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Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

en.nostalrius.org

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Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#41

Post by mjrpes »

Omniusaspirer wrote: post #32
mjrpes wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's because players have to download an old version of WoW in order to play. This is a full game download and includes artwork and music IP content. Not to mention it means there is no need to pay a monthly fee to Blizzard. Blizzard is fully in their right to shut it down, but it's unfortunate the current state of things. This is not about getting around paying for WoW. Vanilla WoW is practically abandoned-w…

Legally they might be within their right, but cases like this really demonstrate to me that there ought to be some legal concept of abandonware when a product is substantially modified from its original state. What precedent does it set that you have no legal right to retain access to software in the form that you've paid for it? If Gabe Newell went insane tomorrow and fired all employees then shipped patches making…

Library of Congress did change DCMA rules last year to allow consumers to modify an abandon-ware game to bypass authentication servers that no longer exist. However, they specifically excluded MMO-like games, only covering "video games that can be played by users without accessing or reproducing copyrightable content stored or previously stored on an external computer server". Still, it's at least acknowledgement that abandon-ware is a legitimate form of media that rightfully deserves preservation.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-10/28/dmca-game-pre...

Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#42

Post by EugeneOZ »

MichaelBurge wrote: post #10

I wonder if it makes sense to charge the monthly subscription for the client, rather than the server. That way you could play on whatever server you want, but still had to pay a monthly fee.

Only in theory. In practice any client will be hacked.

Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#44

Post by thedudemabry »

Something that to some small degree worries me is that video game preservation is all but impossible for online-only services. WoW and its ilk have played a large role in the evolution of video games, but in ten years we're unlikely to be able to recreate anything like the experience of playing the game at any stage.

I don't think there's a good solution, especially without market leaders such as Blizzard, Sony, or NCSoft taking a pro-preservation stance. Legislation to protect the rights of reverse-engineers seems troublesome, and existing copyright law makes any kind of expiration period ineffective.

Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#46

Post by yarou »

EugeneOZ wrote: post #43

My opinion is not popular, but I think Blizzard are absolutely right in this case, by many reasons (not only because of money).

Care to elaborate on your reasoning? The people playing on Nostalrius aren't suddenly going to switch to the latest expansion, so there's literally zero incentive for them to go after it.

Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#47

Post by Omniusaspirer »

mjrpes wrote: post #41
Omniusaspirer wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legally they might be within their right, but cases like this really demonstrate to me that there ought to be some legal concept of abandonware when a product is substantially modified from its original state. What precedent does it set that you have no legal right to retain access to software in the form that you've paid for it? If Gabe Newell went insane tomorrow and fired all employees then shipped patches making…

Library of Congress did change DCMA rules last year to allow consumers to modify an abandon-ware game to bypass authentication servers that no longer exist. However, they specifically excluded MMO-like games, only covering "video games that can be played by users without accessing or reproducing copyrightable content stored or previously stored on an external computer server". Still, it's at least acknowledgement tha…

It also doesn't allow for copying of games beyond personal use as I understand it, so it's really hitting MMO emulation from two directions as it's currently defined. How many of your potential players still retain the original install disks, especially after 12+ years? I can't imagine very many.

Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#48

Post by venomsnake »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #7
Meekro wrote: post #4

I used to be involved with this sort of thing, and it's actually pretty interesting stuff. There are enormous open source projects, operating largely out of public sight, that have recreated the WoW server backend in most of its glory. The lower-level content works quite well these days, though a lot of complex raid scripts are missing or broken. This one is probably the most popular: https://github.com/TrinityCore/T…

One could argue that the Lich King was the last "good" patch for WoW. What I've never understood though was there is clearly some residual demand for "down rev" versions of the game where the mechanics favored a more engaged play style, why not facilitate it? How much does it really cost to run a single realm at the Vanilla, TBC, and LK levels? So many new players where their first experience with Onxyia was soloing…

The last good patch was Ulduar for me. ICC was big disappointment.

Ulduar was the game at its peak. All downhill from there. I still hate how they crippled the hard modes afterwards.

Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#49

Post by Filthy_casual »

zanny wrote: post #36
kibwen wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal intuition is that splitting your userbase like this is disastrous for a game in the long-term (to say nothing of my intuition that 90% of people longing for "the old days" are just looking for a quick hit of nostalgia, with no intent to pay long-term). However, it's worth mentioning that Runescape now officially offers a "classic" version of the game alongside (and separate from) the modern version, which…

You know that is an argument about expansions in the first place? Significant player dropoffs in WoW happen in the last patches before new expansions. The userbase usually spikes up on new releases, but almost always drops lower every time, predominately because new releases gate players who were on old versions against those on the new one. Friends stop being interested, unsub, and never come back because the player…

This brings up another point in favor of "why not".

If existing players who are willing to buy new expansions whenever they are available migrate to vanilla servers, they might as well opt out of buying the expansions, since adding new content in the vanilla servers will make them non-vanilla.

Huh.

Re: Blizzard shutting down Nostalrius, popular WoW private server

#50

Post by yarou »

bottled_poe wrote: post #18
marak830 wrote: post #15

I learnt programming from running an ultimate online server back in the day. A little sad to seeing an(I assume), open source server like this being taken down. As an admin we use to run on the premise of, if we weren't told not to run it, we could. Probably not 100% legal but it seemed to work. It does make me wonder if they take the server down, is it because their subscription dropping so much?

Assuming the open source software was freely licensed, why would hosting an alternative server not be legal?

Hosting the server itself is not per se illegal (well, maybe it might be; alternative Battle.net servers were given C&Ds back in the day), but you still need a game client to extract stuff like map and vmap data from all of the game files.
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