Because in the words of GabeN, piracy (in a 1st world country at least) is a service problem and not a pricing problem. Many things are worth paying for, especially when you are supporting smaller creators, artists and indie game devs. But when heavy-handed DRM’s and corporate shovelware and services that actively remove content I pay for makes it a shit experience. I’m gonna just torrent that shit, fuck 'em

When I was younger I pirated because I didn’t have any money to spare for digital media. Today I have a stable income and can afford all these things but I still pirate because it’s just more convenient in many ways.

Whenever I consume something that I really like I 100% support the artist / developers mostly by buying this exact product and / or some merch or by going to their concerts (if it’s music related)

To me piracy is just a way of freedom. Which includes to respect other people if they like or dislike spending money on certain things. In my eyes we should not split this community in such a way because this would kill the essence of freedom to make your own choices

I don’t pirate because I’m opposed to paying for things. I pirate stuff because I don’t want to support scumbag corporations that don’t give a shit about me. In fact, I buy most of the media and games I consume, in order to support the devs behind it.

And that’s not a “new piracy gen”, that’s how piracy has always been for most people. You’re the odd one out here.

Pirating gives me the option not to support shit corporations that fuck over consumers with no business ethics. I can pirate the content I choose and pay for it when I want to support creators.

Historically, pirating and underground markets for good and services begin to proliferate in a society as a sign that their economic system is failing. IMHO, unbridled capitalism and corporate shitification in the US is turning the Internet into a hellscape with 5 companies basically controlling the entire Internet with so much lobbying muscle behind them they remain untouchable through what remains of the democratic system.

I ain’t cheap, I just don’t like my money going to billionaires who give us nothing in return. I pay for email, I don’t pay to watch a Marvel film.

I don’t think it’s that hard.

It’s a convenience thing. Remember when Apple Music and Spotify used to be $5.99 a few years ago? It was really hard to justify pirating then, for example. Like I’d have to find what I was looking for, close a million pop ups to get the torrent, download it, then upload the files onto whatever device I was using. And I would have to do it over again for the car, and over again for my wife if she asked for it, etc.

Or I could just type it into a search bar, and bam. All for $5.99, and I didn’t have to worry about storage? Sign me up.

The convenience of Spotify is still sort of worth the price, but it’s getting pretty marginal. The other streaming services we use brought us the same level of convenience, but they are getting way too greedy and creating way too many of them. Netflix and the media streamers turned into Cable. Which is going to inevitably turn us all back to pirating as they start cracking down on password sharing and keep creating new services with bloated fees.

The dumb fuckers literally figured out how to defeat piracy. And then drove us back to piracy with their greed. So when they inevitably start crying about it again, tell them all to eat shit.

I’m a bit astonished how often I see this kind of thread, even here. It’s like when people complain about FOSS apps charging subscriptions or standalone fees. How many times does it have to be pointed out that piracy as an activity does not define piracy as a movement or a collective?

I’m certain this simplistic “piracy = not paying for stuff” take can only come from a kind of ignorant individualism, one that lacks any structural analysis of why, when, and for what content people turn to piracy (and why, when, etc, they stop).

Piracy isn’t a “movement” it’s a means to an end.

To consider it anything more that “get shit for free or delisted/abandoned” is cringe.

I don’t mind paying for things when the value proposition is there. Just in entertainment, the prices get skewed way outside value.

Well, I’m browsing all, so I see the posts here from time to time. And generally speaking, I pay for games and books and pirate everything else, so if the discussion is about games, I’m gonna mention I buy them (if relevant, of course, I’m not going around telling people I actually buy games).

if the author of a book is still alive and not an absolute tool I’ll pay for it. I’ll absolutely crack it, but I’ll pay for it. and I pay for my VPN

I would have never bought skyrim if I didn’t pirate it first. Studios should pay marketing commision for pirates

There’s a few DVDs I bought recently of movies that I couldn’t find anywhere. 50/50 about uploading them to a torrent site. I want to but is there any way it could be traced back to me?

Ye it’s wild. They also say they only pirate X or Y or do it because of Z. Like are you a pirate or not bro? You’re either in or not. I pirate everything I possibly can. That goes for small indie companies up to the AAA guys, small film companies to box office. ALL OF IT. I always got downvoted for saying it too on a PIRACY sub! Shits wild.

Edit: Even on lemmy my point gets proven 🤣

when amazon books could be de-drmed and “my” torrent site showed an interest/appreciation for uploaders i often uploaded ebouks i had bought.

well, both is no longer the case but if it were i still would.

i also occassionally buy music, books and even movies i very much like.

also i adhore being dependant on the whims of a company, being it amazon, netflix or spotify. i want a physical or at least selfowned copy of what i paid for and not only the licence to consume.