Why should games be preserved?

Floppy disks do not last forever. Generally their reliable life is between 5 and 10 years. Since floppy-based software is mostly older than this, we really have to get a move on if we want to preserve gaming history. Like it or not, eventually all the disks will stop working and the only thing left will be mostly broken or cracked copies complete with their “crack-tro” graffiti.

In the future anyone with a software collection can fall back on the efforts of projects such as the Software Preservation Society to repair their defective disks.

“An object once inventoried is subject to formidable safeguards against disposal and unqualified alteration. In museum culture the physical integrity of an inventoried object is sacrosanct and the act of inventorying marks its transition into protective custody.”\\
The Problems of Software Conservation
Doron Swade, Resurrection Volume 7