Mission Statement
OF Project (or "Online Forever Project") is a movement towards preserving the network functions for the Dreamcast, GameCube, and Playstation 2 game consoles. From a Historical standpoint, preserving "the network experience" is crucial so users can continue to meet up, compete, and communicate over these interactive mediums well into the future. As technology continues to evolve, being able to still experience these games online helps to frame the early years of online console gaming.Currently, this project will track milestones involving the contributions of Ben Pekarek and DCTM. While their efforts in restoration and preservation have been going on for many years, this page is a long overdue public platform for both releasing projects and unifying community developers in a common direction.
A key goal of OF Project is not simply to restore network functionality to these consoles, but to also prevent users from being placed in the same position they were in when game publishers originally managed the servers. As such, all software developed or acquired in relation to OF Project will be released to the public. Players like you deserve the right to network these games without the restrictions of a central authority or corporate control.
Furthermore, we encourage other users or developers to release any newly acquired or coded software to players abroad. It is understandable that some may feel tempted to hoard software under the pretenses of pooling players to a central location. Often times, the primary motivation behind this involves a selfish need for social rewards (public attention and accolades). Please re-consider this thought process and instead release the executables to the public (source code optional) so players do not have to re-endure the indefinate termination of their favorite games.
It must be stated that this project does have a start and an end. There are many network features that we cannot restore, and attempting to meet unrealistic expectations would be putting many of us on a dark path. Our mission involves repairing the network infrastructures for these systems when and where possible, but ultimately this will one day come to a close. We want to eventually take a step back and enjoy the fruits of our labor, by playing games online and interacting at a community level.
Please be aware that we do not intend to pre-announce the projects as they are being worked on. This is a safeguard for both the process and the developers. Announcements will not be made until software is in a working state. This helps to alleviate the stress often placed on developers by the eager prodding of community users. I understand people are anxious to know if some of their favorite games are coming back online. However we ourselves typically don't know if a game is coming back online until we actually achieve success.
As a group, we thank you for your patience as OF Project evolves.