With such emulation readily available for our older software titles, the only thing missing is the software itself. This, however, is much harder to overcome, and because it is insurmountable by most means it forces many to choose between never playing a game again and (as far as the ESA are concerned) theft. Despite the fact that publishers no longer derive revenues from these games since they have stopped selling them (and any revenues from retailers that still sell them were gained a long time ago, at the time of sale), it is illegal to distribute them so long as copyright holders have not released them into the public domain, and 95 years after the games' release have not elapsed.


Hard to believe? Let’s take a look at one such site that allows people to relive classic memories - Home of the Underdogs (at the time of writing the site is only accessible via the IP http://209.120.136.195/ until the negotiations over the domain name are resolved)

This letter (abbreviated version below) may be close to five years old, but it illustrates the futility of the situation perfectly:

"IDSA: INTERACTIVE DIGITAL SOFTWARE ASSOCIATION

IDSA has a good faith belief that the Internet site found at http://www.theunderdogs.org infringes the rights of one or more IDSA members by offering for illegal sale one or more unauthorized copies of one or more game products protected by copyright, including, but not limited to: Adventures of Lomax, Adventures in Serenia, Adventure Construction Set, The Dambusters, Darklands, Deadlock, Deathtrack, Covert Action, Conqueror AD 1086, et al.

The unauthorized copies of such game product[s] appearing on, or made available through, such site are listed and/or identified on such Internet site by their titles, variations thereof or depictions of associated artwork (any such game titles, copies, listings and/or other depictions of, or references to, any contents of such game product, are hereinafter referred to as "Infringing Material"). Based on the information at its disposal on 6/14/2001 16:05:32 PM Eastern Standard Time, IDSA believes that the statements in this notice are accurate and correctly describe the infringing nature and status of the Infringing Material.

Accordingly, IDSA hereby requests Sarinee Achavanuntakul and Register.com to immediately remove or disable access to the Infringing Material at the URL address identified above."

A quick straw poll can easily reveal that the games that ESA listed in this mail are hardly the popular classics of yesteryear that we all want access to, but demonstrates the fact that ESA will protect the copyright of games right down to the last one.

As the writer of The Underdogs would have it:

“What is the likelihood that Sierra will re-release Adventures in Serenia, a 1985 game that was quoted in the ESA's e-mail? We think very few people, if any, at Sierra nowadays even know this classic, let alone the fact that they have copyright over it.”

Industry opinion is divided on the subject, as can be seen in the Gamespot feature on Abandonware – but to quote one of the men responsible for making the games:

“Most of the game makers aren't living off the revenue from those old games anymore. Most of the creative teams behind all those games have long since left the companies that published them, so there's no way the people who deserve to are still making royalties off them. So go ahead--steal this game! Spread the love!"

Schafer says he enjoys knowing people are downloading the old games. "They may look rinky-dink by today's standards, but that doesn't mean they didn't take a hell of a lot of work to make, so it's nice to think that somebody may still be enjoying them. [Old games are] like old, beat-up teddy bears with one eye missing and the stuffing coming out. I can't speak for the rest of the industry, but personally, I'd rather my old games were stolen and played for free than forgotten about”.

The quote comes from the Gamespot article, and originally came from Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions. Tim is responsible for many of the more popular adventure games, including Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and Full Throttle, whilst Double Fine have recently released Psychonauts.