[game_preservation] A Triumph Of Game Preservation

[Chris Lepine]

Per your suggestion Andrew, I contacted Joe Garrity of the Origin  
Museum and passed along a few of my thoughts. Here is his response:

///
I'll be happy to tell the IDGA guys the story, but I'm not sure how  
much good it'll do.  Our good fortune was not much more than sending  
an email, and a boatload of luck.  We just happened to catch Paul  
Barnett at a generous moment in his tenure.  He found what we did  
interesting, and appreciated our passion.  Our 'technique' probably  
won't help the GP guys, but they are welcome to use our success as  
'proof-of-concept' to other publishers.  Due to our lucky  
circumstances, I think that other publishers might be more interested  
in cooperating if they think, "Hmmm--if EA thinks this was a good  
idea..." (just as long as the other publishers are led to believe  
that it was EA's idea in the first place--and as long as I'm involved  
somehow!)  ;)

Like I said, we haven't developed a magic formula, or anythig.  We  
simply asked, and the planets were in alignment.  But acquiring the  
data was the easy part--distribution will be more of an issue.  The  
way I see it, we got the data on the good graces of Paul Barnett.   
I'm sure that he told the EA suits in LA, but their legal department  
may only catch wind of it later.
"you gave the fans WHAT?!"
We were told that no code should be released, and that everything  
else shouldd go thru them first.  But Paul gave us a wink, and said  
he wants to see this stufff out--This leaves us at an empass.  I want  
to put some of the more juicy stuff out on the net, but I also want  
to respect EA's IP as well--it's their stuff after all.  There's also  
potential legal entanglements.  I'd hate to give the Museum a bad  
reputation among EA execs--everything we've worked for would be shot  
to pieces.  Dee the dilemma?
I think the best strategy is to advertise--and then wait.  I've seen  
EA do some incredibly nice things for the fans if they are treated  
with respect.  I've also seen them crush individuals who have good  
intentions, but get a little snotty/cocky.  I always hated those  
petitions that make demands of the publisher, based solely on some  
kid's envy--"It's an old game and you've already made your money--why  
don't you just give us the scource code?!"
///

I'll let Joe know about the mailing list - there's a good chance he  
might even want to join up here. I'll be speaking to him next week,  
so hopefully I'll get some more details then.

Cheers,
- Chris
---
The Artful Gamer: In Search of the Lyrical and Poetic in Video Games
http://www.artfulgamer.com


>

> Sure, all those suggestions are very good - you don't want to take the

> initiative and do any of them? :) (For the archive repository, if the

> data is all digital at the very least I am sure the Internet  

> Archive can

> have the majority of it in one form or another).

>

> I am still in the process (offline) of thinking how to revamp the wiki

> information, and these projects should be listed there along with  

> other

> good fansites/source of info. I can't disseminate information on the

> wiki, it's just a poor location for it since everything is manual,  

> but I

> hope to get some form of DB-run site (perhaps the DGC one) which can

> work to do the metadata and linking/searching to media side,  

> especially

> Archive.org things which are hopeless to search through :)

>

> Andrew

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