FOSS Games and Lost Media

I'm aware this thread hasn't been active in a while, but I'm posting here now because I'm considering porting this discussion to some other sites in order to see what some other people have to say on the subject. One idea I had was the Lost Media Wiki forums, though I'm not sure in what section I would post that. Another consideration might be one or two subreddits. In general, I want to continue this discussion in some format and get more perspectives from people in both the FOSS and Lost Media communities. Haven't ported this anywhere new yet, but I might plan to do so soon. I'll probably make a post here whenever I do port this somewhere in order to let people know.

Technopeasant

Oh I am sure I will dig up some more in time.

On a non-gaming but lost media related note, my brothers and I managed to help resurrect the last two seasons of the 2000s Canadian animated comedy Odd Job Jack by uploading some screencasts we had to the Internet Archive, which we did not realize had become "lost media" in the meantime.

https://lostmediawiki.com/Odd_Job_Jack_(partially_lost_Comedy_Channel_animated_sitcom;_2003-2007)

Not quite sure it counts, since I am fairly sure the original studio still have copies (and are still in business, most recently on Corner Gas Animated), but they are lost to the public it seems, as is still most of season one in English at least.

forty_sham

Technopeasant On a non-gaming but lost media related note, my brothers and I managed to help resurrect the last two seasons of the 2000s Canadian animated comedy Odd Job Jack by uploading some screencasts we had to the Internet Archive, which we did not realize had become "lost media" in the meantime.

https://lostmediawiki.com/Odd_Job_Jack(partially_lost_Comedy_Channel_animated_sitcom;2003-2007)

Very cool! I kind of wish I could have achieved something like that. Then again, maybe I have and I just don't know it yet.

Anyways, I've decided to port this discussion to a subreddit called r/foss. I'm not sure if it's the most major of subreddits, but it's a good starting point I suppose.

Technopeasant

The initial frustration was that Odd Job Jack, a Canadian series, was only available on Hulu, which was not available in Canada at the time (it is now all Disney+). So we used a VPN to get in and started recording. Then two years later it vanished from Hulu as well...

forty_sham

Yeah, regional stuff like that can be a headache sometimes. Even in more recent years we have companies trying to keep stuff in their preferred territories (e.g., BBC iPlayer.) VPN really is a helpful tool in these times.

forty_sham

Well, it doesn't really seem like the r/foss version of this thread is picking up a lot of steam, but maybe I just need to be a bit more patient. In the meantime, I will determine what other places I can bring this discussion to. I'm still considering making a version of this thread for the Lost Media Wiki forums, but I haven't yet decided how I will go about doing so if I proceed with that plan.

Peter

I think lost media is a more or less natural aspect of non-free games/music/text.

So I guess people keep concentrating on writing their own foss games instead of caring for lost media?

forty_sham

Peter I guess I can see what you're saying, and it kind of ties into what I've said in the start of the thread. Since a lot of non-free software/media has particular restrictions, it can be harder for people to redistribute and keep in supply. Not to mention, some corporate entities insist on "protecting their rights" even when they are not otherwise tending to their old stuff anymore. Meanwhile, FOSS and other stuff under free licenses can be redistributed without limit and the chances that various people have copies is higher. Hence, people might not be as concerned about that stuff getting lost. A lot of responses in this thread (and the original on the old forums) have indicated that there can be various nuances to this though, so that's why I ask around about it.

Checking in recently, the r/foss post unfortunately still hasn't really picked up any steam beyond one upvote from somebody (not counting the automatic upvote that appears upon posting.) As has been indicated, perhaps most people in the subreddit may simply not be interested in having this conversation. Searching around, I haven't exactly seen much discussion related to lost software/media (well, there is one post about a wiki that restores deleted Wikipedia articles, many of which are about FOSS, which is interesting but not necessarily the most related.) Of course, I'll still keep the post around in case anyone ever does take interest, whether sooner or later.

I'm still considering posting a version of this thread to the Lost Media Wiki forums at some point, and I'm also considering other venues to bring this conversation to. Suggestions might be helpful I suppose.

Peter

I think I'm not as interested as you in lost media. But I definitely think in old games lies a big treasure and the medium doesn't get as much interest from culture experts as other media get (and as it deserves). Unfortunately reactivating old games involves sometimes a lot of work. (See the frog game that I failed to transfer from Python 2 to 3 to just name an example.) Maybe people from abandonware sites and libregamewiki would have interest? I remember in some corner of the internet I saw a person from a museum who is very interested in preserving old games.

Edit: I think is lies in the games' nature that they are disposable. I mean, for example accounting software must work for many years. But games are for fun right now

forty_sham

Peter Maybe people from abandonware sites and libregamewiki would have interest? I remember I saw a person from a museum in some corner of the internet who is very interested in preserving old games.

I'll consider those options. Thanks.

Do you remember who the person you mention was called? It's okay if you don't. I'm just wondering.

Peter I think is lies in the games' nature that they are disposable. I mean, for example accounting software must work for many years. But games are for fun right now

I understand how that is, though personally I tend to think things have value even if they're not seen as practical. It doesn't mean I think literally everything needs to be archived (for instance, choosing to keep every single file on your computer and not delete anything would ultimately just cause problems in the long run), but I think games as a form of artistic expression and technological experimentation, even if just for fun, generally deserve to be preserved. Sometimes these things can have more meaning than the developers themselves realize.

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