The A.G.A FAQ
Bateau
'Abandonware' is a term used to describe software that is longer being
published, and has been effectively abandoned by the publishers.
alt.games.abandonware (a.g.a) is for the discussion of this software
and related topics, including recommendations, tips on locating
sources of old games and their hint books, requests for hints, and
discussion of legal issues related to old games.
HTML posts, or MIME posts of any content-type other than 'text/plain'
are not allowed. Binary posts of any type, with the sole exception of
PGP signatures appended to plaintext messages, are not allowed
anywhere in alt.* outside of the alt.binaries.* hierarchy, and are
subject to third-party cancellation. Only advertisements for websites
or businesses that sell old games and related material, or offers to
buy or sell such items by individuals, are allowed. Such ads should
only be posted a minimum of two weeks apart, unless a targeted
response to a specific request for information or part of a brief (4
line or less) .sig file attached to a on-topic post.
Posters to a.g.a are requested to include warnings at the beginning of
the subject line of messages that include information which could
spoil gameplay for other readers, and to specifically include the name
of the game being discussed in all posts.
Examples:
Subject: CHEATS: Cheat codes for Dune 2
Subject: HINT: How to win 'Astro Chicken' in Space Quest 1
Subject: FOR SALE: Populous
Frequently Asked Questions.
Q: What exactly is abandonware?
A: The term abandonware was coined sometime in 1997 by classic game
enthusiasts to refer to any game, regardless of age, that has been
discontinued by its publishers. Due to the natural lack of
organization in such fringe area of the law, the concept has, over
time, been unfortunately misused to refer to ANY GAME that is 5 years
or older (or 3, in some cases) regardless of whether or not it has in
fact been discontinued. We believe that the definition of abandonware
as it was first conceived is the only viable definition that draws a
clear and only line between abandonware and "warez": abandonware has
been discontinued by the developers, while warez have not. While both
are illegal, the motives and principles behind each are miles apart.
Q: Wait a minute, did you say abandonware is illegal?
Unfortunately, yes. Despite the fact that publishers no longer derive
revenues from these games since they have stopped selling them (and
any revenues from retailers that still sell them were gained a long
time ago, at the time of sales), it is illegal to distribute them so
long as copyright holders have not released them into the public
domain, and 75 years after the games' release have not elapsed. For
more in-depth information on this issue, We recommend the following
articles and websites:
http://www.mobygames.com/featured_article/feature=7
http://interactfiction.about.com/games/interactfiction/library/weekly/aa121100a.htm
http://www.idsa.com/piracy.html
http://www.wipo.org/
Despite the illegal status of abandonware, we believe that we are
offering a valuable service to the gaming community: classic game
collectors have a chance to retrieve games that have otherwise been
lost or rendered defective with the passage of time.
Q: Is it still illegal if the company no longer exists?
A: Aguydude says:
Even if the product is ten years old, the copyright to the product
still belongs to someone. Even if the company which created the
product is out of business, the copyright exists nonetheless. A good
analogy is comparing books to software. Even after an author dies, it
is illegal to make copies of their books in any form. Although both
computer copyrights and book copyrights eventually expire and become
public domain (hence the abundance of e-texts), such copyrights can be
renewed. In addition, computers have not existed long enough for the
applicable software to have expired.
Q: Where can I search for Abandonware?
A: A couple of good sites to start looking are: http://tuol.org and
http://www.abandonwarering.com A large list of Abandonware sites can
be found here as well as a reasonably good search engine. Also
http://uaefiles.cjb.net has a very large list of Amiga games and where
to find them.
You can find a list of games that are still sold and where to buy them
at http://www.flashback-aw.net/a-z.php and
http://community.theunderdogs.org/html/warez/a-z.php This list does
obviously not contain ALL games that are still sold, so don't assume
that a game is abandonware just because it doesn't appear on it.
Q: What can I do if I can't find the game I'm looking for at the above
sites?
A: Try normal search engines. First of all go to
http://www.altavista.com/?text and type the name of the game in
quotation marks and add something like download, games, gamez etc.
Example "Prince of Persia download" this will only show links that
have that phrase on that page.
And if all else fails post a request to the group and maybe somebody
here will be able to help.
Q: I've got the game but I'm having sound problems, what can I do?
A: One of the main reasons that games don't play sounds properly is
because Windows may have installed a driver that isn't DOS compatible.
To remedy this you could try to reinstall your sound drivers using the
disks that came with your card. WARNING: Don't do this unless you are
certain that you'll be able to sort your computer out if all goes
wrong.
Q: The game says that I don't have a mouse even though I do.
A: Again this can be put down to Windows not installing a mouse driver
that is compatible with DOS. To remedy this you need to get hold of a
DOS mouse driver and then you can either run it before you play the
game or add a line to your autoexec.bat to have it run automatically.
E.g c:\mouse.com
Q: Running the game gives me a "Divide by zero" error or craps out in
other ways.
A: Most problems running old games on new computers are caused by new
computers running too fast. Try a specialised site like
http://www.oldskool.org/pc/help/oldonnew/ or
http://doshelp.theunderdogs.org/central/index.shtml or ask in the
newsgroup.
Q: Where can I chat about abandonware in real time.
A: On DALnet <http://www.dal.net> there's #abandonware #abandonwarez
and #oldwarez (additions welcome).
On EFnet <http://www.efnet.net> there's:
#abandonware (http://abandonware.maldeva.net)
#oldgames (http://oldgames.maldeva.net)
#adventurewarez
#ClassicWarez (http://www.classicwarez.com)
#classicgamez (http://classicgamez.maldeva.net)
#Underdogs (http://www.theunderdogs.org)
#oldwarez (http://www.oldwarez.com)
#PCOldies (http://www.pcoldies.net)
#AW (http://www.pheatsols.com)
(additions welcome).
Q: Somebody has requested a game that I have and I would like to share
it with them and the other members of this group. What would be the
best way to do this?
A: First of all please don't post the file to the group, they take up
a lot of space and some news admins will remove a non binaries group
if binaries are posted to it. You could try a program such as ICQ and
arrange a time with the person who wants the game to transfer it to
him directly. You could also store it somewhere on the web and make it
available for download.
Q: Why isn't there more information in this FAQ?
A: Er, because I can't think of anything else that you might need to
know at the moment. But if you know of anything that you think should
be included please let me know.
LIST OF GOOD SITES:
Abandonware Sites:
http://www.theunderdogs.org/ (ok it's an underdogs site, but only has
the abandoned games available for download)
http://www.flashback-aw.net/
http://uaefiles.cjb.net/ (Amiga)
Abandonware Rings:
http://www.abandonwarering.com/
http://www.tuol.org
Abandonware News:
http://www.flashware.net
Getting old games to work:
http://www.oldskool.org/pc/help/oldonnew/
http://doshelp.theunderdogs.org/central/index.shtml
Places to buy old games:
http://www.flashback-aw.net/a-z.php
PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS FAQ IN SOME WAY:
This section is to thank any body who has sent me a question or idea,
so thank you to:
DaRkSiDe
Bateau
Underdogs
Shadowman
If you think that I've got anything wrong here or you would like
something added just let me know.
And please remember to post you messages in English. You have far more
chance of getting a reply if people can read what you've written.
--
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