Hello all folks, how are you doin'?

If there were an online game, and its servers were shutdown. Can I re-use the game by my own server with having only the game files? (After installation)

19 minutes ago, KUDO98 said:

Hello all folks, how are you doin'?

If there were an online game, and its servers were shutdown. Can I re-use the game by my own server with having only the game files? (After installation)

 

What does this have to do with Game Design, or Theory?

Normally this would violate something within their terms of use. Why don't you send a message to the developers directly and ask them?

I would say in 'most' cases this wouldn't be allowed.

4 hours ago, Rutin said:

What does this have to do with Game Design, or Theory?

I moved the thread to the appropriate forum.

4 hours ago, KUDO98 said:

its servers were shutdown. Can I re-use the game by my own server

You're asking the wrong folks. The people you need to ask are the owners of that game. You need to ask them for permission.

On 4/17/2018 at 1:01 PM, KUDO98 said:

Can I re-use the game by my own server with having only the game files?

People have been successfully sued for this.

Other people have done it, received legal demands from the owners, continued, and had no major consequences.

Other people have done it, then were noticed and ignored by the owners.

Other people have done it and were never noticed by the owners.

You need to ask permission, then have a lawyer get an agreement that gets you the permissions you need.  If you don't ask permission you need to work with a lawyer to find out what your legal risks are, and how much of each of those risks you're willing to tolerate.  The risks for this type of willful infringement are potentially quite devastating.

A part of your question depends on on who you are allowing to access the server. If it is only you, then you are fine. If you let anyone else access it, then you need to check with the copyright owners (not always the developers). There was some talk a while ago about making exemption for abandoned online only games (Proposed Exemption Under 17 U.S.C. 1201 (Proposed Class #23)) but I don't know if it actually went through or not.