On the one hand I like GOG because it has no DRM and has better prices (in my country) than Steam and I have the feeling that on the one hand it follows more the open source philosophy than Steam itself, but Steam has helped enormously to play Windows games on Linux, so I haven’t really made up my mind.
On the one hand I want to buy on Steam for the convenience, but on the other hand I prefer GOG because (in my country) is cheaper. Which platform do you prefer and why?
To give an example, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is currently $15 on Steam with regional pricing, but on GOG it’s worth just $6.
Why pirate games at all? I never understood that.
If games (or movies) are too expensive or not good enough to buy, why download them at all?
If you don’t understand why some folks pirate by this time, you never will. There are plenty of valid–and not-so-valid–reasons to pirate. If you actually care, just type the question into a search engine, there’s a plethora of well written articles on the subject.
99% of people who pirate don’t want to pay for their entertainment. They’ll come up with any excuse as to why they think it’s justified to make them feel better. “F corporations and their drm, this will teach them.”
The other 1% is for when it’s not available by legitimate means or if by chance something they did pay for and was then taken away or something wasn’t working through legitimate ways, then I get it… but again, that’s for 1%.
Another option is to not download at all.
Defending multi-billion dollar corporations in this day and age is absolutely bizarre. And for the record, I rarely pirate these days. And even then, it’s for digital copies of physical content I already own. But I really don’t give a shit what others do, especially if they’re not hurting common folk. And if you truly think it’s okay not to fully own the digital licenses your purchase, then good for you for keeping those billionaire’s boots clean.
You do realize there are thousands of people who try to earn a living making the content people consume. The majority are not billionaires, they are not millionaires. Many are trying to get by… the “common folk” you speak of.
And how much of those profits go to those workers? Let’s take a well known Marvel movie, the Avengers Endgame. It cost roughly $220 million to make. The total global box office for that movie is estimated around $2.8 billion. That’s ~$2.6 billion in profit. Please tell me how much of that went to the film crews and various film departments? Hell, a huge chunk of the budget cost probably went to the actors to begin with.
Anyway, my original point wasn’t even entirely around sticking it to the billionaires. Until laws are made to protect our ownership of digital licenses, I have zero problems with people pirating. Additionally, the majority of folks are going to be paying, so a minority of people–who typically have lower disposable income–pirating content are not destroying regular peoples’ livelihood, this has been proven for over two decades now.
Bottom line: Come down from your ivory tower and just let it rest. Regardless of what either of us says or believes, pirating will continue with or without us. You can disagree with it, which is fine, or you can justify it, which is also fine. It won’t change reality either way.
I havent paid to watch films or TV shows in decades. No subscriptions, no buying or “digital renting”. No massive amount of DVDs to keep around No risk of some company removing the licensing from the provider which subsequently means I cant watch it.
Ill never stop sailing the pirate seas