Welcome to the research project for the practices of private servers.

In this research project, we will explore the practices of Private World of Warcraft servers. We are seeking to identify how these practices, considerations, and constraints of private server developers differ from existing emulation development. And what contributions these can make towards the preservation of always online or Games as a Service (GaaS) video games.

Join us on our Project Discord server!

https://discord.gg/PAfarj9axp

Have you played or worked on a private server?

Please click here to participate in our survey.

This research Project is under supervision of the University of Melbourne as part of a PhD research project.

University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics ID 25429

Please see the Plain Language Statement linked:

Plain Language Statement wowservers v3.docx

About the researchers

Geoffrey Hill is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. Geoffrey completed his undergraduate degree in Games Programming at SAE Institute and masters studying video game co-creation at Western Sydney University. His PhD research examines the practices of online gaming private servers.

Martin Gibbs is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. He is an author of the recent books Death and Digital Media (2018, Routledge) and Digital Domesticities (2020, Oxford).

Melissa Rogerson is a Senior Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Computing and Information Systems. Her current research examines the use of digital tools in tabletop play and the materialities of play, as well as the ways in which people form and enact strategies in games.

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