"But what we can do is measure and understand this gap, fund preservation attempts, & maybe let official libraries and archives find some way to legally share ‘out of print’ games and ephemera, rather than reflexively labeling all attempts as ‘piracy’. Right?"
Yes, thanks for mentioning old games! This is spot-on. I've long bemoaned how the ESA started targeting abandonware game sites. I sometimes wonder if the industry has any interest in preserving all but the most fashionable of gaming history?
"But what we can do is measure and understand this gap, fund preservation attempts, & maybe let official libraries and archives find some way to legally share ‘out of print’ games and ephemera, rather than reflexively labeling all attempts as ‘piracy’. Right?"
Yes, thanks for mentioning old games! This is spot-on. I've long bemoaned how the ESA started targeting abandonware game sites. I sometimes wonder if the industry has any interest in preserving all but the most fashionable of gaming history?
Thanks for flagging the problem of disappearing games. I wrote about some potential legal solutions to the problem here: https://www.bu.edu/bulawreview/files/2021/10/LEMLEY.pdf