Preserving MMO Memories: How to Save Screenshots, Lore and Community Content Before Servers Close

Preserving MMO Memories: a practical toolkit for UK communities

Hook: If you’ve been part of an MMO community like New World and just heard the closure announcement, your inbox is probably full of panic and “grab everything now” messages. That’s normal — but frantic screenshots and scattered Discord archives aren’t preservation. This guide gives UK players a practical, legal and repeatable toolkit to archive screenshots, chat logs, fan art and player-made lore before servers close.

Why preservation matters in 2026 — and what’s changed since 2025

MMO shutdowns are sadly more common in the mid-2020s as studios consolidate or pivot. Late 2025 saw a number of high-profile team cuts and announcements that led to communities racing to save memories. The Internet Archive, the British Library’s web preservation initiatives and community-driven projects have matured in 2026: better webrecorder tooling, more robust WARC capture pipelines and community best practices are now widely available. That means players can make reliable, shareable archives — if they act now.

Context: New World’s announcement

When a developer posts a line like the one Amazon published —

“We want to thank the players for your dedication and passion. We are grateful for the time spent crafting the world of Aeternum with you. Together we built something special.”

Quick-start checklist: What to do in the first 72 hours

• Create a community task force. Gather 3–10 volunteers: at least one technical lead, one communications lead (to ask permission from creators), and two people to harvest content.
• Lock the timeframe. Note the announced shutdown date and schedule weekend marathons to capture peak activity.
• Set up secure storage. Open a shared cloud drive (Google Drive, OneDrive, or Backblaze B2) and reserve at least one local external SSD per lead. For redundancy, pick two different providers.
• Announce a preservation policy. Post a pinned message on your Discord and forum telling players what will be archived and how you’ll handle credit and consent.

Tools and formats: best practices for file quality and future-proofing

Preservation is only useful if files remain accessible. Use open, lossless formats and store metadata.

Screenshots and images

• Save images in PNG for screenshots (lossless) or TIFF for very high-res art. Avoid relying on lossy JPEG unless file size is critical.
• When possible, download original artist uploads (ask for full-res). Store originals in a folder named by date and artist.
• Embed and preserve metadata with ExifTool. Example command to add a creator field:

  exiftool -Artist="ArtistName" screenshot.png

• Create a sidecar JSON for additional context (server, zone, timestamp, event). Example filename: 2026-01-12_16-03_Aeternum_Brightwood_screen1.png and 2026-01-12_16-03_Aeternum_Brightwood_screen1.json.

Video captures and mounts

• Record major events with OBS Studio at 1080p/60fps or 4K if possible. Save in MKV or lossless codecs, then create MP4 proxies for wider sharing.
• For long captures, split files into 1–2GB chunks for reliable uploads.
• Transcribe critical streams (boss calls, Canton chats) using automated speech-to-text and manually correct for accuracy. Store transcripts as plain UTF-8 text; see guides on turning short-form footage into archival assets (micro-documentaries).

Chat logs and group conversations

Chats are sensitive: they often contain personal data. Follow consent rules (see legal section) and anonymise where necessary.

• Discord: use community tools like DiscordChatExporter to export channels to JSON/HTML. Export pinned messages and attachments separately.
• In-game chat: check local log files first — many PC MMOs write chat to logs in the game folder. If logs are only accessible in the client, use a local capture overlay or OCR on high-res screenshots as a fallback.
• For voice: record party/raid comms with consent. Create a short consent form and keep it with the audio file.

Player-made lore, wikis and text files

• Scrape wiki pages with wget --mirror or Webrecorder to create WARC files. Prefer WARC archives for full-page fidelity.
• Store plain text and Markdown copies of long-form lore. Use Git for versioning and collaboration; store large binaries with Git LFS.
• Create a canonical README that documents collection methodology, date ranges and contributors.

Platform-specific capture tips

Different platforms have different export paths. Here are quick, actionable steps for the most common setups.

PC (Steam / Amazon Games / Epic)

• Check platform-specific screenshot folders: Steam often stores screenshots under steamapps/common or userdata/*/760/remote; Amazon Games Launcher stores files in user AppData or the install folder. Export via the platform UI if available.
• Use a tool like ShareX for batch captures, hotkeys and automatic uploads to your archive folder.

PS5

• Open Media Gallery > Select captures > Options > Copy to USB Drive or Upload to PlayStation Plus cloud (if you have it) then download to desktop.
• For many captures, use Remote Play on PC to take higher-resolution screenshots if you own the stream rights.

Xbox Series X|S

• Use the Capture & Share menu to Manage Captures > Copy to External Storage, or upload to OneDrive and download from there.
• For video, use the Upload Studio or the Xbox app to transfer to PC.

Storage, redundancy and integrity

Preservation fails when files rot or links break. Use multiple layers of redundancy and a documented integrity check regime.

Storage strategy

• Use a 3-2-1 backup approach: three copies, on two different media, one offsite. See field gear guides for recommended devices and small-site workflows (tiny tech for pop-ups).
• Cloud options: Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Google Cloud or OneDrive. For UK players wanting local jurisdiction, consider UK-based registrars and European/UK-hosted VMs for storage; watch vendor costs and caps (cloud per-query caps).
• Offline: keep at least one encrypted external SSD per lead. Store one copy with a trusted archive partner (community server, friendly uni department or a trusted collector).

File integrity

• Generate checksums for every file. Example:

  sha256sum screenshot.png > screenshot.png.sha256

  — run these regularly and monitor results with lightweight observability practices (edge observability).
• Store checksums in a central CSV or JSON file and run integrity checks monthly for the first year.

Legal and ethical considerations for UK communities

Preserving content is a public good, but it can cross legal lines. In the UK, copyright and data protection are the two main issues you must consider.

Copyright and artist rights

• Respect creators: you can archive screenshots for personal use, but rehosting fan art and player-made content publicly requires the artist’s permission unless it’s clearly shared under a licence that permits redistribution.
• Get written permission where possible. Use a simple template message; keep replies as proof in your archive metadata.

Data protection (GDPR)

• Chat logs often contain personal identifiers. Under UK GDPR, processing (including storing) personal data requires a lawful basis. Community-driven archiving often relies on consent — so ask before archiving identifiable chat messages.
• If you can’t get consent, anonymise messages (replace usernames with IDs) or redact sensitive content before publishing publicly.

Terms of Service and EULAs

Check the game’s TOS. Some developers prohibit data mining or redistribution of client assets. Archiving community-created content is usually fine, but server-side or proprietary assets may be restricted. When in doubt, document your process and contact the publisher for clarification.

Community archive project: a step-by-step setup (two-hour sprint)

Below is a practical setup you can complete in about two hours to start a shareable archive hub.

1. Create a public GitHub or GitLab repo called new-world-archive (or game-archive.your-community.uk) and add a clear README with scope, contributors and preservation policy.
2. Set up Git LFS for images or store media in a linked cloud bucket (Backblaze/Wasabi) and add links in the repo.
3. Install MediaWiki or a static site generator (Hugo) for browsable lore pages. Host on GitHub Pages or Cloudflare Pages; use a .uk domain if you want a UK identity.
4. Create folders: /screenshots, /videos, /art, /chats, /lore. Add a CONTRIBUTING.md that explains how to submit material and consent templates.
5. Publish a short announcement to Discord and Reddit with submit instructions and an upload form (Google Forms or a simple Netlify form) requesting consent and credits.

Automation and repeatable workflows

Make archiving painless with scripts and scheduled tasks:

• Use a PowerShell or Bash script to collect the screenshot folder, rename files with timestamps and move them to your cloud sync folder.
• Set up a small Raspberry Pi or low-cost VPS to run nightly rsync/duplicity backups to your cloud bucket and to run SHA256 checks.
• Use GitHub Actions or GitLab CI to automatically build a static archive site from submitted Markdown lore pages.

Preservation templates you can copy right away

Filename convention

Use a consistent pattern so files sort correctly:

YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM_server-region_zone-optional_playerID_description.ext

Sidecar JSON example

{
  "filename": "2026-01-12_16-03_Aeternum_Brightwood_screen1.png",
  "game": "New World",
  "server": "Gyrthuk EU",
  "player": "GamerTag",
  "event": "Faction War - Brightwood",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-12T16:03:22Z",
  "contributor": "Discord#1234",
  "license": "PermissionGranted"
}

Long-term curation and discovery

• Index your archive with descriptive metadata and tags to make it searchable.
• Submit copies to long-term preservation services: Internet Archive, the British Library’s UK Web Archive or a university special collections department. The British Library accepts web and selected born-digital archives and can advise on long-term stewardship for UK communities.
• Consider distributing archived copies to trusted community nodes (other guilds, preservation groups) so the archive survives if one host disappears.

Case studies and quick wins from 2025–2026 community archives

Several UK-based community archives built durable collections in late 2025:

• A guild in Manchester captured a full season of faction war clips using a shared OBS schedule and a volunteer transcription team. They published cleaned transcripts and high-res stills to a MediaWiki porch site, then donated a copy to a university digital humanities team.
• A Reddit community used Pushshift and archived key threads into WARC files, then used the Internet Archive to publish an index and a browsable front-end. They respected artist rights by collecting permission for every fan art piece shared publicly.

What to avoid: common mistakes that break preservation efforts

• Don’t rely on a single copy or one volunteer. People move on; servers fail.
• Avoid dumping sensitive chat logs into public repositories without consent or redaction.
• Don’t assume platform-specific capture locations will remain the same after delisting — export now.

Sample messages and templates

Permission request for artists

Hi [ArtistName], we’re building a community archive for Aeternum and would love to include your art. We’ll credit you and link to your page. Can we store a high-res copy and display it on our archive (non-commercial)? Reply here to grant permission. — [Guild/Archive Team Name]

Consent form for chat participants

By replying YES you consent to your messages being included in a community archive for historical purposes. We will not publish personal data and we will anonymise where requested. Contact [email] to review or remove content.

Final checklist: the 30-day sprint

• Day 0–3: Create team, set storage, publish policy, begin captures.
• Week 1: Bulk export platform captures, collect permissions, start WARC captures of key web pages and wikis.
• Weeks 2–4: Clean metadata, verify checksums, create a browsable archive site and deposit a copy with a long-term partner.

Concluding takeaway

When an MMO like New World faces a server shutdown, communities have a short but critical window to turn ephemeral memories into a durable record. Use open formats, document your process, protect privacy and secure consent. The 3-2-1 storage rule, checksums and sidecar metadata are your friends — and a small, organised team will accomplish far more than scattered panic.

Call to action

If you’re in the UK and part of a New World (or any MMO) community facing shutdown, start today: form a two-person task force, pick one folder to standardise and upload 10 representative items to a shared drive. Then join or start a community archive and list your project with the Internet Archive and the British Library. Need a starter repo or metadata template? Contact our team or drop a message in our community preservation channel — we’ll share templates, hosting tips and a volunteer roster.

Related Reading

• Field Review: PocketCam Pro + Mobile Scanning Setups for UK Street Journalists (2026 Hands‑On)
• Hands-On: Studio Capture Essentials for Evidence Teams — Diffusers, Flooring and Small Setups (2026)
• Run a Local, Privacy-First Request Desk with Raspberry Pi and AI HAT+ 2
• The Ethical Photographer’s Guide to Documenting Health and Wellness Products
• Modeling Conflict Resolution: Game Theory Exercises from Calm Responses
• A Recruiter’s Guide to Short-Form Job Ads That Convert Night-Shift Candidates
• How Real Estate Agents Use Tow Services During Open Houses and Showings
• How to Use Live Streams to Build Emotionally Supportive Communities
• Small-Batch Beauty: Lessons from Craft Brands That Scaled (and How It Affects Product Quality)