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BBC News: The closed world of private game servers
mlauzon
Member UncommonPosts: 767
The Epilogue private server recently closed down
For legions of gamers, entering Azeroth or the Kingdom of Khanduras is a chance to shake off the rules and conventions of the real world, and immerse themselves in fantasy.
In these mythical lands almost anything goes.
But for a select few, even the freedoms offered by these imaginary worlds are too restrictive.
These gamers turn to the world of the "private server", privately-hosted versions of commercially-available games where the creator's rules no longer apply.
For every game with an online community, it is likely that scores or perhaps even hundreds of these exist.
I made my server because the game wasn't available in the country at the time"Hendrik"
There is no official tally because such servers are usually under threat of closure from games firms. But a quick web search will turn up advertisements for hundreds.
Games such as the hugely-popular fantasy World of Warcraft (WoW) as well as plenty of first-person shooters have spawned numerous pirated worlds.
They are typically run by amateurs and allow gamers to assume powers unavailable in the commercial form of the game. Crucially, players rarely pay a subscription fee for the privilege of entering the world - unlike retail versions.
However, they are also notoriously buggy and many open and close within a short space of time.
Short life
Players set up private servers for a
variety of reasons
For South African gamer, Hendrick (not his real name) it was a simple decision to set up his own WoW server.
"I made my server because the game wasn't available in the country at the time," he said.
The server was called One Shard and was advertised through word-of-mouth. At times it had up to 50 gamers online.
He set up the server to be as "Blizzlike" as he could, meaning it was as close to the real world of WoW created by Blizzard Entertainment.
One Shard was free to use, but like many such servers, full of bugs. Hendrick moved onto the retail form of the game fairly swiftly after it became available.
"I played games master, had a lot of fun creating items and spawning world bosses on unsuspecting players. But I only ran the server until about a week after the WoW launch in the country."
But for amateur coder Henri, 17, living on a farm with his parents in Belgium, there was a very different reason for hosting his server.
"Why? WoW requires 15 euros a month. Private servers are completely free. It's a huge reason if you ask me.
"In addition, private servers have possibilities that you don't have on retail."
Part of the attraction, he said, was the ability to customise the game world: its characters, buildings, items and so on. Another was the technical challenge of keeping the server running.
"Like everything that has to do with computers and programming, it's not hard at all once you know it. Now I'm familiar with it, it's a piece of cake."
Tough choices
Games firms have tried to clamp down
on the practice
But private servers can evolve far beyond a teenage playground.
Twenty-one-year-old Swedish musician, novelist and artist, S, had a day job "playing the stock-market".
However, he was also creator and owner of the Epilogue server, a private role-playing server for World of Warcraft.
It had strict codes of conduct and rules, as well as a high degree of customised content (such as new currency, methods of earning experience, the ability to construct buildings and hire non-player characters, plus 'permanent' player death) unavailable in the retail version of the game.
"I would consider Epilogue to be my first serious attempt at a private server," said S.
"The idea started when I quit playing retail: the almost non-existent role playing support from Blizzard was ticking me off.
"I'm definitely not alone about feeling that way; there are still thousands of role players out there feeling the same."
"I wanted Epilogue to be unique," he added. "Hated and loved. I think we did quite a good job."
S said that he had researched and played on many other private servers before designing Epilogue.
He even hired in writers to develop an entirely new background story, or "lore", for his world, separate to that created by World of Warcraft's owners.
He also gathered a team of coders and scripters to create some of the special effects he needed.
But with it requiring seven to eight hours of his time a day, S had to choose between Epilogue and his real life: the server recently closed, though others are trying to re-open it.
Crack down
Unsurprisingly, the top games companies have been less than impressed by such developments.
Last year NCsoft and Blizzard went on the offensive.
NCsoft, publisher of massively multiplayer online games such as Guild Wars, Lineage II and City of Heroes, called the existence of private servers "a growing menace of intellectual property theft" and launched legal action against an inter-net cafe chain in Greece it claimed was hosting its games.
"Illegal game servers have a hugely negative impact on both NCsoft Europe and its customers," commented Max Brown, NCsoft Europe's sales & operations director.
Everyone does it and the big guys can't help it. It'd be hard to go and arrest the whole worldHenri
Blizzard Entertainment, which produces World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft and other titles similarly launched a legal crackdown last December, starting legal proceedings against several private server hosts.
"We take pride in the work we've created and are committed to helping reduce copyright infringement and software piracy," said a spokesperson, who claimed that the firm handled many complaints from gamers who have been exposed to malicious software or fraud after joining a private server.
"We also have a responsibility to our players to ensure the integrity and reliability of their World of Warcraft gaming experience and that responsibility compels us to protect our rights."
But not everyone feels the industry has got it right.
"The situation has strong parallels to the music industry and file-sharing," said Tom Lingard, senior associate in the intellectual property team at law firm Stevens & Bolton LLP.
"Games companies probably know that it is impractical or impossible to take action against every unauthorised server. However, they do need to be seen to be doing something and may also be compelled to take action against particularly popular servers in order to protect their revenues."
The music industry's approach to file-sharing has varied from targeting major sites, such as Napster and the Pirate Bay to suing people for downloading songs.
"There is a similar range of legal options open to games companies - including actions for breach of contract and copyright infringement - but the difficult part is striking a balance and picking their battles carefully."
It is a parallel that is not lost on Henri.
"It's illegal, but nobody cares," he says. "Everyone does it and the big guys can't help it. It'd be hard to go and arrest the whole world."
Source: BBC News
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Michael
Comments
Heh, people might play WoW on private servers because they have no money/be able to customise the server but, as sad as it is, certain L2 private servers are better than the original servers,
The most annoying thing is that NCSoft is still complaining, even if they don't give a damn about the bots.
I imagine this thread will be closed itself very soon... if not deleted entirely.
Early one morning I was watching something about businesses. There was this one gaming business that allowed other people to take their games and pirate them because you can't get away from it. They said that their game is being played and gaining popularity and they actually thank these pirates for doing this. There was also another person who designed purses who works with the pirates by placing her purses out there on the streets to be sold by these vendors. I guess people and companies need to realize is that you won't stop it just because you sue and try to frighten and bully those with private servers. Maybe they should realize this is a way they are gonna gain customers.
Why? it is a repost of a BBC news article.
Which would be a sad thing to do considering that these private servers have the potential to have a massive impact on the future of MMORPGs. Their possible effect on the MMORPG market should be rationally discussed.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
they've gotten rid of 50k+ bots so I am sure they care...
they've gotten rid of 50k+ bots so I am sure they care...
I was talking about L2, not Aion tho
What is never acknowledged is that consumers who pay for a box should have certain property rights too. I'm not a lawyer, but I know in my heart what is right and wrong.
Private servers for 'abandon ware', yes. For active games (like WoW), no.
Not entirely an accurate assumption.
As with when music was being downloaded on napster before the laws were setup. The smaller/lesser known artists benefited from the practice because it increased knowledge of them and increased their sales. The large artists that the majority of the population knew about lost sales because people that would of bought the music got it for free.
This is why the big companies obviously are against the practice of private servers. It can hurt the large MMOs, but it can help the smaller MMOs. Same as with music.
Hmmm, this reminds me of a guy who bought a Corvette from a junk yard. He spent about 12k and countless hours restoring it. When he went to register it, turns out it was reported stolen.
The Police confiscated it and returned the car to its original owner, who got it back in much better condition then he lost it.
My point. I wonder if you could abandon your software, let the pirates fix it up, make it fun, then legally steal it back with all the modifications they added that made the game fun.
Free development?
Nothing excites jaded Grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty
If you buy the game from Blizzard then whats the problem? You aren't using Blizzard's customer service or bandwidth which the subscriptions are there for.
Also if they did a better job at giving people what they want then noone would want to play on private servers.
Hmmm, this reminds me of a guy who bought a Corvette from a junk yard. He spent about 12k and countless hours restoring it. When he went to register it, turns out it was reported stolen.
The Police confiscated it and returned the car to its original owner, who got it back in much better condition then he lost it.
My point. I wonder if you could abandon your software, let the pirates fix it up, make it fun, then legally steal it back with all the modifications they added that made the game fun.
Free development?
The problem with your scenario is that while it would not be possible to seperate the corvette from the repairs and additions, it would be trivial to seperate the original source code from any additions. The original developer would still have full rights to their original code but any aditions would be the property of the other guys.
How do these "Private Severs" get the master software to run the game? How can that be stolen, unless it was an inside job?? This is server software afterall?...
Yes, the Al Qaeda knew what was right in their heart when they blew up the twin towers. I'm sure you have a better heart than that, but you can see why we prefer to follow laws rather than people's hearts.
Copyright law does not recognize the term or concept of "abandonware". There is a long held concept of abandonment in trademark law as a direct result of the infinite term of trademark protection. Currently, a copyright can be released into the public domain if the owner clearly does so in writing; however this formal process is not considered abandoning, but rather releasing. Those who do not own a copyright cannot merely claim the copyright abandoned and start using protected works without permission of the copyright holder, who could then seek legal remedy.
Hosting and distributing copyrighted software without permission is illegal. Copyright holders, sometimes through the Entertainment Software Association, send cease and desist letters, and some sites have shut down or removed infringing software as a result. However, most of the Association's efforts are devoted to new games, due to those titles possessing the greatest value.[9]
Packet sniffing and reverse engineering.
From what I understand, a lot of MMO emulators are built from the ground up with their own code, so the only thing they're using that is proprietary is the client. The issue is far more gray than the big name companies would like you to believe. It's not even in the same realm as music piracy so long as people are buying the base box game.
What's funny is that they cry foul about people not playing the official servers because of them, when most of the people doing so wouldn't play it anyways due to the cost or simply disliking the way it's being run. At least if these companies condoned and supported it properly, they could potentially make more box sales of the game client.
Maybe this will be the answer to the stupid MMOs we have now. Get a stupid MMO for soloers and turn it into a group friendly and sandbox epic MMO.
Granted. But you can also see why when laws are bought and paid for by the powerful only to enrich themselves further, to oppress and exploit the weak, to pander to and exploit irrational fears and ignorance - then it can also be an honorable course to break them. I mean look at people right now being fined more for illegally downloading music than they would be for committing mass murder. Is that right? Or how about a Nazi or a slave holder saying "I was only following orders". Common sense can and should enter into these discussions too.