I'm always amazed when companies litigate people creating their own servers for games that they no longer support. They pull the plug because they don't think that it can be profitable, and yet...
I'm always amazed when companies litigate people creating their own servers for games that they no longer support. They pull the plug because they don't think that it can be profitable, and yet they sue their own fan community because their attempts to play their game cuts into their imaginary profits. That's incredibly stupid.
Apparently from the comments: That's crazy they were able to have that data preserved. It also makes me wonder how they got it and how they themselves are storing it.
Apparently from the comments:
It’s not just that they can keep playing the game. It’s that they can keep playing the game with their original characters from before the official shutdown. Apparently the entire database of player data was somehow passed down from NCSoft to the people running this fan server. Everyone’s characters and progress was preserved.
That's crazy they were able to have that data preserved. It also makes me wonder how they got it and how they themselves are storing it.
One article I've read suggested that the creators of the server purchased the source code illegally from a former employee. Don't ask me to point to the article: it's been a long time. It wasn't...
One article I've read suggested that the creators of the server purchased the source code illegally from a former employee. Don't ask me to point to the article: it's been a long time. It wasn't that deep into the Internet: I'm sure you can find one talking about it with a quick search.
I'd wager someone got their hands on a backup drive. I'd also wager that whatever sysadmin or developer leaked it did so quietly, and intentionally. It's pretty common to send data off-site from...
I'd wager someone got their hands on a backup drive. I'd also wager that whatever sysadmin or developer leaked it did so quietly, and intentionally.
It's pretty common to send data off-site from the main production datacenter. Sysadmins take last week's backup home sometimes just to have it off-site, or put it in a local bank safety deposit box, that sort of thing... because our job includes planning for unscheduled airplane landings directly on top of your main hardware. No, really, this shit happens.
This stuff is supposed to be encrypted, of course, and most people now just pump it up to ye random cloud storage service. Either way, though, if someone had the encryption keys they could get everything they needed from the backups... if the company was even encrypting the game data in the first place.
I'm always amazed when companies litigate people creating their own servers for games that they no longer support. They pull the plug because they don't think that it can be profitable, and yet they sue their own fan community because their attempts to play their game cuts into their imaginary profits. That's incredibly stupid.
Apparently from the comments:
That's crazy they were able to have that data preserved. It also makes me wonder how they got it and how they themselves are storing it.
One article I've read suggested that the creators of the server purchased the source code illegally from a former employee. Don't ask me to point to the article: it's been a long time. It wasn't that deep into the Internet: I'm sure you can find one talking about it with a quick search.
I'd wager someone got their hands on a backup drive. I'd also wager that whatever sysadmin or developer leaked it did so quietly, and intentionally.
It's pretty common to send data off-site from the main production datacenter. Sysadmins take last week's backup home sometimes just to have it off-site, or put it in a local bank safety deposit box, that sort of thing... because our job includes planning for unscheduled airplane landings directly on top of your main hardware. No, really, this shit happens.
This stuff is supposed to be encrypted, of course, and most people now just pump it up to ye random cloud storage service. Either way, though, if someone had the encryption keys they could get everything they needed from the backups... if the company was even encrypting the game data in the first place.