Gaming Memoryscapes: Private Servers, Piracy, and Nostalgia

In light of recent changes to the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW), many players are choosing to connect to “private servers” that run older versions of the game. While these servers are typically located in non-US sites and exist outside of corporate data centers, the game code is still corporate property, constrained by intellectual property laws and End User License Agreements. WoW’s development company has begun to make use of rhetorical tactics to demonize private servers (e.g., referring to them as “pirate” servers), and have threatened users and maintainers with legal action. With nostalgia and obsolescence as driving forces and legal frameworks as looming threats, what values and ideologies emerge from everyday player discourse and practices on private servers? How might private servers reshape understandings of relations between intellectual property and geopolitical boundaries?