Editing Game Preservation, Abandonware, and Digital Ephemerality (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Remembering</span> ==
* '''Software Preservation''' — The practice of maintaining access to software over time as hardware and operating systems become obsolete.
* '''Emulation''' — Software that mimics the behavior of obsolete hardware — the primary technical tool for game preservation.
* '''ROM''' — Read-Only Memory image: a digital copy of game cartridge data — legally contentious but practically essential for preservation.
* '''The Digital Dark Age''' — The risk that digital cultural artifacts will be unreadable in the future due to format obsolescence, hardware decay, and DRM.
* '''DRM (Digital Rights Management)''' — Technical measures preventing copying and modification — often the primary obstacle to preservation and archival access.
* '''The Video Game Canon''' — Efforts to identify historically significant games deserving preservation — the Library of Congress has named 25 games to its permanent collection.
* '''Online-Only Games''' — Games requiring server infrastructure to play — when servers shut down, these games cease to exist entirely (SimCity 2013, Marvel Heroes).
* '''The DMCA Section 108''' — US copyright exemption allowing libraries and archives to preserve works — with game-specific limitations that preservation advocates contest.
* '''Internet Archive''' — The primary public institution preserving digital software — providing in-browser emulation of thousands of historical games.
* '''Abandonware''' — Software no longer commercially available and whose copyright holders no longer enforce rights — a legal grey zone central to game preservation.
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