If Borderlands's SHiFT authentication server were taken down, the new ruling would allow users to circumvent the requirement for it. Gearbox sofftware

The United Stated Library of Congress has ruled to add new exemptions to the USA's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that will allow legitimate owners of games which require no-longer-operational authentication servers to modify their games so that they can continue playing them. However, it doesn't go as far as legitimising fan servers that return online multiplayer functionality to games whose official servers have been taken down.

Recognised museums, libraries and archives in the USA get extra rights, allowing them to jailbreak consoles as may be necessary to make games work again. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which was behind the campaign for the new exemptions, said it was disappointed that the "Librarian limited the exemption to games that can't be played at all after a server shutdown, excluding games where only the online multiplayer features are lost".


The ruling allows more games that are no longer supported by their publishers -- known as 'abandonware' -- to be brought back to life for "nonprofit archival, preservation and educational purposes", but it's important to note that it doesn't allow either gamers or preservationists to duplicate full online game servers, such as for MMORPGs. The Library of Congress ruling only covers "video games that can be played by users without accessing or reproducing copyrightable content stored or previously stored on an external computer server".

What does this mean for game preservation?



Among the game preservation community the response to the ruling has been predictably positive, although a number of preservationists and gamers have mistakenly assumed that any game with an online server can now be legally resurrected, including MMOs which relied on extensive server-side content, such as City of Heroes and Tabula Rasa.

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Such assumptions haven't been helped by statements from archives such as the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, which said that "this means we can bring old game servers back online" without clarifying that only servers that "facilitate an authentication process to enable local gameplay" are included in the exemption.

Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum -- a private collection dedicated to preserving the history of Origin Systems Inc. games such as Ultima and Wing Commander -- told WIRED that the ruling was "more about what gamers cannot do, rather than what they can do." "The DMCA does not allow people to copy games. It does not allow gamers to play shut down MMOs. This is simply a ruling that allows an exemption to copyright law for the specific use of preservation by libraries and museums. While yes, a gamer can now legally back up their old games, they have to have a physical copy of that game, and they can only back it up for their own personal use. Anyone who thinks that they can now run free [Ultima Online] shards legally is mistaken".


This is simply a ruling that allows an exemption to copyright law for the specific use of preservation by libraries and museums Joe Garrity, Origin Museum

What other changes are included?

Other exemptions made in the same ruling allow people in the US to jailbreak phones and other hardware, circumvent access restrictions that prevent them from tinkering with automotive systems on their cars, and make non-commercial remix videos using material captured from DVDs and Blu-rays.

What was already allowed?

Previous DMCA exemptions, applied for by the Internet Archive in 2006 and extended indefinitely in 2009 allowed them -- and others -- to archive and make available "programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware", as long as the archive is intended to educate, rather than to make a profit. It's on the basis of these rulings that the web-based Internet Arcade operates.

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Games such as Spore attracted controversy for their always-on authentication system EA

How does this affect UK users?

Theoretically, it doesn't. The DMCA only applies within the United Stated of America. If you're in the UK, then you're bound by UK copyright law, which is pretty clear cut and currently very strict when it comes to copyright.

The law states that "it is not fair dealing [...] to convert a computer program expressed in a low level language into a version expressed in a higher level language, or [...] incidentally in the course of so converting the program, to copy it", even for research and private study. While not all modifications involved in making abandoned games run strictly involve such conversions, the intent and scope of the law is clear.

Recent changes to the law which gave UK consumers the right to format shift and back up media were overturned earlier this year as part of an attempt by copyright holders' groups to get the UK government to include a financial compensation for rights holders in the cost of media playing and ripping devices.


Due to the weight of both American presence on the internet, and the fact that most online-accessible software preservation archives and fan servers are based in the US, it's the DMCA which has the greatest influence on what is or isn't allowed to be put online.

In practice, abandonware, emulators and most game resurrection projects are widely ignored in the UK, as in the rest of the world, but a lack of interest from copyright holders isn't the same as permission or legality.

Updated 28/10/15, 12:55: This article originally stated the ruling would legitimise fan servers for online multiplayer modes such as those used to replace discontinued official Battlefield 2 and Supreme Commander servers. This is not correct. The ruling does not apply to multiplayer modes and fan servers for games that have functional offline single-player or local multiplayer modes.