Why do anti-piracy people often treat us as the "villains" of the story?
75% of the anti-piracy discussions I see rarely blame companies like Nintendo or Disney and always try to talk about how piracy is immoral, and you should feel "dirty" for doing it. My question is why do people seem to hate those who pirate more than the bad practices of mega-corporations or the fact that they don't want to preserve their media?
I blame the "piracy is stealing" advertising/propaganda. It was super effective, given that we all remember it.
Editing to add one of my favorite videos in the other direction, Copying is Not Theft.
I don't remember ever seeing such an advertisement in my life.
You've never seen this? Never heard "home taping is killing music" or "don't copy that floppy"?
Ignorant idiots who can't think for themselves will always follow the narrative that is forced down their throat.
See also "The war on drugs". The majority of the people who will demonise you for choosing to use "illegal" substances will also be smashing their livers with alcohol which is more detrimental to both themselves and society than a lot of other drugs on a weekly or often daily basis.
Just because it is legal they feel like they are fine to not do their own independent research into what these things actually do to them and how fucking addictive they are.
They're just outsourcing their ethics.
I still see people parroting these narratives about stuff like weed even after it has been legalized. Some people are too far down the propaganda rabbit hole.
Man, i love Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale. I'm always happy seeing it referenced.
I feel like I could probably use that one reference in every other negative thread about the world these days, great game though!
I dont think using drugs regularly is comparable to pirating software. Pirating isnt going to affect your ability to reason or think. I also wouldnt use the legality of alcohol as an excuse to do other drugs, especially opioids.
It sounds like you are frustrated that people who also do bad things will judge you for doing other bad things, which makes them hypocrites. But it also means you agree with them to a degree that what you are doing is a bad thing, doesnt it?
Lol wut.
I wasn't comparing regular drug use to pirating software, I was comparing the disinformation campaigns that are used to present bare faced lies as facts to make people feel bad about the decisions they make in life to further serve their controlling narratives.
To be more specific when writing that comment I was mainly thinking about the racist, oppressive campaign that has been perpetuated around weed and its use when compared to alcohol. Weed was originally made illegal due to predominantly the United States campaign of hate against people of colour and specifically pushed in an attempt to oppress those communities. These campaigns have been based on disinformation and lies all whilst alcohol has been pushed as a thing you should partake in.
In actuality alcohol is more addictive, harmful to your body and society in general than weed ever has been or ever will be. That isn't to say that weed is entirely harmless, I dont mean to suggest that either but really my comment wasn't meant to begin a debate on the safety or lack of for any specific drugs, more to draw a parallel in terms of how people are lied to and manipulated in the ways that they think to then judge or look down on others because they are so wrapped up in believing the false narratives that are pushed.
Sticking with weed some of the world is now turning it around but yes I am frustrated to still live in a country that puts weed alongside stuff like opiods which are not even comparable in terms of addiction and damage that they do to peoples lives. So maybe you are getting a sense of frustration from that fact but I also couldn't care less if anyone is judging me for doing any kinds of drugs. I have heavily researched any substances I have taken before I've taken it, I have looked into positives and negatives from as many independent sources as I could, tested me shit and everyone should have unbiased information to be able to do the same in their lives and choose what they want to put in their body.
You say bad things like drugs are bad things, I dont believe that so I couldn't possibly agree that by taking drugs anyone is doing a "bad thing". I believe that proper education with actual facts and a solid culture of harm reduction should be in place for people to make educated decisions with what they put in their bodies will always be the best possible route to take rather than prohibition.
The majority of negative experiences, deaths etc stem from people not knowing what they are doing, not knowing proper dosages and from having to buy from a black market where you could in reality be getting any fucking thing rather than what you may want which adds in so many variables and possibilities for it to go wrong. People will always get high and who the fuck is anyone to tell anyone else that they can't, a regulated system where people don't have to put themselves in danger buying from the streets would negate so many of the perceived negatives of drug taking.
I also don't believe at its core piracy is a "bad thing" either so your whole second paragraph is kind of moot to me. Sounds to me you might just be close minded in terms of thinking these things are "bad" so I guess the propaganda has worked on you to a degree also.
Drugs are a great thing coupled with reliable and factual knowledge so judge me all you want for partaking in getting high, having fun and doing what I want in a safe and educated manner :)
Propaganda works.
The put out a lot of propaganda saying that copying files is stealing. They point to intellectual property rights laws as if that means intellectual property is justified because of the existence of laws.
As opposed to everyone else calling them bootlickers, I think there is likely a subset of people like this who are not considering piracy against the big corporations as unethical, but the "trickle down effect" of piracy towards smaller business/individuals.
For example, if you were to pirate Starfield, no one would really care. If you were to pirate something like BlackOps, most people wouldn't care (and those that do are corporate bootlickers). However, what about pirating indie games, or music VST's, or circumventing a patreon from someone with under 100 supporters?
There's two camps when I see anti-piracy comments; the bootlickers, and those that have the idea that pirates pirate everything relentlessly. The fact of the matter is that piracy does not hurt big corporations, but we cannot say that is also true for small developers publishing their game on their own, and vocal anti-piracy, or rather artist-in-mind individuals, will let the world know that we should support independent artsits and not pirate.
Now, whether or not indie games are getting pirated is a whole different story. And really, what this comes down to is just having the opportunity to purchase in a way that supports the pirates ease of access.
Also, it completely ignores the ethical aspect of piracy which is why support a company that doesn't have your interests at the forefront of its business practices. Which is a very similar reason to decide to not pirate -- I enjoy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I would like to see more if it, I will pay Hulu and watch the show to tell them to make more IASIP.
If you like something, don't pirate it if you want more of it. It's actually very simple. If you do like it but can't support it for personal reasons, don't expect to get more of it.
Which of course, for the anti-piracy crowd is another sentence for, "you didn't pay to watch it so they cancelled my favorite show!"
Tl;DR - A poor crossover between an individuals enjoyment of corporate content and an supporting independent artists living wage.
This is the best insight on this subject I've seen in years. Good stuff.
There's propaganda, definitely. Also, there are people who simply don't care what they watch. They'll just open Netflix and watch whatever they see on the home screen. It's hard for them to understand why I might wanna watch some Iranian movie from the 80s.
For me i'm always hearing people complain about these companies bad practices. What you hear is based off of who you listen to.
Alot of "official sources" are actually owned by alot of forprofit corporations, so of course you're going to hear piracy bad from those outlets.
But if you follow some youtubers, like Yongyea, you will find voices that actively call out companies like Nintendo and ea's bad practices.
hell yeah i'm the villain of the story, and i love being immoral
I can hate bad corporate practices and also think that piracy is stealing. They aren't mutually exclusive.
Why do people seem like they hate pirates more, to you? Likely a bias because you are a pirate, and not working for a corporation.
In my opinion I hear more critiques of big business than of piracy. I also dont find these threads full of people saying negative things about piracy, but thats a matter of perspective.
I also pirate, but theres a reason I'd rather pay for it if I can afford it.
I also dont find these threads full of people saying negative things about piracy, but thats a matter of perspective.
In my experience, people who are annoyingly judgmental about Piracy irl are not the ones using Text-heavy social media.
In my experience, pirates who are annoyingly trying to find moral reasons to pirate are mostly the ones using text-heavy social media.
People buy into the BS sold by companies, they eat it all up without thinking twice about it. It's easier to point fingers at each other than at companies when companies are paying so much money to attack end-users.
Because if you aren't the bad guys then they're just essentially the low level stooges of the evil mastermind just doing mundane evil shit for no discernable reason.
Where as if you're the bad guy they're virtuous principled people just doing what's right (allowing them to have complete dominion over the moral high ground)
Or so they think.
It’s law and order with a bit of “thou shall not steal”. There’re people who never question the root cause.
Its fanboy/girlism.
If you pirate content from their favorite author/artist/producer/whatever, basically all of their screeching comes down to a hysterical emotional response that you are hurting a person or group that they worship as God.
They just learn rhetoric to justify their emotions as a side effect, a consequence of wanting to be able to argue against the bad mean people that are hurting their favorite creatives.
They are naive, ignorant or misinformed, immature... usually believing in some kind 'just world' type worldview where everything is fair and square actually if you just follow the rules.
They don't understand that the actual 'losses' from piracy are far, far smaller than whatever the RIAA or game studios say it is.
They don't understand that the people who actually create or perform the art basically get paid a tiny fraction of what their labels or corporate overlords make.
They don't understand that some people are actually poor, and the poor deserve art as well.
They don't understand that when a reasonable cost forma product with reasonable ownership rights exist, a great, great many will prefer a streamlined but slightly costly method over a complex but monetarily costless method.
They don't understand that you don't really own anything which you can't use or view or listen to as you please without relying on some proprietary other system which may just poof that ability out of existence one day, without refunding you.
"And consoomers don’t want to make the hand that feeds them angry" oh god this is so true. I see a lot of youtubers/bloggers who act on this statement, and it really pisses me off... they can't even mention "piracy" without saying it's illegal within the first few seconds of mentioning it, many of these people I feel have already sold their souls to big corporations and others I feel live like they have a gun pointed at them, and so they can only say what is "allowed" and nothing more.
Many think streaming services went more expensive because of piracy ( less people paying for same content = content price needs to be higher, where I believe it is other way around (higher price for less content = more pirates).
The market of distribution of films and series is just fucked. The fight with competitors using exclusive content leads to worst way of distribution since company with exclusive content has monopoly of that content. Streaming services should not be the one owning the content but should be in competition with other distributors offering the same content.
I think the politics have forgotten that we need at least social capitalism if we not want to create cyberpunk dystopia.
It’s because they are paying money for something and you’re getting a better deal. See that’s not fair. Same reason vegans hate on omnivores - they’ve taken the high road and the benefits are small while the cost is high. They tell themselves that their money is going to the artists. And if you believe that, then piracy is harming artists in a very direct way.
When Netflix was just in, their subscribers got the better deal. But currently, tech companies are doing their best to squeeze customers dry for every cent.
Tech corps made the deal bad, piracy didn't change
Same reason vegans hate on omnivores - they’ve taken the high road and the benefits are small while the cost is high.
This "vegans have a superiority complex" take is a thought-terminating cliché ultimately rooted in projection. Since vegans make you feel self-conscious about the unethicality of your carnist tendencies, you divert to accusations of a "superiority complex" when that is just the result of you internally grappling with the cognitive dissonance you have when it comes to funding animal exploitation that you have no proper justification for.
Veganism is a justice movement, and vegans express disdain for non-vegans because they often double down on their oppressive tendencies that keep animals enslaved, exploited, and slaughtered. I don't think I'm superior to you because, just like me, you have the capacity to understand why you shouldn't support the oppression of sentient beings. Not only do you have the capacity to understand it, but you can take that to its logical conclusion and live in a way that is in accordance with said understanding.
Also, the framing is off here. A principled ethical vegan doesn't see veganism as a "benefit;" we see it as a moral obligation and baseline. Saying that veganism comes with "benefits" is like saying that refraining from calling racial minorities ethnic slurs comes with "benefits," when it's actually just basic decency toward BIPOC.
Oh my, I literally read the comment you're replying to backwards! I thought they said that carnists hate vegans. I'm glad you're here to read properly and give a great response!
Oh my, I literally read the comment you're replying to backwards! I thought they said that carnists hate vegans. I'm glad you're here to read properly and give a great response!
There’s no projection. I feel no guilt for eating the diet of every single one of my ancestors. Zero. I do not believe animals to be sentient, and I do not equate death or servitude with suffering. It’s not that I don’t understand vegans. I do. But it’s like a religion - you have a fundamental belief, not in god, but in the consciousness of animals. Because we differ on that fundamental belief, we can reach no understanding about the ethics beyond that.
And I think it is a fair comparison. People who pay for media may also see it as an ethical baseline to pay for what you consume. And in both the case of vegans, and those who pay for streaming, the perceived benefit of that choice is in my opinion fundamentally flawed. But it’s really not a big deal to me. I was just trying to answer OPs question. I think your response only validates my analogy. Thank you.
Same reason vegans hate on omnivores - they’ve taken the high road and the benefits are small while the cost is high.
Nah, that's not why we hate you
I think piracy is immoral but I still partake in it and I don't hate anyone for doing so.
It's like eating meat.
Why do you think piracy is immoral?
The only reason there’s content for us to pirate is because there are still people paying for it. If it weren’t for them, nobody would be spending millions on new movies or games. They’re the ones funding our content, and we’re just freeriding.
I think a good measure for morality is to imagine wether the world would be a better place if everyone acted as I do. In this case, I don't think it would.
piracy is moral and should be encouraged actually
Eating animals is much worse than piracy. The livestock industry is far more destructive.
The point was that both are morally wrong and I still keep doing it.
Right, but pirating Disney-owned IP is more moral than paying for it. Disney is the number 1 company in the world for lobbying for copyright over-reach. Every dollar that goes to Disney pays for lobbyists who will continue to push for life-of-author + 90+ years, because life-of-author plus 70 years just isn't enough time to control our shared cultural heritage.
Similarly for Nintendo and software piracy.
Paying for Disney/Nintendo media is immoral.
Bootlickers...
Some people think that bootlicking will make their own pitiful lives better.