Changes

Distributors rarely release official patches to bypass activation, updates that remove online activation requirements altogether, if their servers are down. Some software cracks bypass copy protection checks, allowing installation and use of software without the original disc. These modified executables, often called "NoCD" or "NoDVD" cracks, are distributed on illegal sources. See [[ROM_%26_ISO_sites#Bypassing_Copy_Protection]] section.

While not directly related to disc copy protection, some MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games distributed on discs (like Aion, Guild Wars, and Overwatch 1) become unplayable once the game servers are shut down. The disc itself is useless. In these cases, the discs retain value only for [[Preservation_projects|historical preservation]] purposes. However some MMOs are unplayable by server shutdown, enthusiasts may create and maintain private game servers to keep the games alive unofficially. See [[Preservation projects#Private Game Servers]] section for revived private game server projects. Also there are some [[Preservation_projects#Private_Platform_Servers|revive projects]] out there for some of the middleware type protections such as Games for Windows - LIVE.