Hi all, I would like to recreate the entirety of some of the classics within ifSpace.net to assure others (as well as myself) that the software is more than capable of doing this. I also think that these classics are what introduce a lot of new folks into our genre and so I think having these games available on the platform might attract newly interested users. Does anybody know where I can find expanded maps with all of the possible commands and items and everything so that I can (painstakingly) copy and paste these things into an ifSpace port? Thanks in advance, and if anyone, by chance, is a die hard fan of any of these games and would like to be the one to do this for ifSpace… by all means I invite you to do so. Otherwise the resources to do it myself is plenty of help 
Porting someone else’s commercial games to your own system seems a bit of a waste, especially if it were to result in a takedown. The usual strategy is to write a new killer game to show off the capabilities of a system and generate interest in it.
I agree with that last bit 100% and I will certainly do this but I still think that the classics are what generally introduce people to the IF genre either through some video-game history video or something else like that; but aren’t there many ports of those classics? I could be totally wrong saying that, but for me I have only ever played them on obscure online sites which I assume are not the original creators sites… are those sites doing something illegal?
Adventure, all Infocom’s and Scott Adams adventures all have source code available. Still a massive effort to port but maybe a bit easier than to recreate them from maps and such.
Thanks for letting me know that. I can try to find that somewhere… I’m guessing github? Also, I don’t know if you saw @Nathan 's reply… do you know if porting these classics are even allowed? I don’t want to subject my platform to any kind of copyright infringement.
Edit: If it helps, of course I would write the original Author’s name in the author field on the port.
Infocom I think not allowed (though I am making Milliways, Infocom’s unreleased sequel to H2G2, so what can I say?). But if you really want to, you can find it at the infocom-catalog of GitHub (link coming soon). You’ll need to learn how to use ZIL, though, to be able to understand lots of the stuff. Lots of it is straightforward, however.
The rest I have no idea. There is a port of Adventure to ZIL and also to Inform7, which is definitely helpful.
I’m assuming then that porting Adventure is a thing that is allowed/legal? Thanks for the info!
That you’ll have to ask someone like @heasm66 about, because I don’t know. However, since it’s been ported twice before, I’d assume so.
There’s a long long history of Adventure’s copyright not being enforced (not even when Microsoft made big bucks with a straightforward port), so even without going into the details of copyright law, I think you’re safe. You can find the Inform 7 source code on the IF Archive.
Rebuilding an Infocom classic might be less smart, from a legal point of view.
Adventure is probably ported to every imaginable platform but the original Fortran source is here.
Infocom’s source code got leaked a couple of years back and so far nobody have enforced the copyrights. A comprehensive collection is here.
The source to Scott Adams adventures (and other games in same venue) are here in a data format that’s pretty easy to port from.
If you want a more recent port of Colossal Cave Adventure, you should take a look at the resource page for Open Adventure.
This version has been updated for modern compilers and permission for its release has been given by the original authors.
You can also find background info on The Colossal Cave Adventure page, such as history of the game, maps, hints, links to source code etc.
If you want to port Zork, you could port the original MIT Zork (Fortran and C source code is available). This is the version that predates Infocom. It’s generally treated as being “open-ish-source”, like Colossal Cave.
I ported Bronze by Emily Short (with her permission) to my XVAN authoring system to show that it can handle medium sized games. I ported it from the Inform source code.
There’s a one-word killer to your idea (one which I love, but unfortunately will probably never see frution).
That word is: Copyright.
Even if unenforced, many if not most of the “Classic Games” are still under copyright protection. 
But good luck! (You’ll probably need it.)
If you’re worried about copyright, you could do a parody or other similar transformative work based on the material. That would fall under fair use. Although law may vary in your location.
Ironically, Infocom IP is sorta in a strange place right now. Microsoft is trying to unhinge its jaw to swallow Activision who are the current copyright holders of most Infocom stuff. What Microsoft will do with material approaching 40 years old and what their stance will be on defending that copyright, there’s really no way to know for sure.
So most folks are sort of in a wait and see pattern regarding Infocom IP.
You read all the suggestions in this thread, right? There’s good options.
Yes of course! I have marked one of Henrik’s as the solution but many of them offer other great options as well. Everyone has been very helpful 