Games with Online Play Components
Video games with online components that have online elements for interactive aspects of play, in particular those with online multiplayer components. This does not exclude games that have both online multiplayer and offline single player components (e.g., Dark Souls has online multiplayer components but also has the ability for single player play in offline mode) but rather the focus on the entry is on the online components for interactive play and there is more potential to preserve the interaction. This excludes games that are no longer available legally.
Examples
Dark Souls, Minecraft, Portal 2, Stardew Valley, Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Hazards
Lack of skills, commitment or policy from corporate owners; always online DRM; uncertainty over IPR or the presence of orphaned works; lack of offline backup; changing business model of providers; limited recognition of value of game play; over dependence on goodwill of ad-hoc community; dependency on bespoke hardware or interfaces; Complex hardware dependencies or bespoke hardware
Organisational ChangeMitigations
Emulation pathway; source code; trusted repository; large user community; IPR supportive of preservation; strong documentation
Bit List History
Added to list: 2023Last Review
2023 Review
This entry, alongside the Games with ‘Offline Play Components’ entry, was created from rescoping the previous ‘Old or Non-current Video Games’ entry as part of the 2023 Bit List review. It was rescoped to highlight the differences in preserving online components as opposed to offline components in video games, specifically the dependency of servers.
2024 Interim Review
The 2024 Council agreed These risks remain on the same basis as before, with no significant trend towards even greater or reduced risk (‘No change’ to trend).
Additional Information
Whilst this entry focuses on games with online play components that are still accessible (any servers that have been shut down or discontinued would fall into the Shut Down or Discontinued Video Games entry), these games could potentially lose server support thus necessitating urgent action to preserve the online component whilst the server is still active. A recent example of this is the announcement in October 2023 of Nintendo discontinuing online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software from early April 2024. Whilst the offline component will still be accessible, the game will have lost features and/or game modes that use online components thus changing the nature of the game.Case Studies & Examples
- Announcement of Discontinuation of Online Services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Software, Nintendo (2023), [accessed at 2023-10-24].
- The Play It Again: Preserving Australian Videogame History of the 1990s (Play It Again 2) project, which builds on the original Play It Again project focused on curating a collection of Australasian games of the 1980s. This second iteration of Play It Again was assembled with the aim of building a collection of significant 1990s Australian videogames for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), preserving these and evaluating relevant emulation platforms, including EaaSI to determine their efficacy for accessing born digital artefacts. See Play It Again Project, [accessed at 2024-04-06].
- International Video Game Preservation Survey Report, Arneil, C. (2024), National Film and Sound Archive of Australia [accessed at 2024-10-22].
- Australian cultural institutions unite to collect videogames, ACMI (2022), [accessed at 2023-10-24].
- The Videogame Heritage Society, led by the National Videogame Museum, founded in 2022 to bring together organizations and collectors working with videogames. It provides advocacy, expertise, and support in collecting, preserving and displaying video games. See Videogame Heritage Society, National Video Museum [accessed at 2023-10-24].
- The British Film Institute’s “Embracing a wider screen culture” strategy notes the cultural significance of video games and states that they intend to embark on sector research, engagement and knowledge exchange (including on the preservation of video games and digital media). See Embracing a wider screen culture, BFI [accessed at 2023-10-24].