Abandonwarez: the pros outweigh the cons

Posted by Jeremiah Kauffman.
First posted on 24 July 2000. Last updated on 15 September 2006.
Articles  »  Features

When a person creates something, whether that creation is a building, a novel, a poem, a song, or a film, that person is doing so for 2 reasons. First, that person is satisfying a personal desire to create. It is not possible to point out exactly what it is that drives creation, but if you ask someone who creates the answer you probably receive is that it is somewhat like an itch that demands to…

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Excellent

Great article! I purchase & collect and or evaluate old educational software (Games); as they are getting hard to find or come by.  I think old games/software should be preserved & be free.  I found the link to your article at wikipedia.  If I may use your article at our next local teacher’s training conference. I usually give a small segment on educational software in the classroom/school.  Thanks from ( I Like Old Macs) - :)

United States By Harry L. Huffman Jr • On 23 August 2006 • From Austin, Texas

Excellent

Oh and replace the “so” at the last sentence of mines with “as.” Heheh. *poof* (gone without a trace)

Canada By Solitary Wo Dao • On 09 July 2006 • From Canada

Excellent

Mm. such an old article, yet a lovely message.

That reminds me, “copyrighting” things. Very very sad thing. I’m certain the creators would want things for free, but have to cloak in society with all the “money” and such. As in having to “follow rules.” And because of that, they take advantage of these rules by going for something they want and trying to “earn money” that way. I see no problem in that. While being in such a world with it’s misguided people and reformed people, having such old gaming is a good thing. Well what I’m trying to get at here is that it should be the choice of the creators and not the company to decide such old lost things. I’m certain they’ll say “yes” to having it as freeware. But h*ll, it’s not gonna hurt to have such lost things as freeware anyways. New games for each generation should keep it’s price tag on until it’s not necessary. As such for old games, it’s not necessary..

As for the feeling of play, the intentions of the creators in games....yes, the classics...even though I never get to play with them much since I was born in the late 80s...it’s always nice to touch the series you wanted to touch while living in such a cruel society...thus while all Nature is blocked...while such sadistic thoughts try to attack...LET’S GO GAMING AND KICK A$$. Even though it’s all technology based and such, but hey, it’s used with a positive intention which is like a dbl-edge sword. But hey, that won’t stop us from healing. I games that I feel are ethical...theres inspiration of spirituality too...the intentions of wanting to bring positive....I only feel it in these oldies...the new stuff is alright but there’s a certain morality being blocked away. The moral of optimism. I feel that once abandonwarez is restored...ignorant people will not get so pessimistic about graphics. There IS nothing bad about different shapes and sizes. Or the movements of 16-bit or 64-bit. Only we will make it bad to ourselves. Pessimistic “aesthetics” is a problem...and abandonwarez...should whack those who are ignorant about what truth is.

Excuse my ranting. But it felt good. I want people to read this...so the sadism of getting all worked up about “appearances” will be gone.

Canada By Solitary Wo Dao • On 09 July 2006 • From Canada

Excellent

What about scanning the DOCUMENTATION?

A lot of the old docs (such as for games) were incredibly and elaborately produced. And they were actually educational!

United States By turingman • On 06 May 2006 • From Somewhere

Excellent

Just read this and I agree wholeheartedly. Computer games MUST be treated differently to other forms of entertainment. Any 12 year old can read a 25 year old book, watch a 25 year old film or listen to a 25 year old album and not even know it is 25 years old (thus its value is preserved) but a 25 year old computer game is going to be laughable to these people, but not to us.

If the copyright owners think there is money to be made from these games, re-release them, there are some I (and others) would buy, but probably not enough to make you a profit. So these games are just going to die and be forgotten?

Great Britain (UK) By Andy Baxter • On 23 March 2006 • From Manchester, UK

I agree with this view totally. I am an avid collector of abandonwarez because I believe that Commander Keen and Sky Roads are better than any of todays bloated games.

By Carl McKenzie • On 25 October 2002 • From Invercargill, New Zealand

software is like having a relative or friend who needs something to do,if it helps him and he isn’t making money off it give it to him(softwelfare)

By robert orser • On 28 May 2002 • From lethbridge alberta canada

I think people should be able to play the games.

By Roy Gonzalez • On 07 March 2002 • From Tx ,San Antonio

I agree, I have lost a whole lot of media over the past years in hdd crashes, and without abandonware sites like uyours I will probably never be able to play my favourite games again, and this is probably the opinion of most people who play or used to play games.

By Johan T • On 21 January 2002 • From Sweden

I totally agree that abandoned games should be preserved, the idea of victimising alleged pirates for their desire to protect old games is ridiculous in my eyes.
these games are an important part of our youth and culture, they provide a good nostalgia release for veteran gamers and a source of history for any budding student of computer games and their development since the days of pong and space invaders.
Where else can you find old classics like monkey island and beneath a steel sky? No shops i know of stock them and any sources of games like this on hardcopy are obscure at best, if available at all!
Surely the loss of these games must be a greater concern to the entire games industry than a few lost coins, they must realise that there is no profit in games they no longer market.

These games must be saved, they have the potential to be as much a part of history as classic film, literature and music. I know this to be true as while older games may not be considered very important now they will be as important as lost tv footage (the lost bbc archives for example) in the fullness of time and how much will be lost forever if it is not preserved now?

okay....rant over...;)

By Nick • On 09 January 2002 • From london