ChadOkada said:
DarthVolod said:
I learned about disc rot very early on when I started collecting. I am a realist, and I know that I (at least for now) I lack the ability to properly protect my rather large and growing collection. It is likely that there are methods available to better preserve my collection that exist right now, but they are out of my price range (and too costly for the average collector).
Worst case scenario, we will all at least have the boxes and original discs/cartridges. Even if 100% of my collection suffers disc rot / bit rot or whatever I can still (with some degree of effort of course) replace each and every game by burning the games files (from the Internet) to a new disc/cart. I'll always have the originals (which will have value as antiques if nothing else even though they are no longer playable), and I can always play the games on freshly burned copies or through emulators ect.
I am yet to encouter disc rot on even my oldest CD's, but even if I do I am not going to just throw my collection into the trash. Antiques (which many games are becoming as time progresses) have value whether or not they still function ... ideally you want them to work, but if even sealed games are not safe from disc rot then what can any of us hope to do to preserve them? You wouldn't just throw out an ancient Roman sword just because it can no longer be used for battle would you? I would say as long as you have the original game/packaging or whatever you still own a valuable piece of video game history.
Who knows ... maybe they will come up with a way to repair minor disc rot by filling in the missing data and repressing the disc or something. If the ancient Egyptians could build pyramids with virtually no technology that have lasted for thousands of years ... surely we can find a way to preserve video games.
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That is a very level-headed view of the situation. You made excellent points. I've lived under the assumption for too long that CD media was a safe bet for owning games. As I said to Soleron I just wish the companies involved could make it right for us in a way where I don't get sued for replacing my property (on the chance they track the ROM sites).
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Thanks, and I also think it would be great if companies would not treat us like criminals just because we want to preserve the games that we purchased legally. Hopefully, these companies will start to make the distinction between real pirates that want to steal games, and collectors/enthusiasts that are attempting to preserve video game history.
At least some games are being released as freeware though. Many of the Command and Conquer games (one of my all time favorite series) can be downloaded as many times as you want completely for free and it is 100% legal.
Also, this will not be an issue for many games in about 50-70 years or so from now (I believe that is how long it takes for a copyright to expire if it is not renewed or upheld in some fashion). So in the long run we (and future generations) can preserve these games without fear of any legal action.
