guidesMMOpreservation

When Servers Close: A Practical Guide to Preserving Your MMO Stuff Before New World Shuts Down

ggameplaying

2026-02-04

10 min read

Act now: step-by-step plan to archive screenshots, migrate guilds, scrape economy data and explore legal private-server options before New World shuts down.

When Servers Close: A Practical Guide to Preserving Your MMO Stuff Before New World Shuts Down

Hook: You’ve poured months — maybe years — into your New World character, company and screenshots. With Amazon’s January 2026 shutdown announcement, the clock is ticking. This guide gives you a step-by-step playbook to archive screenshots and logs, migrate your community, salvage memories, and evaluate legal and technical options for private servers so the work and friendships you built don’t vanish overnight.

Why you need to act now (and what happened in 2026)

In January 2026 Amazon announced New World’s live servers will be taken offline within a year — a reminder that even big MMOs can end. Public reaction echoed a broader 2025–26 trend: players demanding preservation options and studios facing pressure to support legacy communities. As one industry figure put it in early 2026, “games should never die” — but without planning, your screenshots, guild history and economy snapshots can be gone in a flash.

“Games should never die.” — Comment from industry exec reacting to New World’s closure announcement, Jan 2026

Inverted-pyramid summary: What matters most

Immediate (days): Lock in screenshots and video captures (lossless where possible), export chat and Discord logs, appoint community leads for migration.
Short term (weeks): Create an offline archive (checksummed ZIPs), host a static community archive site, and schedule final in-game events to capture memories.
Medium term (months): Scrape market/economy data if possible, preserve art/asset references, negotiate or petition for archival support from the developer.
Long term (post-shutdown): Evaluate legal private-server options, keep the community alive on decentralized platforms and operate preservation servers where legal.

Step 1 — Inventory: What you need to save (and why)

Before you start grabbing files, map what matters to you. Different items require different preservation methods.

Visuals: Screenshots, UI layouts, cropped portraits, in-game cinematics.
Video: Combat clips, company events, trades, town fights, housing tours.
Textual records: Chat logs, forum posts, market listings, guild rosters and bylaws.
Community artifacts: Discord servers, pinned messages, fan art, guides and wikis.
Data snapshots: Auction house lists, item prices, player-run economy stats (useful for future research).

Step 2 — Capture visuals like a pro

Quality and metadata matter. Here’s the practical checklist for screenshots and video.

Screenshots — best practices

Use lossless formats (PNG) whenever possible. JPEG degrades detail.
Standardize file names: region_server_character_date_time.png. Example: us-east_everfall_Caidan_2026-03-12_21-05.png.
Embed metadata with ExifTool to store context: exiftool -Comment="New World - Company: Nightfall - Event: Siege - 2026-03-12" file.png. That keeps who/where/when searchable even if filenames change.
Take art-style and UI shots: character closeups, housing layouts, landmark panoramas, UI leaderboards.
Batch-export Steam screenshots or use ShareX (free) for hotkey-driven capture and automatic uploads to local folders.

Video — recording and archiving

Record in MKV or lossless-capable container then convert to MP4 for sharing. Use OBS Studio — settings: 60 fps for action, 20–40 Mbps bitrate for high quality.
Record raw footage of economy activity: market screens, transaction histories, auctions in action. Capture HUD and world audio for context.
Break long recordings into named segments and keep a manifest.txt file describing each clip (timecodes, event, characters present).

Step 3 — Save chats, forums and community logs

Chat and forum histories are the social glue of an MMO — preserve them.

Discord: Use open-source tools like DiscordChatExporter to export channels as HTML or JSON if you’re a server owner/admin. Set roles and permissions for new platforms early.
In-game chat: If the client logs chat to local files, copy them. If it doesn’t, set up an automated capture (screen-recording with OCR, or scripted screenshot+OCR for critical conversations).
Forums & Guides: Use the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to save important threads. For large wiki-style guides, export pages into a static site or PDF collection.
Privacy: Before archiving, run a quick GDPR/privacy check: remove personal private info (real names, phone numbers) unless you have consent.

Step 4 — Capture the economy: data scraping & snapshots

Item prices and economy snapshots are invaluable for historical research and future simulation projects.

Start daily snapshots of auction house or trading posts. Tools: simple Python scripts that hit any available APIs; if none exist, automate UI scraping carefully and ethically.
Store results as CSV with timestamped filenames and a manifest. Example header: timestamp,server,region,item_id,item_name,price,quantity,seller.
Compress and checksum daily snapshots (7zip + SHA256) to ensure long-term integrity.

Step 5 — Assemble a community migration plan

Servers close, but communities persist — if you plan the move. Create a timeline and assign roles.

Choose new homes: Discord (centralized), Matrix (decentralized), Guilded (gaming features), or a private forum. Set up at least two parallel spaces and publicize both.
Export members: For server owners, create an export of usernames and roles. If you can’t export, make a membership announcement with a migration link and a short window for people to opt-in.
Leadership handoff: Appoint migration leads: communications, archive manager, events coordinator, and tech lead. Consider volunteer frameworks from a volunteer management playbook to structure roles and retention.
Calendar final events: Schedule screenshot raids, farewell sieges, and a “memory stream” to record oral histories and stories.
Publish a migration FAQ: Share links, invite codes, and a step-by-step “how to rejoin” guide for members who return to the game until shutdown.

Step 6 — Build a preservation archive (static site + backups)

A static site is low-cost, low-maintenance and easy to mirror. Use a generator and host on multiple platforms.

Generate using Hugo or Jekyll. Organize content: screenshots, video, chat exports, economy CSVs, and a timeline of events.
Host public mirrors: GitHub Pages, Netlify, and the Internet Archive. Keep an offline master on external drives and cloud buckets (AWS S3, Google Drive).
Use checksums (SHA256) and store manifests so future archivists can verify file integrity.
Include contributor credits and a Creative Commons license where appropriate so fan art and guides remain shareable.

Step 7 — Handle in-game assets and mods (technical & legal caution)

Some players want to extract models, textures or sounds. Note: extracting and redistributing proprietary game assets may violate the EULA and copyright laws.

Before extracting: read the New World EULA and Amazon’s public statements. If unsure, seek permission from the publisher or use only the assets you personally created (screenshots, housing designs, character appearances).
For purely personal archival (local use), tools that probe game files can capture client-side assets. For redistribution, ask permission or retain only references (images/videos) rather than raw files.
Music and licensed content often carries extra restrictions — preserve as recordings rather than attempting to rehost tracks unless licensed.

Step 8 — Private servers: legal and technical options

Private servers are tempting, but they’re a complex mix of law, tech and community management. Use this decision framework.

Legal checklist

Read the EULA and Terms of Service: many publishers forbid reverse-engineering and running private servers.
DMCA concerns: hosting server code or distributing client mods that enable private servers can trigger takedown notices.
Permission paths: petition the publisher (Amazon) publicly and privately to release server code or provide an official archival option. Some studios have agreed to release server code or enable community servers in recent years; that’s been a growing trend in 2024–26 for select legacy titles.
Legal counsel: for communities serious about launching a long-term private server, consult an IP attorney to evaluate risk and set up protective structures (nonprofit corp, restricted access, no monetization).

Technical checklist (if you have legal clearance)

Server code: if Amazon releases server binaries or source, run them in a controlled environment first. Use containerization (Docker) for portability.
Auth & accounts: plan authentication — private servers often require proxying or emulating login services. Keep account security in mind.
Hosting: estimate server costs based on expected peak concurrency. Use cloud providers that allow BYO licenses or consider community-funded hosting.
Backups & disaster recovery: snapshot databases daily, store offsite, and maintain clear upgrade and rollback procedures.
Governance: explain acceptable use policies, ban evasion rules, and moderation structure to avoid community fracturing or abuse.

Step 9 — Rituals that preserve memories (and make great content)

Final events and user-generated memory projects create artifacts that are both meaningful and archival.

Screenshot marathons: Organized meetups for portraits, group photos, and scenic panoramas at known landmarks.
Oral histories: Stream and record interviews with long-time players, company founders, and server veterans.
Community memory book: Collect screenshots, short stories and art in a downloadable PDF or printed zine. Use crowd-sourced contributions and index them.
Time capsule: Create a folder with a manifest and release date. Post it to the Internet Archive and multiple cloud locations with hashes so future users can verify content.

Step 10 — Long-term maintenance & passing the torch

Preservation is ongoing. Assign caretakers and document rules so the archive survives leadership changes.

Rotation of roles: ensure at least three admins have the archive keys and knowledge.
Periodic health checks: every six months verify backups and re-upload important content to mirrors.
Open governance: for community archives, use transparent contribution and moderation policies and keep community logs public where privacy allows.

Case studies & precedents (2024–26 context)

Recent history offers lessons:

Several legacy MMOs in the 2020s saw community-run servers launch after publisher cooperation; those projects often required legal agreements and strict non-commercial rules.
Not all studios cooperate: in 2025–26 there were high-profile removals of fan content from closed platforms, reminding us that relying on a single provider is risky.
When Nintendo removed a long-standing fan island in Animal Crossing, the creator accepted the loss and thanked the community for its years of visits — an emotional reminder to harvest and celebrate while you can.

Quick-action checklist (what to do first 72 hours)

Export & back up: take bulk screenshots, start OBS recordings of your key characters/builds, and run chat exports for Discord and in-game logs.
Form the migration team: pick a lead for archives, one for comms, and one for events.
Announce migration plans publicly: set dates for final events and post migration links to new community spaces.
Start daily economy snapshots if possible (CSV with timestamp).
Create your archive repository (GitHub + static site) and upload your first batch of files with a manifest and SHA256 checksums.

Final legal note — stay safe, stay smart

This guide favors preservation and ethical archiving. If you’re considering actions that might touch on copyrighted server code or reverse engineering, consult legal professionals and consider reaching out to Amazon for explicit permission. Many successful preservation projects in the last two years succeeded because they worked with rights-holders or carefully limited redistribution of proprietary assets.

Actionable takeaways — your 30-day plan

Day 0–3: Mass-capture (screenshots + video), export chats, create migration Discord/Matrix, appoint leads.
Day 4–14: Build static archive, upload to at least two cloud hosts, schedule and run final events.
Day 15–30: Scrape economy snapshots, finalize community memory book, petition the publisher for preservation support or server code release.

Server shutdowns are painful but they don’t have to mean erasure. With deliberate planning you can preserve screenshots, chat histories, economies and — most importantly — the relationships that made the game meaningful. Whether you choose to archive, petition for official preservation, or (with legal clearance) spin up a private server, the key is to move fast, document everything, and work together.

Call to action: Start now — create your first backup, gather your migration team, and post your progress to your new community hub. Share your archived highlights with us at gameplaying.online/preserve (community preservation thread) so other New World players can learn from your process and add their artifacts to the collective memory.

gameplaying

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