Zophar's Domain
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- For other uses of the word Zophar, see Zophar (disambiguation)
Zophar's Domain is an emulation website founded on November 9, 1996 by Brad Levicoff. The site's name comes from Lunar Eternal Blue on Sega CD, Saturn and PlayStation. On September 20, 2000, the site was passed on to Sam Michaels, previously the site's CGI programmer [1].
Zophar's Domain was intended as an "emulation hub," a congregation of wares and enthusiasts. The site was maintained by a number of people with unique "handles" who focussed on a particular area of emulation. The frequency of news updates gradually decreased after the founder was no longer associated with the site. It features news and downloads for emulators, translation patches, utilities, hacks, and video game music. Within the online video game emulation community it was often referred to as "ZD."
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[edit] Present state
At present, Zophar's Domain is inactive. Michaels has stated that it should be considered an "archive." In its prime, it was generally regarded as an excellent news resource, reporting on every area of emulation development. It had high coverage and popularity according to Alexa [2].
On November 9, 2006, Zophar's Domain's 10 year anniversary, the site was voluntarily closed. Michaels promptly received an outpouring of support, proving that he has a loyal fanbase, and restored the site for the foreseeable future after approximately 12 hours.[3]
The logo was modified in late September 2006 and a cat was added sitting on the logo, on the insistence of several forumers; in contrast to rumors of it signifying the archival or stagnant state.[4](registration required)
[edit] Attacks on the site
Between 2000 and 2002, ZD had a bitter feud with other emulation sites in the community, including one named EMU-LMAO (Emulation, Laughing My Ass Off), which was made to poke fun of other emulation websites for various reasons.[citation needed]
ZD faced a well-known hacking attempt while in its earlier CGI based days. In 2002, a moderator named "InVerse", a former staff member, posted users' private messages to the public, and deleted entire boards. This caused the forums to be shut down for a few days. Many believe that InVerse hacked the boards, but his actions were done using available features in the admin panel.[citation needed]
In a less-known (albeit arguably twisted) attack on the site, "Pachuka" also hacked into the site to prove he could be trusted. Soon after, he became a staff member again for a short period.[citation needed]
[edit] Legal troubles
On February 19, 2002, Nintendo of America invoked the DMCA and sent a letter to Zophar's Domain demanding that they stop selling Gameboy Advance Flash Linkers and turn over remaining stock to Nintendo. They stopped selling the devices, but the stock was never confiscated. [5] [6]
Zophar's Domain does not provide ROMs, ISOs or BIOSes, and as such has been able to remain within the laws of copyright. The video game soundtrack section is a notable exception, and although ZD had been the subject of video game industry attention for other issues, the soundtrack archives have never yet come under legal attack (as of December 2006).
