I have not understood a specific part of your post: what you meant by "games
don't typically require the degree of compatibility other software requires".
That is why I quoted that small excerpt and asked "What do you mean?"...
and, despite your answer, I still do not understand.
If a program was written in an assembly language, then that is the source
code. If processed (for instance if comments were removed), it is not the
source code anymore. The free software definition applies. Unchanged. In
particular, if the source code was lost, then the program is not free
software. That it runs on an emulator makes no difference when it comes to
declaring it free or proprietary. "Preserving our computing heritage" is a
separate issue (although having a freely shareable source code certainly
helps). And all those difficulties look common to any very old program, not
only games but also old spreadsheets and word processors that you put in
another category, the extended excerpt being:
This typically includes spreadsheets, word processors, and web browsing, but
not typically video games. It's not that running nonfree games is acceptable,
it's that games don't typically require the degree of compatibility other
software requires.
I do not want to offend you. I only want to understand you.
