Not long ago, the distinguished and hardworking people of Video Game History Foundation published a report that showed that nearly 90% of video games released before 2010 can no longer be obtained legally.
The organization is fighting for an exception in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that would allow libraries to make digital copies of games available to the general public in the same way that traditional libraries distribute books.
Unfortunately, the US Copyright Office has decided to block such a move in a serious blow to video game preservation (thanks, Gizmodo).
As it currently stands, the law prohibits access to out-of-print video games that remain under copyright. Libraries are permitted to keep such copies but can only grant access to one person at a time – and only in person.
The VGHF argued that an exception should be made that would allow multiple people to access video game content stored in libraries and other repositories and do so remotely — broadly opening up the history of video games to a broader audience of dedicated fans, academics, and developers.
The problem is that powerful groups within the industry — including the Entertainment Software Association — don’t want this to happen and are lobbying to prevent the exemption from passing. They argue that there are simply not enough safeguards to ensure that users do not illegally back up and distribute games they have borrowed from the library.
The ESA and its allies have also claimed that such a system would harm the market for classic and vintage games, which ignores the fact that thousands of video games are currently out of print, with no legal way to obtain them – except by searching for their owners. Original copies (many of which are in danger of being lost forever due to the fickle nature of the media on which they were published).
This view ignores the fact that libraries lend commercially available books for free, and this does not harm the publishing industry – in fact, you could argue that it does just the opposite, as people who read books tend to recommend them to their friends, generating more potential sales.
VGHF argued that controls such as time limits or a distribution system could be used to mean that the end user does not actually have access to the game itself, but instead streams it in the same way that services like Antstream do. However, such assurances clearly could not convince officials to make the change.
VGHF says in a statement. “We will continue our advocacy for greater access and legal allowances for video game preservation and work with members of the gaming industry to raise internal awareness about these issues. We encourage gaming industry members who were disappointed by the Copyright Office’s decision to claim their rights to leadership to push for greater support for the work of libraries and the role of archives within its industrial collections.”
Once again, it is the responsibility of emulators and “illegal” ROM sites to preserve video game history; Clearly, the industry itself is not interested. “The gaming industry’s absolutist stance forces researchers to explore illegal methods to access the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are not available any other way,” says VGHF.
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