i refuse to pirate indie games. i will always buy games that are independently released or from small publishers because 1. they're just trying to break even (unlike publishers like EA and Activision who have millions of fans lining up to buy their repetitive junk) and 2. they almost never have DRM. i'll also buy my music for similar reasons; 99% of artists can barely make a living and i really do not want to contribute to that statistic
Pretty much anything that I can buy easily without going to second-hand or stupid subscriptions. For me, it's really a service problem, not a cost problem.
As long as they participate in Steam sales, assuming they're on Steam to begin with, PC games are more convenient to have in a library where I don't have to manually update each game. Valve's not perfect, with its 30% cut of sales being arguably too high (as is the case for all other platforms that defend its use as being an "industry standard"), but given Nintendo's monetization of online gameplay and replacing the Virtual Console system with what is essentially console library rentals, I don't mind putting up with updating Switch ROMs once in a blue moon if it means not supporting anti-consumer practices. Any games I had in my Switch library that are also on Steam I simply repurchased for the sake of convenience, however.
So there is a thing I kind of pirate, but not entirely – e-books.
But thing is, our public library page has e-books and some of them are available to be read online. Now I cannot officially download them, however opening a network tab on browser console shows me a request to download the whole
.epubfile. So what I do is copy that request ascurland just download it via terminal.Is it piracy, probably, is this resource publicly available for me to read, definetly yes.
Other than that I don't really pirate much else.
DRM-free ebooks. I make a point of buying them, of thanking the publisher... And not sharing it on the usual piracy channels.
i try to pay indie devs whenever i can
I extremely rarely pirate games and software. It's just far too easy an attack vector for malware. The games I want to play are usually worth buying regardless, and free software is good enough for my needs. It isn't a flat out refusal, I've definitely pirated these things, but it's in niche situations where I need to see something specific, and I always check run it under a vm
Nothing.
I wouldn't download a car.
Nothing nowadays.
I’ll pirate indie games, see if it like it and if I do - I buy them to support the developer.
Similar with ebooks, I pirate them, read and if I like it. I will buy the physical book to support the author.
Video games, because it's easier to do it legally. If it was as easy for other media, I would do it that way.
Not refusing, but lately I basically don't pirate games anymore. Steam made it so easy to buy games... + pirating games is always a pita with the required hacks etc. (or at least it was way back when I did it).
Software I don't pirate, I just use foss stuff wherever I can.
I also don't pirate books in general. Just get them on Kindle and support the author (and unfortunately also Jeff bezos)
I pay for Netflix (mainly for kids) and go to the theater for big movies, but aside from that I pirate all screen content.
I also pirate comics, but that's 90% because it's almost impossible to get them legally where I live. I would pay for DC unlimited if it was available in my neck of the woods.
Pornography. You never know what could be inside a folder!
Fuck that x100.
Also, I don't need porn that badly.
i think the concept of "donation" is a relevant piece of this puzzle.
Any sort of program, because I don't trust anonymous people enough to not end up with a virus.
Stuff that I can buy for a fair price and use without many restrictions. For example DRM-free games on GOG or itch.io
My main ones are:
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Pretty much any software or games. Not really for moral reasons especially, but I mostly run Linux so most of them aren't available anyway, and if I do get something it's usually such a pain in the ass to actually get it working (and keep it working whenever there's an update) that it's usually not worth it when there's often a FOSS alternative. Also no pirating indie games.
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Books, with a few exceptions. I don't want to screw over authors so I don't download books, but there have been a couple of old ones where the author is long dead and I already paid for a paper copy, so I snagged the eBook just for convenience. I figure that's not hurting anyone except the publishing company so whatever.
Also with games I'm one of those extremely patient people who can wait years for something to go on sale, so what I usually do is set a price in my head for what I think something's worth, and then ignore it until it ends up at that price. So like: Baldur's Gate 3 - they did a good job and released a proper working game = full price. Cyberpunk - looks alright but it was a big mess on release and had a bunch of stuff missing = wait until it's all fixed and has all the add-ons in a bundle, $25. Last Of Us PC = it's one of my favourite games but it's 10+ years old now and was also a bit of a mess on release so they can fuck off with the $70 price tag = $10 tops. No Man's Sky - Might be decent now but they really bullshitted that one on release = wait until it shows up for free on Epic or PSPlus. And so on. There's a lot of them lol.
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PC games. Too much of a worry about malware for that nonsense.
I pirate everything. If they gain my respect, I then buy it. For example I bought a copy of Witcher 3 I never actually played (because I pirated it).
Nothing I'm just pirate to the bone..
Only the content that i don't care about.
I buy GOG copies of games when I can.
Anything I would actually buy if I couldn't pirate it.
My wife likes to watch Disney +. Thus anything that comes out on Hulu / Disney + / ESPN bundle we will watch through traditional means. If I can purchase a show or movie legally and retain ownership I will watch through traditional means. On the flip side anything that was once on Hulu/ Netflix but is not anymore we are gonna pirate. Anything that airs on a streaming service that forces you watch within an app with ads we are gonna pirate. Anything that airs on Netflix after its password sharing crackdown we are gonna pirate. Any show that airs on streaming service that did not before but now has ads (I am calling you out Amazon) we are gonna pirate.
Pretty much nothing. I get pretty much whatever I want. I still buy stuff before-hand though, I just like having backup copies so I don't have to rely on some server that will go away some day.
Do what you want cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate.
- On my mac, the little I pirate today is Microsoft office apps. Because fuck MS.
- Most of the games I buy either from steam on sale, or cheap keys from g2a & co. I rarely get new games. I have little time for gaming, and have a backlog of games that could last me a couple of lifetimes already.
- System utilities (firewall for instance) I buy
- I go FOSS when I can.
- Only thing I subscribed (and regret it, but the hassle to go rogue is just not worth it) is Adobe Lightroom Classic.
- Last but not least, I pirated the hell out of the Nintendo Switch OLED though. Because Fuck Nintendo.
- I've donated to indie devs for games I loved (whatever the platform, even if I ended up only playing them a bit).
- I pirate TV shows and movies.
If it wasn't for publishers changing content, removing content, or outright de-listing games, as well as always online requirements, I would never consider video game piracy, but these things are pushing me in that direction.
PC Games.
I’m not sure how to describe it, so I’ll just give an example. There’s a completely free online game called corru.observer, where all music is available to listen to on soundcloud, where the only support the devs have is to support on patreon/kofi/i don’t remember, or to buy the music on bandcamp.
I love the game, i love the music, and so I supported the game by buying the music.
Anything not coming from a big publishing company.
Windows antiviruses. It's not wise to use a cracked program that's supposed to protect you from malicious cracks/downloads...
open source
Software and videogames. I use Linux and Free/Libre Software and any game I want is on steam or gog.
Pretty much no games, at this point. I've been buying up every game(worth owning, to me) on Steam sales, humble bundle, and other means. The last year or two, I've just been buying the new games I want at full price on steam, or waiting for sales if I don't want it that much. The only game I still refuse to buy is The Sims 4, for that one time every other year that I want to boot into a heavily modded Sims game to play Sims Orgy Simulator 6969™. But even the other dumb hentai waifu nonsense games, I just buy on Steam (half of which are my gf's, but she refuses to buy them on her own damn account), even though they are easily obtained at the usual locations.
PC games, just don’t feel like making arbitrary code execution a cakewalk for internet strangers
Things infected with viruses.
I was going to say music, but I suppose ripping from YouTube is piracy, isn't it? And so is X-manager for Spotify, probably? Where's the line on ad blockers for YouTube/Free tube/NewPipe?
I also thought to say books, since I mostly read free web serials and Kindle Unlimited... But I can't afford $10-20 (local currency)/day for books, and at the pace I read that's what most pay-per-chapter web serials or non-KU books would cost me. And how do we feel about using library cards we're not entitled to?
Then I was going to say games, but, lol, emulation.
So... Everything is on the table for me, I suppose. I try to buy games legally, and authors get a lot of money from me from KU page reads ($2+ USD/day most days), but only if it's not too expensive or inconvenient for me.
Song and Books
Nothing. But i usually buy games made in my home country. Trying to move the industry along.
Books, except maybe college books.
Indie anything as well as books, except textbook cause expensive and they are useless anyway, we just have to buy them for school and literally never open them.
Software and video games. I just haven't had a need, and I like supporting creators. Only reason I'd download books, music or movies is because I absolutely abhor subscription payments and would rather have access to those things permanently. At least with software you can just find a free alternative.
Music and software/games. Both are convenient and relatively affordable to access. Software I will try to find non-subscription based or open source options if available.
I don't "refuse" to pirate anything. If I buy something I see it basically as a donation, that I like what the creator does and want to support them. I tend to buy indie games for that reason; I wouldn't buy a AAA game because obviously they don't need the money. Oh, and I buy books if I know the author is actually a good writer, ie if I've read something by them before and I want to support their writing. Also seconding what people are saying about FOSS; I've donated a lot more to FOSS projects than I've paid for proprietary software.
DRM-Free books.
I mostly pirate games that don't have free trials. I'll play them a bit and if I like em I'll just buy them legit and often buy them for friends so we can play together. I've bought like 3 copies of terraria and 2 of minecraft way back in the day in addition to a bunch of other smaller names. I also pirate AAA games because fuck em, they don't need my money.
I guess technically am not pirating all the games Epic gives me for free.
I'll buy most things I like on steam once they hit under ten bucks. It's mainly just for convenience.
@tet nothing is off the table.
Piracy puts control back in the user’s hand, where it belongs.
nothing
