able to play the games I paid money for in 30 years, provided I keep the data and hardware. How would that last part be the store's responsibility?

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip -3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I "blame" them for marketing themselves as a "Preservation Program" when they really aren't doing anything more than the other stores (in that regard. They are doing amazing work in modernizing some titles... which is arguably not preservation either but that is a different mess).

It's not McDonald's responsibility to store large amounts of data either*. So does that mean Ronny Mac should be talking about how buying a twenty dollar Big Mac is preserving video games?

*: also.. it kind of IS GoG's responsibility in this case but that only lasts until the company/site is shuttered. Which is another issue with GoG being about "preservation" when their first responsibility is to make money for CDP.

this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
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