I'm a little torn by this. I've found some of the viewpoints quite interesting - even opposing ones.

Finally what is everyone's thoughts on these game archival groups that are collecting these games to store them, but they are not available to the public? Is there a point to that? Games are created to be played, but in trying to preserve and build an archive of every release they are just storing them and hoarding like a museum to collect dust. I often wonder if some people start this archive projects just as an excuse to build their own collections
I understand there is that feeling of being special, owning something rare or hard to find. But with a game, that's meant to be played, I kind of don't really get it. I know it would not be workable from a legal perspective but the idea of a preserved original, and a copy that people could actually play, would seem to be a nice idea. Would that devalue the original though? Is there a certain age of game when this becomes appropriate?

How many people really care that much? I'm guessing the majority don't care all tham much, but are pretty quiet about it.

What about online games? without anyone else, even if the server is kept running (or some other way of getting the game to still run) isn't it just a strange lonliness, wandering around abandoned places? And yet we enjoy going to castles and ruins in the real world, things that have long since passed their original purpose.

Why should people be able to play it now, if they couldn't when it was released? Many people never had a Neo-Geo, for example, but want to play the games - why should they, though?

How does keeping originals factor against censorship / revisionism? I read about some Simpsons episodes (the Michael Jackson one) being 'deleted' so unless you own an old box set, or go get a pirate copy, you can't see it any more. I feel a little pang, knowing I can't see it again easily, but then again I wasn't really going to anyway.

Maybe in some cases the feelings are more about opportunities lost than actual fondness for the thing itself