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Improper use of the term
There is an argument if the term "server emulator" is actually technically correct, considering it is wrongly used to define a server emulator since a server emulator is just a reimplementation of a video game network server. Computer scientists think of an emulator only to be a software emulator or hardware emulator, for example MAME or Apple's Rosetta. Not of network servers that mimic in behavior of other network servers (also known as reimplementing a server, where there is no actual emulation occuring). One main argument is that Samba software which is a free software implementation of Microsoft's networking system generally is not refered to be an emulator because it is just an implementation of a closed networking service, similar to all "server emulators."
A possible explanation why the term emulator was so proximate in the creation of the first third-party Ultima Online server reimplementations is that the original game servers were known to be Sun Sparc Servers. As the original server software at some later point leaked out of the company many the association became obvious since many technically unexperienced gamers that could lay their hands upon this pirated piece of software had to realize they could never run this on their home computers. They needed a "server emulator" to run an Ulimta Online server. To refer to legality of "server emulators", most emulator developers even insisted on not receiving or taking a look at the then circulating original server code. Nevertheless its creation history, today the term is widely used and recognized even though it is technically incorrect.
A server emulator is a term that got widely known in recent years in the field of online multiplayer games. For many popular online games at some point third-party reimplementations of the original server software emerge, which are known to be called "server emulators".
History
With the rising popularity of commercial MMORPG internet games, came the desire from ardent players of this games to run their own servers beside the ones runned by the game creator. Since the original server software is usually not available the behavior of the servers has to be reeingeneered by analyzing the data stream with the orinal server, or by disambeling and analyzing the client which is available.
Ultima Online was one of the first large MMPORGs. Due to its openess in implementation server emulators arose very quickly even already in Beta stage of Ultima Online development. The destination to which the client connects was e.g. changeable by simply editing a text file. In Beta stage the client-server data stream was not encyrpted yet. The term "server emulator" became known along with the Ultima Online server reimplementation like UOX which was the pioneer. A lot of forks and reimplementations followed UOX, because it released its source code under the GNU General Public License relativly early. RunUO is today the most widely used UO-"server emulator".
Game companies usually tend to try to hinder emulator development by encrypting the data stream. However since the client needs to understand the data, in encrypten terms the "attacker" is always equipped with a decyphering machine. Therefore the original game designer can only add layers of strenuousness to decypher and understand the data stream, he cannot hinder it with cryptographic tools.
Legality
The legality or illegality of server emulators is a recurrent argument. "Server emulators" are presumably legal if done properly. The first issue is a possible infringement of the game creators copyright. As the case of Lotus v. Borland demonstrates recreating "methods of operation" is not a copyright infingement. Thus emulating copyrighted material is not a breach. However this demands that the complete emulator is a work of it's own. Sometimes the original server software leaks out of the company that created the game, for example AEGIS (Ragnarok Online). Use or distribution of this is definitly a copyright infringement. Modified version of such original server software are not considered to be a server emulator.
Another legal issue is the EULA. Today most commercial MMORPG require the user to sign a clause not to create or use server reimplementation when installing the client he bought. This issue has not yet been test infront of any court.
There are cases where a game creator effectifly shut down popular private game servers by law suit threat. But the reseans were always based on obvious copyright violations like for example offering the client for download, or also offering downloads of modified files from the original game package.
List of popular "server emulators"
See also
- - Server Side Emulation Community News and Resources
- - Announcement of a Star Wars Galaxies server emulator on slashdot
- - google group of Ultima Online server emulators