Server emulator: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:36, 10 May 2022

Revision as of 18:18, 14 June 2022

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== Uses ==

* Playing a game that is no longer officially supported or playable. This could be due to the game shutting down (and so lacking central servers needed for the game to function), as is true of [[Toontown Online]]. It could instead be due to more recent game patches or versions changing the desired functionality, as with private "retro" [[World of Warcraft]] servers that run older versions of the game.

* According to a study based on [[Ragnarok Online]] emulated servers, “Players turn to the illegal private server solution to fulfill their expectations for better means of [[Customization of Avatars (Computing)|avatar customization]], specific technical features, an improved social environment, and enhanced [[gamemaster]] availability.”<ref>{{cite journal |first1=T.|last1=Debeauvais |first2=B.|last2=Nardi |title=A qualitative study of Ragnarok Online private servers: in-game sociological issues.|journal= In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG'10) |year=2010 |url=http://www.artifex.org/~bonnie/Debeauvais-Nardi-RO-private-servers.pdf|doi=10.1145/1822348.1822355 |s2cid=7765713 }}</ref>

* Playing games for free or for cost that goes towards maintaining a server that the spender controls.

* Other reasons why players use server emulators is to avoid the monthly fees or purchasing fees for certain games.

* Being able to experience anExperiencing accelerated and/or altered mode of play (sometimes changing the game completely)gameplay.

* According to a study based on [[Ragnarok Online]] emulated servers, “Players turn to the illegal private server solution to fulfill their expectations for better means of [[Customization of Avatars (Computing)|avatar customization]], specific technical features, an improved social environment, and enhanced [[gamemaster]] availability.”<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Debeauvais |first1=T. |last1last2=DebeauvaisNardi |first2=B. |last2year=Nardi2010 |title=A qualitative study of Ragnarok Online private servers: in-game sociological issues. |journalurl=http://www.artifex.org/~bonnie/Debeauvais-Nardi-RO-private-servers.pdf |journal=In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG'10) |year=2010 |url=http://www.artifex.org/~bonnie/Debeauvais-Nardi-RO-private-servers.pdf|doi=10.1145/1822348.1822355 |s2cid=7765713 }}</ref>

* Some server emulators are designed on the emphasis that a game has closed and is no longer playable, like [[Toontown Online]]. Players also choose to play on private servers to relive an older version of the game (like [[Vanilla (software)|vanilla]] [[World of Warcraft]] private servers).

== Legal issues ==