New World Is Dying: How to Preserve Your MMO Experience Before Shutdown

New World Is Dying: Preserve Your Aeternum Legacy Before Shutdown

Hook: The clock is ticking on New World: Aeternum — servers close January 31, 2027. If you care about your characters, gear, builds, guild history and the final Nighthaven season memories, this guide gives precise, tactical steps to archive screenshots, export builds, salvage gear knowledge, and plug into fan-run communities so your MMO legacy survives the shutdown.

Immediate context (why this matters in 2026)

Amazon announced New World would be delisted and taken offline on January 31, 2027. The Nighthaven season is the last chapter and will run until that date. In 2025–2026 the industry saw an uptick in community-led preservation projects after several live-service titles entered maintenance mode. Rust developers publicly expressed interest in acquiring New World in late 2025 — a sign that community ownership talks may happen, but no guarantees exist.

“We are grateful for the time spent crafting the world of Aeternum with you… we look forward to one more year together.” — New World statement, 2026

What to prioritize: the quick list (do this today)

• Capture your characters: screenshots, video reels, profile pages, achievements.
• Export build details to a spreadsheet and save weapon/ability rotations as video or text.
• Record gear stats and perks — watermark values, item levels and inscriptions.
• Save social data: company (guild) rosters, event logs, friend lists, Discord links.
• Back everything up to at least two cloud locations + an external drive.

Practical timeline: 0–30 days, 30–180 days, final 3 months, final month, final day

0–30 days (do this now)

• Take high-resolution screenshots of each character profile page: level, attributes, title, faction, house ownership, inventory, equipped gear, achievements, housing trophies, mounts/companions (if any).
• Record a short video (30–90s) per character showing character movement, emotes, vanity armor, and UI pages. Use OBS or ShadowPlay. Save as MKV/MP4.
• Export your builds to a document or spreadsheet. If the game lacks an export feature, create a CSV with fields described later in this guide.
• Download or screenshot your company roster and the company hall/trophy pages. Capture recent event logs and any meaningful chat logs.
• Set up a simple folder structure: /NewWorld_Archive/{character}/{screenshots, builds, videos, gear-data}.

30–180 days (organize and share)

• Batch-edit screenshots: convert to PNG, add timestamp metadata (Exif), and add a small watermark (your handle + server) for provenance. Tools: ExifTool, FastStone or any batch image tool.
• Transcribe complex builds into a machine-friendly CSV or JSON so the data can be re-used by tools. Example columns later in guide.
• Create a community GitHub repo or Git-based, versioned repositories for shared builds and guides. Invite guildmates and archive community tools (crafting spreadsheets, rotation videos).
• Start from-scratch backups to cloud services (Drive, OneDrive) and a second external disk.

Final 3 months (preserve events & unique moments)

• Capture screenshots and video of any final-season events, final boss runs, city sieges, and company ceremonies.
• Collect and archive trade history and auction snapshots if they matter to your economy study.
• Coordinate with guild leads to schedule a “Last Day” event and record it end-to-end (multicam if possible).

Final month → final day

• Perform a full, final archive: take complete character inventories, gearbox, house interiors, display trophies, best weapon rolls, and rare skins.
• Upload final builds, screenshots, and recordings to community archives and push code/data to GitHub with versioning.
• Export chat logs and company history to text files; if you can’t copy, record video documented proof.
• Organize a final memorial event and pair it with a data handoff — gather consent from members to publish company logs and media.

How to archive screenshots and video the right way

Screenshots — capture high-quality, searchable images

• Use PNG over JPG for lossless detail; set in-game screenshot format if available or use OS-level tools.
• Hide the UI for cinematic portraits and then capture the UI for stats pages. Two screenshots per scene: with UI and without UI.
• Add timestamp and metadata: use ExifTool to inject character name, server, and capture date into image metadata. That helps later indexing.
• Batch rename with a clear system: YYYYMMDD_server_character_page.png (e.g., 20261104_Nighthaven_Thora_Profile.png).
• For important interactions (trades, auctions), screenshot entire chat lines with unique identifiers (trade ID, timestamps).

Video — record rotations, raids, and social moments

• Recommended settings (OBS): MKV/MP4 container, 60fps, 10–30 Mbps bitrate for quality archival; record audio in a separate track for clearer voice logs.
• Record ability rotations from first-person and third-person to capture both UI and gameplay context.
• For guild events, arrange multi-angle recordings: host recorder + two squad members. Sync later in a simple NLE and upload to an archive channel or private repository. See our low-latency capture notes at Practical Playbook: Building Low‑Latency Live Streams.

How to export builds and gear data (even when no export feature exists)

Because New World lacks a formal build-export file format, the goal is to produce a structured, shareable dataset that others can read or import into community tools.

Recommended CSV/JSON schema (practical and future-proof)

Use a spreadsheet with these columns. Copy and paste into CSV, then push to a public GitHub repo or Google Sheet:

• character_name
• server_world
• faction
• level
• build_name
• weapon_primary
• weapon_secondary
• armor_set (slot:item_name:item_level:perks)
• perk_list (comma-separated)
• main_stats (dex/str/int/cons/wis)
• skill_talents (ability:talent choices)
• rotation_text (step-by-step)
• video_link (YouTube/GDrive)
• capture_date

Example row condensed: Thora,Nighthaven,Lightbringer,65,IceBurst,Froststaff,Hat:ArcticCap:600:ManaRegen|Chest:IcePlate:600:ColdResist,IcePierce,120STR/60INT,IceBolt>Shatter>Burst,https://drive...,2026-10-02

Populate the schema quickly

• Open character pages, copy skill panes into text via OCR or manual entry.
• For gear perks and rolls, screenshot each item and transcribe the perk list — pace yourself. Use volunteers from your company to distribute the workload.
• Host a build upload party: everyone submits their builds to a shared Google Form that writes to Sheets automatically. Use a machine-readable CSV/JSON pattern to future-proof imports.

Salvaging gear knowledge: what to capture and why it matters

Even if you can’t take items out of Aeternum, the knowledge—best-in-slot choices, roll ranges, prestige watermark numbers—matters for historians, theorycrafters, and future community servers.

• Record item names, item levels, perks, and watermark values. Prioritize rare rolls and legendary drops.
• Capture crafting trees, reagents, mastery levels, and the economic context (prices at the time) via screenshots of trading posts.
• Save recipes and crafting perks; take screenshots of crafting station interfaces and required materials lists.

Preserve social structures: companies, friends, and events

Your guild/company and friends are the core emotional artifact of any MMO. Protect that data thoughtfully.

• Screenshot company pages: member list, ranks, company hall, treasury, and active projects.
• Export member lists to CSV with roles, join dates, and notable contributions.
• Back up Discord servers and pinned messages (Discord export tools exist for server owners). If you aren't an owner, ask leadership for a backup export — and consider secure practices from developer-focused guides.
• Collect testimonies: short written statements or voice clips from key members about memorable events — store them in an organized archive.

Joining and contributing to fan-run communities and archives

Community servers and fan projects will be the default path to keep New World’s culture alive. Here’s how to find and vet them.

• Start with major hubs: Reddit (r/newworldgame), official fan discords, and community-run web archives. Search for “New World archive” and “Aeternum memorial” in late-2025/2026 posts; see research on reconstructing fragmented web content for approaches to pulling scattered assets back together.
• Vetting: check community admins’ track records (worked on other preservation projects?), transparency in leadership, and a clear legal stance. Avoid projects that encourage ToS violations.
• Contribute smartly: add your CSV builds, upload screenshots/videos, and donate to community hosting costs if you can. Host a mirror of important files to reduce single-point failures — read cloud-hosting reviews like NextStream Cloud Platform Review when choosing a host.
• If private emulation projects arise, research their legal risk and community code of conduct. Many successful preservation communities (City of Heroes Homecoming, SWGEmu) followed strict non-commercial and community-led rules to survive.

Legal and ethical considerations

Always respect IP and ToS. Archival activities—screenshots, build sharing, and personal video—are generally fine. Running a public server or copying proprietary server binaries is legally risky.

• Do not encourage or distribute copyrighted server code or proprietary client modifications.
• When publishing company rosters or chat logs, get consent from members; redact personal data where necessary. For guidance on records governance, consult evolution of judicial records governance.
• Use non-commercial licensing for community archives (Creative Commons NonCommercial) to minimize legal friction.

Tools & resources checklist

• Screenshot tools: OS native, ShareX, Steam screenshot manager.
• Video capture: OBS Studio, NVIDIA ShadowPlay/GeForce Experience.
• Batch tools: ExifTool (metadata), ImageMagick (conversion), FastStone (rename).
• Storage: Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3 (for community hosts), external SSD with redundancy.
• Collaboration: GitHub/GitLab for structured data, Google Sheets for fast community input, Discord for coordination.

Case studies & lessons from other MMO shutdowns (practical takeaways)

Community-run revivals and archives have become more common in 2024–2026. Key lessons:

• Start early: preservation becomes exponentially harder as time runs out.
• Make data machine-readable: CSV/JSON archives enabled later rebuild efforts — see data catalog guidance.
• Coordinate and share labor: small teams can archive thousands of characters with a structured workflow. See community coordination practices and crisis planning in futureproofing crisis communications.

Final checklist: 20-minute do-it-now tasks

• Take profile + inventory screenshots for each character. Save PNGs to a named folder.
• Record a 60s gameplay clip showing loadout and rotation.
• Export your company roster to a CSV or screenshot it and share the copy with your company leader.
• Upload at least one build and one video to a shared Google Sheet or GitHub repo.
• Set a reminder on your calendar for the Marks of Fortune cutoff (July 20, 2026) and the final shutdown (Jan 31, 2027).

Looking forward: trends and the future of MMO preservation in 2026

In 2026 the gaming community doubled down on preservation. Several trends matter to New World players:

• Community archives moving from forums to Git-based, versioned repositories.
• High-fidelity capture — players recording 4K, multicam events to ensure future historians have immersive records.
• Collaboration with indie studios — occasional acquisition interest (as seen with Rust dev commentary) means parts of IP or tooling may persist legally under new stewards.

Parting: a tactical next step and call-to-action

New World’s shutdown doesn’t have to mean the end of your legacy in Aeternum. Take 20 minutes today to capture a character profile and upload it to a shared archive. Organize your company to collect builds and recordings. If you want a starting point, create a GitHub repo called NewWorld-Aeternum-Archive and invite your friends — structure it with the CSV schema above.

Join the movement: back up your screenshots and build CSVs, share them to a community archive, and organize a final in-game event to capture the last moments. If you lead a company or fan group, start a public GitHub and Discord channel now to coordinate preservation tasks.

Preserve the memories. Preserve the knowledge. Preserve the community.

Call-to-action: Create your first archive folder right now, and share a link to one representative screenshot + build in the comments or your favorite New World community hub — tag it #AeternumArchive so others can mirror and protect it.

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