Organisational Change
Business changes or organisation no longer exists
Always Online Games
Video games that are required to be continuously online. Gameplay is referenced here particularly as means of participation, along with social media and in-game interaction between players. This can include Massively Multiplayer Online games and single player games with always-on DRM.
Contractual Documents and Related Records
Documents, correspondence and other records created in the course of contractual dealings between individuals and agencies, especially where the subjects are of long duration and may be subject to legal scrutiny at undefined points in the distant future.
Custom Online Databases
Data collected, presented and disseminated in custom online databases that is not stored elsewhere, particularly data at risk when it is locked in the database because no export or harvest options are available.
Games with Offline Play Components
This entry is focused on games that can be played offline, often those designed for single player play while in offline mode. This does not exclude games that can be played online or have online interactive components (e.g., Sims 3 can be played online or offline), but rather the focus is on the preservation of offline single player components over the online components.
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.
Legacy Interfaces and Services Offered Online by Major Companies
Online services with unique interfaces that change regularly and through those changes provide a different experience and different content to their users.
Pension, Mortgage and Insurance Records
Records of transactions for long-lived financial products and services contracted between individuals and corporations. These records typically contain or depend on significant amounts of personal information and outlast the infrastructure on which they were created.
Pre-WWW Videotex Data Services and Bulletin Board Services
Pre WWW telephone and television information services that allowed a degree of user interaction and data retrieval with modem-based two-way communication.
Pre-WWW ViewData and TeleText Services where no Archival Agency has Captured and Retained the Signal
Pre-WWW television information services broadcast within the TV signal that allowed a degree of search and retrieval of up-to-date information, based on Teletext or ViewData technologies and variants.
Recordings of Video Gameplay Uploaded to Online Platforms
Recordings of game playing and e-sports that show how games are experienced and played, especially multi-user online games and tournaments.
Shut Down or Discontinued Video Games
Video games where the servers have been shut down or where the game has been delisted across digital platforms and is no longer able to be legally purchased directly from the digital marketplace (loss has already happened). It includes older and non-current video games designed and played on platforms and devices that are no longer supported. This group also includes older editions of games that have been delisted and replaced by newer or remastered editions.