You don't do piracy? Me neither. Here's why:
Article written by cris
Recently, Pirate (pun not intended), my dear online friend and very active contributor to the Gazette, published his opinions about piracy, which not only shot to the top of the Trending page but also led to a small controversy (that is solved and we shall not discuss here).
Conflict and crisis are often the greatest sources of inspiration, so it occurred to me that I have some experience with piracy on the consumer side that might be worth sharing: a different perspective, one of someone who has gone from being a fierce defender of piracy, to renouncing it altogether.
This post is not a reply to Pirate though. Even if I wanted it to be, I couldn't possibly. Pirate brought forth some solid, well-constructed arguments. I am about as skilled at doing that as a donkey is skilled at knitting scarfs. (No offense to donkeys.) The goal of this post is just to show you the thought process (the feelings) of someone who doesn't "illegally download copyrighted materials on the Internet" (take that as my definition of the verb "pirate" and the noun "piracy", for the purpose of this post), which, believe it or not, is a species of human that, albeit in a microscopic minority, does, in fact, exist, and needs not to be ashamed of it.
It took me a long time to find a relevant topic about which to write a post for the Gazette, but I think that this one is. A small, social, and somewhat technical platform such a Bear, naturally attracts users who, for example, are into coding, Linux, and of course, piracy. However, it also attracts people like me, who just want to write, and who also happen to not pirate anything. So, this post is my way of saying that, if you, like me, don't pirate anything, by choice, then you're not alone.
So, without further ado, I will be sharing my experience in four areas: video games, movies and shows, music, and books.
Games
The first time that I ever pirated something may just have been Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version, all the way back in 2004. It's crazy to think that those games already ran flawlessly on VisualBoyAdvance on Windows XP back then.
I began to leave the nest as early as 2009, and with that, I lost access to all of my Nintendo consoles and games (which my siblings proceeded to destroy, thank you very much). So, naturally, the Dolphin emulator became my only vehicle for returning to my all-time favorite video game: Animal Crossing for the Gamecube.
On top of that, Dolphin enabled me to play through many games that became some of my absolute favorites, such as the Tellius entries of the Fire Emblem series, which not only introduced me to the franchise, but were so much fun, that I even attempted a second play through.
As a Nintendo fan, I hope against hope that the company will ever provide a convenient and qualitative way for me to experience all the classics that are out of print. That's not the reality that we live in though, and so, given that I'm too poor to be able to invest hundreds of dollars on secondhand hardware and software (which wouldn't go into Nintendo's pockets anyway), I saw piracy as really the only way to scratch that itch.
Over the years, however, I have soured on more attempts at playing classic games (even Animal Crossing) than not.
The reason is as simple to state as it is complicated to logically defend:
It just doesn't feel the same as the original hardware.
Pirate read a draft of this post before I submitted it and agreed with me here. Whenever he can, he buys the hardware, mods it, and then runs the games on it, as intended. I'd love to have the money to be able to do the same.
Side note: Brazil is an interesting case scenario. There is a large and vibrant community of video game pirates there. As a vast majority of the population lives below the poverty line, piracy and emulation are the only means through which the average Brazilian can experience the medium. In fact, many Brazilians actively contribute to the development of better, more efficient emulators.
Emulators are great, and they often run the games better than the original hardware (cough cough Nintendo Switch cough cough), but something about owning the console and using it as intended, feels better, more natural, and more "plug-and-play" than having to manage files and apps.
I've never been much into the "customization" that piracy enables either (I'm talking about game modding, enhancements, ROM hacks, etc.). It all flies over my head. If you don't understand the feeling that I am expressing here, then I might just not be able to explain to you why none of it attracts me. It is my belief that there's a spectrum that goes from "tinkerer" to... (I'm not sure what to call it)... "non-tinkerer". On this spectrum, I squarely fall on the extreme end of the "non-tinkerer" side. This is to say, I want to buy a console, buy the games, play them as they were intended to be played, and not veer from that experience. Staying in that walled garden is how I experience fun and comfort.
You're obviously free to think of me as dumb, lazy, or a sheepish normie. I don't think that I'm any of those. I think that I just have a different personality, and that's OK.
So, I eventually decided not to pirate classic Nintendo games anymore.
That decision is made somewhat easy by the fact that the company is actively taking down the websites that are preserving its legacy.
I have a Nintendo Switch 2 now and love playing on it, no matter what anyone says about how Nintendo has recently been pricing their products or managing their ecosystem.
Side note: Yes, I borrowed money from a friend to buy it. Yes, you're allowed to judge me for complaining earlier that I'm too poor to buy secondhand hardware and software, but then get a loan for an "overpriced" console and games. Here, I'll give you even more reasons to judge me: I also own an iPhone Xr (since 2018), an M1 Mac Mini (since 2021), and a 10th-generation iPad (since 2024). If you're trying to find any rhyme or reason to my purchase decisions, then you've come to the wrong post my friend. Haha. I'm about as blindly brand-loyal as it gets. In the case of Apple, it's not for status, but for something far worse: an aesthetic preference for their ecosystem. In the case of Nintendo, it's a preference for the cute, colorful, joyful, nostalgic gameplay experiences that they offer.
half of the audience stops reading
Movies and shows
I stopped watching shows altogether due to lack of time. It's just too great of an investment. It's why my only hobby is gaming. I intentionally chose one hobby, so as to not overwhelm myself trying to invest time into every single medium of entertainment, or worse, do what most Americans do to "make time" for all the shows that they watch.
Movies are more digestible though, so if a sufficiently interesting one comes along, then I may end up watching it (might happen around three times a year).
I have two reasons why I have gotten tired of pirating movies though:
First, if I allow piracy into my life, then suddenly the options become endless. Limiting my options prevents me from feeling overwhelmed.
Second, there may be all kinds of pirated streaming services and torrent sites out there, and I have explored almost all of the most popular ones out of curiosity, but they're not as accessible or convenient as they're made out to be, at least not for me. Simply opening up the Netflix app (the only one that I pay for) or going to the theater (which I love doing) is just a different level of convenience (not to mention that torrenting isn't safe if, like me, you have no clue what you're doing).
I had a bit of the same "overwhelm of options" issue with games, but movies and shows are just too much.
I pay for Netflix. My wife likes to watch Asian dramas on it. As for me, I will occasionally watch a movie on it if it catches my attention, either because it got really popular or was recommended to me by friends.
People complain a lot about the fragmentation of the streaming platforms, but I have embraced it, because it got rid of my feeling overwhelmed at the amount of options for movies to watch. For all its faults, on occasion, Netflix releases some absolute bangers.
Side note: I stopped pirating anime and manga much for the same reasons.
Music
I listened to music a lot as a teenager, and I downloaded it all from the Internet.
Back then, I also had the time and patience to edit the tags of each file to perfectly organize everything by album, with the cover art, and then some.
My interest in music has waned over the years, although I did enjoy Spotify for a long time. Unfortunately though, that platform has become riddled with poor design choices and so much slop that it made me pull out of it.
I now have YouTube Premium, which enables me to use YouTube Music. It does the job whenever I feel a craving to listen to an old song or when I need check out a new tune that a friend recommended to me.
However, as I said before, I have lost almost all interest in music. I have to say that YouTube Music is also pretty flawed for me in terms of its UI.
I don't want to pay for Apple Music (since I don't even listen to music that much anyway), but I certainly don't want to return to maintaining my own files. It's too much of a hassle. I therefore have erased music as a hobby for my life, and its piracy along with it.
Side note: That may sound weird to those of you who think in terms such as: "How can anyone just live without listening to music? That must be so sad and boring!" Trust me when I say that you can live without a lot of things, and very happily so. Haha. Gaming is the one entertainment-focused hobby that I truly love above all others. All else is optional.
Another side note: I sort of subtly touched on this point in the previous section, but I want to reiterate that I also won't die out of ignorance because I'm not aware of all the entertainment that is currently a part of the Zeitgeist: be it movies, shows, music, anime, or manga. On my death bed, you can be sure that I won't regret not having spent the majority of my time alive making sure that I listen to and watch everything that society tells me to. I think that this obsession with "being in the know" and the FOMO that comes with it, is what pushes a lot of people into piracy, even when they're not particularly fond of it.
Books
I was big into pirating books before I bought my iPad. I have since paid for every single one, except when my wife entered residency and needed to get three books, of which one costs $180, and two cost $300.
It made me feel very uncomfortable to peruse Anna's Archive, and I have become less and less comfortable with the idea of downloading copyrighted material on the Internet. It just doesn't feel safe anymore, no matter how many layers of VPNs I strap on. I have friends who have gotten letters from their ISPs warning them about fines if they continue to download movies and games, so times seem to be changing. My own ISP has begun to warn me through my browser whenever I visit piracy-related websites, even when they host no content.
I can imagine that the crackdown on books will start soon if it hasn't started already, so my wife and I decided that this was our last digital heist. I hope that the almost $800 of pirated books for her residency don't come back to bite us in the rear. I hate that education in the 21st century is pay-walled like this, but between perhaps borrowing the books from someone or getting the information through other (legal) means, and potentially getting fined, we've made our choice.
Conclusion
I'm not a fan of piracy because it's illegal, doesn't make me feel safe anymore, and doesn't always provide the convenient experience that many people say it does.
As I said in the beginning though, those aren't my arguments against piracy. Those are my preferences, and I know that there must be one or two other people out there who, like me, just want to consume digital content as it was intended to be consumed, even if that means that we're paying more, getting less, and not owning anything.
Side note: I won't take anything with me when I die anyway, so why bother hoarding stuff, digital or physical?
I know that this will come across as spineless to a lot of people, but steering clear of piracy feels safe and simple, and that feeling matters to me. I wanted the others who feel the same way that I do to know that they are not alone. Just because piracy is more popular and accessible than ever, and just because the IndieWeb attracts a lot of people who stand by it, that doesn't mean that there aren't any people among us who prefer to stay out of it. I'm not accusing anyone specific on the IndieWeb of elitism in this regard, but if we want it to be truly inclusive, then that has to include "normies" like me.
However, I do believe that copyright laws in certain instances have gone way too far. Nintendo, for example, will never re-release my beloved Animal Crossing for the Gamecube, and even if they do, it will be a subpar experience through Nintendo Switch Online, or a bastardized remake.
Maybe one day I'll climb out of poverty and buy myself a secondhand Gamecube, but what am I supposed to do until then? Well, as I said before, you'd be surprised how many things you can live without, even things you deeply love. So, I will opt to embrace my homesickness for this game until the day comes that I can experience with without having to resort to piracy.
This is not fair though. The game is more than 20 years old. Nintendo shouldn't be legally allowed to hold it hostage. That's not how copyright should work.
I have become a bit of a meme in our group for repeatedly sharing this link every time we discuss copyright, but I want to finish my diatribe by bringing it to your attention as well. It's an excellent documentary about copyright laws and the creative process, which I have shared with hundreds of people over the years. It should give you a good idea of what my thoughts and feelings on the matter of copyright law are.
We are all humans. We are one species. We share one planet. I see no reason why knowledge and the arts should perpetually be pay-walled. It is my belief that a rich public domain would quickly propel us forward as a society. Alas, human nature is also one of greed and selfishness, so I don't expect copyright laws to ever favor the public domain.
I don't call for creators and inventors to be deprived of their livelihood, but I call on lawmakers to give them a reasonable amount of time to profit off of their ideas (I think that 20 years is more than long enough), and then let others get inspired by them, just as they were inspired by the works of those who came before.