Server emulator: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 02:10, 9 December 2021

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A '''server emulator''', also called a ''Freeshard'' or, ''Private server'' or ''fan clone'', is the [[Remake (computing)|reimplementation]] of online game servers, typically as [[Video game remake|clones]] of [[Proprietary software|proprietary]] commercial software by a third party of the [[game community]]. The private server is not always made by the original company, but usually attempts to mimic it in some way.

Technically, a server emulator does not [[emulator|emulate]] by the traditional definition. Instead it is the alternative implementation of the proprietary gaming server that communicates with the same gaming client through the same, [[Reverse engineering|reverse-engineered]] [[proprietary protocol]]s. Server emulators exist for many online games. If the original proprietary servers were shut down, server emulators can be considered community continuations as fix for an [[orphaned work|orphaned]] software product.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/19/supcom-forged-alliance-servers-shut-down-community-made-forged-alliance-forever-keeps-the-war-alive/ |title=Community-made Forged Alliance Forever keeps Supreme Commander multiplayer alive |first=T.J. |last=Hafer |date=2012-11-19 |accessdate=2014-08-28 |newspaper=[[PC Gamer]] |quote=''The official multiplayer servers for Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance have been decommissioned for a while now, but fortunately [...] the community-driven Forged Alliance Forever has emerged. The self-patching multiplayer client allows players of the epic real-time strategy title to continue blowing things up in massive quantities. In addition to the regular patches and fixes, it also adds new units, a new faction, and some game modes that weren't available on the official servers, such as 6v6.''}}</ref><ref>[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-02-youre-in-charge You're in charge! - From vital patches to game cancellations, players are often intimately involved.] by Christian Donlan on [[Eurogamer]] ''"Supreme Commander fans released Forged Alliance Forever and gave the game the online client it could otherwise only dream of. I haven't played it much, but I still got a tear in my eye when I read about the extents these coders had gone to. There's nothing quite so wonderful to witness as love, and this is surely love of the very purest order. [...] SupCom guys resurrect a series whose publisher had just gone under."'' (2013-11-02)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/battleforge/news/battleforge_reborn,44416,3233541.html|title=BattleForge Reborn - Community will das Spiel wiederbeleben |journal=[[GameStar]]|date=14 July 2015 |accessdate=2016-06-26|last1=Dietrich |first1=Mathias }}</ref>