Yeah, I don't think piracy ever came close to dying. It definitely slowed down for a small time when Netflix was the only real player in the streaming space, as a lot of pirates didn't actually mind paying for a service as long as it worked and had content. For those people, piracy was a service issue, not a cost issue.

Now that Netflix doesn't have anything to watch and the content is spread across dozens of networks (again), piracy is back on the menu for that specific demographic. But there will always be a demo that will pirate no matter what, be it principles or be it cost.

[–] snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yeah I've been on and off dabbling in downloads for probably a solid 20 years now and it never really "died". I frequently download things like games to avoid dropping £40+ on something that might be completely worthless before I'll throw money at it. And I know steam refunds are pretty good now but they're not perfect and anything out of steam isn't affected by them. Hell my most played steam game, rimworld, I initially pirated and dropped before trying again later on and buying. I'm happy to pay for things like streaming services if they actually provide something I want and I don't have to navigate the bs. If they can't sort out licensing then that's not really a me problem, it's a them problem. After Netflix started price hikes and screwing around with recommendations I dropped it.

[–] Schmoo@startrek.website 3 points 4 days ago

Hell my most played steam game, rimworld, I initially pirated and dropped before trying again later on and buying.

Back in the day you could buy Rimworld directly from the developer's website and that shit was portable. I played it off a flash drive on my high school computers. Did the same thing with FTL as well. Most of my hours in those games are not logged, lol.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 9 points 4 days ago

me pirating everything for the last ten years

"it almost died?! On my watch!?"

[–] truxnell@aussie.zone 16 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Definietly not, but it dropped from the 'mainstream' knowledge base and people who only knew screaming are 'discovering' it now.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 15 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That speaks more toward general tech illiteracy than anything else.

GenZ might be even worse than boomers when it comes to learning how to use tech. That is why so many solutions are basically automated these days so that you can treat everything like it is a streaming site.

[–] truxnell@aussie.zone 19 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Tech illiteracy today is insane. I had to help my parents connect up the TV as a kid, and now I have to help my kids connect up their TV/PC. Obviously a lot wrong with that statement (I. E. Not everyone leans techy) but it does make me feel like my age group is the only ones that have a vauge idea what is going on

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

Trying to teach an intern how to generally use a computer, how a file structure works, physically pains me. The "youngins are naturally good with computers" myth is a myth now. It only worked for tech millennial that taught ourselves.

[–] PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 5 days ago

I think it's probably being in the age range that kinda straddled the time between now - when it's all an unshakeable piece of daily life - and the time before it existed / was commonplace. Having grown up before all of these world changing tech advances, and then being there for the ride, is just a singular experience and perspective neither our parents or our kids can possibly have.

I'm really grateful for having gotten to take the ride, but it does strike me as sad in a way.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I never stopped, OG Captain from Napster and long time NZB gang.

[–] h4mi@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Dial-up BBS’es in my case. I ran a few too.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

kids these days won't know the joys of running a pirate bbs out of an abandoned subway stations connection box

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Sounds like something I would've read about like 20 years ago in 2600 magazine.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

FREE KEVIN

[–] zod000@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago

It was truly wild to meet him briefly at Defcon after years of seeing "FREE KEVIN" and such.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 days ago

Sounds adventurous. Wanna rell me more? :)