Nuff Said

"SvitlaSveta4, is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed your starving family?"
"No, G2A"
"Well, suppose you got a large starving family, is it wrong to steal a truck load of bread to feed them?"
"Uh-uh."
"And what if your family don't like bread, they like -- video games?
"I guess that's okay"
"Now, if instead of giving them away, you sold them at a price that was practically giving them away? Would that be a crime, SvitlaSveta4"
"Hell no!"
"Enjoy your gift."
SvitlaSveta4 having received his gift, a key for the latest release, aptly responded in with pithy gratitude, "Supoib."

Merely stating fact, not virtue signalling. Learn the difference.

....

To deal with copyright infringement threats of DMCA nowadays maybe loud takedown by bruteforce should be considered. I have no idea of how it works in case of for instance let’s just only say I guess it’s so called corporate greed of Hollywood of gaming. Maybe its citizens of any country should have establish its own law reinforment by fighting for also belongs to them not just only its own so-called respective owners and co-owners…etc.

Appart from you clearly do not know what virtue signaling is, I just want to share two little things I like about it.

I like Shariatmadar's point that accusing someone of virtue signaling is in fact most of the time virtue signaling

I also like that we have the opposite - vice signaling. Look it up.

You mean be like the asshole known as Nintendo.... Who have a very different view of what can and can't be done with their properties via copyright law than in other countries.

A major problem with takedowns of sites like the Pirate bay is... they don't host files. Hell they don't even need to host the torrents, only a reference that the torrent exists. Squash a site, more take it's place. Not only that, you didn't actually remove what infringed the copyright, since they didn't host anything copyrighted to download. Like having the police shutdown a store for the TV having MTV music videos on.....

But if you advocate Takedown, you also advocate censorship, because Site XYZ i don't like so forceful takedown! They get in the way of my monopoly! Forceful takedown! Are you going to sue and shut down Amazon because some people sell SD Card converters to play DS games via roms, or who sell new drives preloaded with games on them?

No, 'forceful takedown' is not the way forward. You'll only encourage people to get it faster and then make more sites or sources to get said resources.

I'll repeat again. Either make the copies of said content so plentiful and cheap, or help get everyone's disposable income high enough that they will buy/pay for said content. I don't see another way forward.,

If buying something doesn't mean that one owns it, then piracy is not, and can never be, theft.

It's why I purchase so few games on Steam: I don't own anything on the service but merely have a license to play the games that I 'purchased.' Valve could take away my games at any time by shutting down my account and I would have no method of playing those games ever again. (That's to say nothing of if a company selling their titles on Steam decides to delist them one day *cough* *Ubisoft* *cough*.)

At least with things such as a television / streaming subscription, phone service or lease agreement it is commonly known that the thing being paid for is not and can never be owned by the person paying for it. It is a glorified rent on a service. The problem with many gaming companies today is that they wish to turn what used to be a property transaction (I pay and recieve a copy of the retail game's data) but are now trying to turn it into a glorified lease - all the while making the customer pay as though they are paying for property!!!

It's a perversion of a customer's property rights, it makes archival all but impossible and does nothing but drive willing customers into ever more desperate attempts to obtain what should be rightfully theirs. Steam will go away someday as will the companies that Valve hosts on their service - what will historians be able to look to in the future other than grainy Youtube videos for reference on what we played (assuming Youtube still exists)?

Digital "piracy" is a term coined by those who want the internet to be controlled like a brick and mortar store. I support piracy because I don't want the internet to be a corporate possession. Period.

Do you really think that a pirated game = a lost sale, and are consequently "outraged" by those who engage in piracy?

If you do then you may be a virtue signaler.

And now we have white knighting thrown in the mix of this here thread....
May be? I think you're giving them too much credit m8 ;)
(aside: i'm pretty sure a number of those who 'rally' against such things 'in public'[on forums/irl] do so
just to signal and chase clout...as such [to me] their words are often worth next to nothing discourse wise)

Well written post: +1
------------------

I buy a few games on steam, mainly ones that GOG/Itch/etc don't sell, or charge way too much for even on sales.
As for keeping them, I have no qualms with 'archiving' my files to make sure I can play them no matter what the dev/pub and/or Steam choose to do.

On why I still buy there and not just Gog/Itch re: the 'drm free cause': in the past I was disillusioned somewhat that Gog's owners actually cared about DRM-free. Now I see it's just like near every other store out there: profit first and foremost, with any causes used as a bit of signaling used to make more of said profit. As such, I buy where I will and(if needed) make drm-free backups myself.

(aside: one of the main reasons(beyond drm-free) why I started buying from Gog ages ago and why I still mainly buy from sites like Gog/Itch/Zoom was/is because the offline installers are easier than backing up stuff from sites such as steam)

Those videos are only allowed due to the widespread acceptance of unprofitable generosity, and each one of those is actually a micro-infraction that subtly/unconsciously (and often willfully unintentionally!) expresses an endorsement of willful violation of copyright. So it's small-time crime, enforcement is difficult, but now with AI tools it's just a matter of time before those videos will get taken offline, really they only stay up because they indirectly lead to the profits of the copyright-owning corp. ;)

Another person who doesn't understand the nuances in the meaning of virtue signaling.

I believe I asked you a straightforward question. Your evasion tells me that any misunderstanding is entirely your own.

Dunno about you, but i'm getting a good chuckle out of all the gymnastics. I say we let it continue...i'll even make popcorn.