A while back, a dear MOP reader and confidante showed me a huge list of MMOs that are, for the most part, still alive… and whose communities are working on emulators and rogue servers, not to compete with the real deal, mind you, but rather because they want to be prepared if and when the studios decide to pull a Microsoft or an SOE and just killing off their products because they’re riding some obviously doomed tech bubble or because the failson execs tripped over their golden parachutes and lost billions of dollars because they completely suck at their jobs. I said what I said.

Anyway, these are not really servers that we would cover here on MOP while the live game is still up, owing to our ethics policy. But after the companies have thrown in the towel? Game on, my friends. And I have to say that I am extremely grateful to the people who are thinking ahead, game preservation-wise. For all the rogue server happy endings we have, there are some MMOs out there that we still don’t have back yet because the communities just didn’t have time to prepare. I’m gratified to know that many MMO groups have taken that lesson to heart now.

Does your MMORPG have an emulator backup plan for when the lights go out?

Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!