Amazon Pulls the Plug on New World: How to Preserve Your MMO Legacy and Player Creations

Don't Lose Your New World Story: A Practical Preservation Plan Before the Shutdown

Hook: If you’ve poured months or years into New World — screenshots, house decorators’ blueprints, raid logs, guild rosters — the announcement that Amazon is shutting servers is a gut punch. You can’t stop the clock, but you can preserve the parts of your MMO legacy that matter. This guide walks UK players through practical, legal and technical steps to archive screenshots, export guild data, and prepare for server shutdowns so your memories survive the offline date.

Why preservation matters in 2026 (and why act now)

Late 2025 and early 2026 saw an uptick in high-profile MMO shutdowns and public debate about the cultural loss that follows. Industry voices — including executives across multiplayer studios — argued games shouldn’t simply vanish. That discussion has pushed museums, archivists and communities to build better playbooks for preserving in-game content.

For players the practical reality is simple: once servers are offline, everything that requires a live server (characters, inventories, houses, leaderboards) often disappears. Your only reliable options are to capture what’s local (screenshots, recordings, logs) or to work with the developer/publisher for data exports and private-server options. Acting early gives you leverage to request exports and to coordinate community efforts.

Quick checklist — what to prioritise

• High priority: Player screenshots, character and inventory captures, guild rosters, leaderboards, event logs, house snapshots.
• Medium priority: Chat logs, crafting recipes, achievement lists, recorded raids/expeditions.
• Community actions: Ask Amazon for data export tools, petition for an offline mode or community server permission, organise guild custodians.

1. How to archive screenshots and videos — step-by-step

Screenshots and recordings are the backbone of personal game preservation. They’re quick to create, portable and useful for storytelling. Follow this workflow to capture, annotate and store high-value assets.

Tools you’ll need (2026 roundup)

• Capture: OBS Studio (recording), ShareX (screenshots & automation), console capture tools (PS5/Gallery, Xbox Capture).
• Meta & batch tools: exiftool (metadata), ImageMagick (batch conversions), Tesseract OCR (extract text), ffmpeg (video trimming/compression).
• Storage & sharing: Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, or S3-compatible storage (Backblaze/Wasabi/AWS) for larger archives.

Capture best practices

1. Use a consistent naming convention: YYYYMMDD_server_region_character_event.png (e.g., 20260110_EU_Valhalla_Alyx_house_interior.png). Consistency saves hours later.
2. Capture raw + annotated versions. Keep the untouched screenshot and a second version with captions or highlights showing why it matters (rare drop, house layout, achievement).
3. Include timestamps and UI elements when possible. They prove provenance and context — don’t crop out server tags or chat timestamps if you want authentic records.
4. Record key sessions: final war, guild elections, big raids. Record at 60fps where possible and keep at least one high-quality master recording before compressing for storage.

Automate and back up

• Set ShareX to save and auto-upload screenshots to a private cloud folder. Use folder sync (OneDrive/Google Drive) to maintain an off-site copy.
• Create a ZIP of daily captures and keep a rolling 3-2-1 backup: 3 copies, 2 different media (local SSD + external drive), 1 off-site (cloud).
• Generate SHA256 checksums for large video files and store the checksum file alongside the archive to detect corruption over time.

2. Exporting guild data and player rosters

Guild history is often the most treasured MMO artifact — rosters, rank changes, bank transaction histories and event calendars. Here’s how to preserve that data even if the developer doesn’t provide a formal export tool.

What to capture

• Guild roster with ranks and join dates
• Guild bank inventory and logs (withdrawals, deposits, trades)
• Event schedules and attendance lists
• Guild bylaws, web/forum posts, Discord archives

Manual export techniques

1. Start with the in-game UI: open the guild roster and take screenshots page-by-page. For large rosters, export in sections (alphabetical slices).
2. Use copy-and-paste where supported: some game UIs allow selecting text from chat or roster windows. Paste into a spreadsheet, then clean up into CSV.
3. For bank/inventory logs, screenshot each page and capture the ledger. If the game shows timestamps, include them in the shot.

Semi-automated and extraction techniques

• OCR the roster screenshots with Tesseract to create text you can import to a spreadsheet. Expect to spend some time cleaning OCR errors.
• If your guild uses an external site (Guilded, in-game forum, Google Docs), export those directly (CSV/JSON/PDF).
• Grab Discord history with approved bots that export channels to JSON or HTML. Many guilds already store event sign-ups there — export now.

Create a canonical guild archive file

Combine roster CSVs, bank log screenshots, minutes of meetings and the guild charter into a single folder. Add a README.json or README.txt that documents:

• Guild name, server(s), region
• Archive creation date and who captured it
• Notes on completeness and any redactions (personal data removed)

3. Preserving chat logs, achievements and ephemeral data

In-game chat and activity logs are fragile. They’re often stored server-side, so the only sure way to preserve them is to copy or capture them while servers are live.

Chat logs

• Enable any in-game logging option. Some games write chat to a local plaintext file; search the game folder and Documents folder for log files.
• If no logs exist, scroll back through chat and use a screen capture tool to capture the full buffer in slices. Then OCR or transcribe.
• For public channels important to the community (trade, alliance), coordinate with other players so multiple people capture different slices to ensure redundancy.

Achievements, leaderboards and progression

• Screenshot your character's achievements and progression page, and any relevant leaderboard entries.
• Record statistics dashboards and export whatever web-based leaderboards you can (some sites permit CSV export or provide APIs).

4. Legal & ethical red flags: distributing game assets and private servers

Many preservation enthusiasts jump straight to private servers or distributing game files. Be careful.

“Games should never die” is a sentiment echoed by industry figures in 2026, but preservation must balance rights holders’ IP and community interests.

• Copyright: Game assets (textures, music, models) are protected. Archiving personal screenshots and recordings is generally safe for personal use; redistributing raw assets can infringe copyright.
• Private servers: technically feasible for many MMOs, but running public private servers often violates Terms of Service and can attract legal action. See our primer on private servers for options and risks. Seek permission from the publisher or restrict servers to closed, non-commercial preservation uses.
• Personal data: when archiving guild rosters or chat logs, be mindful of personal data (real names, contact info). Anonymise or get consent before public release to comply with privacy norms and UK data rules; consider edge identity practices when publishing.

5. Community strategies: coordinating guild preservation and private-server discussions

There’s power in numbers. Guild-wide coordination will make your archive more complete and credible.

Organise a guild preservation team

• Assign roles: Archivist (captures and curates), Tech lead (handles scripts and automation), Liaison (contacts Amazon/publisher), Legal/Policy lead (reviews ToS and privacy issues).
• Set an internal timeline: decide which snapshots you’ll capture weekly up to the shutdown and what the final “sunset” capture will include (biggest events, last raid, final meeting).

Engage the publisher — ask for exports or preservation tools

1. Write a respectful, clear request: explain what you want (roster export, guild bank logs, permission for a non-commercial preservation server) and why it matters culturally.
2. Gather signatures from the community to strengthen the request. Companies are more likely to help if they see a coordinated, non-commercial plan.
3. Be prepared to accept partial wins — a CSV roster export, or temporary access to server data for export, are meaningful outcomes.

6. If a private server is the only option — a cautious primer

Private servers can keep a game playable, but they’re a complex and often legally fraught solution. If you explore this route, prioritise legality and transparency.

Technical outline

• Requirements: server binary or emulator, a database for player data, client compatibility (patched client may be needed). See notes on modding ecosystems and tooling if you expect to run custom servers.
• Hosting: small community servers can run on a modest cloud VPS. In the UK in 2026, expect hobby-grade hosting costs in the region of £20–£80/month for low player counts; full production-grade servers cost more.
• Management: regular backups, access control, and strict no-monetisation policies will reduce legal risk and community friction.

Legal safety measures

• Ask the publisher for permission — even a limited, private-use licence reduces legal risk dramatically.
• Keep the server closed and non-commercial (no charge-to-play, no ads, no donations earmarked for hosting in contravention of the publisher’s rules).
• Document provenance: who runs the server, purpose, and archival scope. Transparency helps if a rights-holder raises concerns.

7. Long-term archival: metadata, formats and publication

An archive is only useful if you can find and verify what’s inside it years from now. Use simple archival standards.

Metadata and sidecars

• Attach a JSON sidecar to important files with keys: capture_date, capturer_name, server_name, character_name, event_description, capture_tool, checksum. See collaborative-file-playbooks for recommended sidecar fields.
• Example filename + sidecar pairing: 20260110_Valhalla_Alyx_house_interior.png + 20260110_Valhalla_Alyx_house_interior.json.

Preferred archival formats

• Images: PNG for lossless; JPEG only for space-saving where acceptable.
• Video: MKV/MP4 with H.264/H.265, keep a high-bitrate master and a smaller distribution copy. If you’re recording live events, consult portable streaming and field-kit reviews for encoding workflows.
• Text/data: CSV or JSON for rosters and logs; PDF for signed documents or minutes.

Publishing an archive

• If you plan to publish publicly, host on trusted platforms: Internet Archive (for non-commercial game captures), GitHub (for small datasets), or a community-hosted website.
• Before publishing, scan for personal data and copyrighted assets. Consider redacting or obtaining explicit consent.

8. Templates and practical snippets

Use these ready-to-adapt templates to speed your work.

Filename template

YYYYMMDD_server_region_character_event.ext — keeps archives sortable and searchable.

README.json example (minimal)

{
  "guild_name": "Example Guild",
  "server": "Valhalla - EU",
  "archive_created_by": "Alyx#1234",
  "created_on": "2026-01-12",
  "contents_summary": "Screenshots (1200), videos (12), rosters (csv), guild_bank_logs (screenshots)",
  "notes": "Personal data redacted; guild members notified"
}

9. Real-world examples and case studies (brief)

Across 2025–2026 community projects showed what’s possible: small teams used ShareX+OCR to digitise huge rosters, Discord export bots produced multi-gigabyte chat archives for prominent guilds, and coordinated petitions convinced publishers to hand over CSV rosters in a handful of cases. The recurring lesson: start early and focus on coordination.

Final checklist before the lights go out

1. Archive top 5 priorities: character screenshots, guild roster, bank logs, last major events, final guild meeting video.
2. Automate screenshots and uploads with ShareX/OBS and a cloud sync tool.
3. Export Discord and external community data, and store a canonical guild README.json.
4. Ask the publisher for exports, private-server permission or an offline client — gather signatures and be polite but persistent.
5. Make 3 backups, keep one off-site, and store checksums for large files.

Parting notes: preserve responsibly and share the load

New World’s impending shutdown is a reminder that MMOs are fragile cultural spaces. Your screenshots, logs and guild records are the last witnesses to months or years of play. Preserve what you can, involve your guild, and protect personal data when you publish archives. If a private-server path becomes realistic, favour transparency and non-commercial goals to reduce legal risk.

Actionable next steps: Start today — set ShareX up, create the guild README, export Discord channels, and gather three volunteers for an archive team. Don’t wait for the shutdown notice to become a crisis.

Call to action

If you found this guide useful, join our UK preservation thread on the New World players’ Discord (link in footer) and download the free archive templates pack we’ve prepared: filename conventions, README.json templates and OCR scripts tuned for MMO rosters. Share your success stories — and help other guilds save their legacies before the servers go dark.

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