[Rant] Why the fuck do entertainment industries think we've got so much disposable income?
[Rant] Why the fuck do entertainment industries think we've got so much disposable income?
Like really. Now I'm going to say that playing games, listening to music, watching shows/movies and even reading books is a bit of a luxury. It's a quality of life thing. But that doesn't always mean that each of those mediums have to be charged so damn much to even enjoy. Much less, the quality that gets shoveled out anyways with what we've seen.
What pisses me off the most with the entertainment industry, is how they expect you to buy the same things whether it's a different format or on a platform multiple times. Furthermore, they willingly take away shows, movies .etc on a reguar cyclic basis on streaming platforms.
When AnimeSuge went down, I felt a little lost and for once actually considered subscribing to Crunchyroll because AnimeSuge had the 1997 Berserk on there. Guess what? Crunchyroll and no where else had it. So much for the legal alternative, huh? By the way, yes I know of alternative sources so please don't recommend me those thanks.
And this is the thing with this fucking industry as a whole. They honestly have this mentality where if something is not available then it's "too bad, fuck you" or if something is broken or not working then it's just "BUY ANOTHER AT FULL PRICE!" because they look down at people making backups of their copies.
It's like, leave us the fuck alone. If something is not available anymore with absolutely no assured plans to bring it back for re-release and to be available on even streaming platform which leaves us to pirate - let it fucking be. What, are you going to make a shitstorm for people who buy movies and shows while thrifting? Surprised these fuckers haven't gotten to that process yet because of how god damn greedy they are.
Is not about how much we have available, is about how much they think they can squeeze us.
In the darkened boardroom of ShittyStreamingService, the presentation continues:
"....and so we've set our price at $15 per month. This is a reasonable price that everyone in our target demographics can afford."
What the numpties at ShittyStreamingService haven't considered is that yes, maybe I can afford $15 per month. But I can't afford it for each of the 7,836 different streaming/music/gaming services!!
Not only can I not afford 7,846 different platforms, but I don’t WANT to. I want simplicity. If p1racy is easier and simpler, why wouldn’t I choose it?
Is there a music service that is similar to Kodi or Stremio?
They don't assume we have unlimited money, they assume they'll make enough sales to justify making it (and paying all the people who made it).
Yeah, some companies are making ridiculous profits and underpaying staff. This isn't some pro-capitalism comment.
Taking things off of streaming platforms or not making old stuff otherwise available usually boils down to bureaucracy and legal stuff. Certain people need to be paid, or have the right to veto their content being sold, or stuff like that sometimes. And sometimes the companies have a legal obligation to either protect their IP or ensure things stay "offline".
I don't like it, but I know it's not always simple.
they look at how most of us seem to be able to pay landlords and got jealous 😂
People don't. They're in massive debt.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/496050/riaa_thinks_limewire_owes_75_trillion_in_damages.html
In 2011 the RIAA sued Limewire for more money than existed on the entire planet.
They know, they don't care.
That's not entirely accurate. Yes, it was more than the GDP of the entire planet at the time, but that's not the value of the entire planet. Unless they meant the amount of physical currency that existed, in which case the amount was considerably less than the 62T that the article cites, since most money is never physical.
It's still patently ridiculous though.
Money, not value. It seems to be mainly anecdotal.
They know some people can't afford it, they just do not care.
Also people regularly spend more than they can afford.
When you think about it the fact that you can quite easily borrow money you clearly will not reimburse which is kind of an infinite money Glitch for capitalism.
We've failed our children by not having any financial education in our schools, let alone good education. Sure in the rich schools you'll get it. But not in the areas that need it the most. It's very easy to slip into crippling debt as a middle class American.
But it's currently too profitable to have poor education. So it's going to stay that way unless we help out our neighbors.
Line must go up
Like other's have said, most don't care; however I believe there are some that are also disconnected from everything outside of their lives. They believe the distribution of wealth is linear when really it's more of a log function.
Now I’m going to say that playing games, listening to music, watching shows/movies and even reading books is a bit of a luxury.
That's our culture you're talking about. In my view, it's a human right.
They push as far as they can. As long as people are willing to pay they’ll keep vying for our incomes. Cancelled subscriptions is the only language they understand.
simple, shareholders want infinite GROWTH 📈
They simply want to make money for not creating any new content. They want subscribers not customers. They are currently in a new mode: rent seeking.
Pirate until they get their act together and offer something that has all content available, simply dividing up the proceeds fairly by percentage of viewing time.
Piracy is an availability problem. These assholes built 200 walled-gardens and are wondering why people don’t go to theirs.
Big businesses couldn't care less about where the money comes from as long as it ends up in their pockets.
Only thing stopping them from sending hired thugs to your house to shake the change out your pockets is the law. And even then they might try if the profit outweighs the penalty.
Hell, some companies will still hire pinkertons
"Only thing stopping them from sending hired thugs to your house to shake the change out your pockets is the law. "
This is how I feel about ads. Ads are legal psychological warfare with the sole aim of stealing your money.
Boeing whistleblower blower
What pisses me off the most with the entertainment industry, is how they expect you to buy the same things whether it’s a different format or on a platform multiple times.
No, they don't. Yes, there are the people who will buy every single release of every single disney movie. But the general idea is that just because someone bought The Fifth Element on DVD twenty years ago doesn't mean they are buying every single new 4k UHD re-release. Obviously that would be preferable but...
Furthermore, they willingly take away shows, movies .etc on a reguar cyclic basis on streaming platforms.
That annoys the piss out of me. But... that was how TV worked for decades. Seinfeld will always be on at 7 PM on TBS every single day until the end of time. But the three people who actually liked Coach? Once that got replaced by... Becker? It was "gone forever" and no longer something you watch when you are skipping school at lunch. And if you were REALLY a Wings superfan? You bought it on tape.
Most of this boils down to... we actually have it REALLY good these days. I remember when I had to make it a point to stop off at Best Buy on my way home from work for a month because I had read that a really cool CRPG called "Evil Islands" was coming out and knew that Best Buy would buy like three copies. And some random soccer mom was likely to buy something for her kid while she was buying batteries. And, of course, Best Buy wouldn't tell anyone when they got new games and when they would put them on the shelves.
Now? I can hear about my dream game and still wait until a week or two after launch for a sale because Steam will "never" run out of copies.
It’s like, leave us the fuck alone. If something is not available anymore with absolutely no assured plans to bring it back for re-release and to be available on even streaming platform which leaves us to pirate - let it fucking be. What, are you going to make a shitstorm for people who buy movies and shows while thrifting? Surprised these fuckers haven’t gotten to that process yet because of how god damn greedy they are.
I personally have no problem pirating shit if I can't get it otherwise (mostly because I would rather a proper blu-ray rip or to have it on Steam/GoG/whatever). But I will always call bullshit on that mentality of "We are just pirating because we can't get it otherwise!"
Decade or two back and abandonware was very much a thing. Plenty of us were signed up to private trackers so we could share CyClones or Star Crusader because those were dead games. And plenty of those trackers had specific rules about not having anything that is currently for sale... or Nintendo... because they totally were about preservation and it was nothing about getting sued. Then CD Projekt start up this Good Old Games site and it is exactly what we were all asking for. And... that led to discussions on what happens when suddenly those old dos games ARE available.
End result? GoG rips are the preferred medium because they are DRM-free(-ish) and so forth. And it was obvious it was never about preservation and was just about wanting to pirate shit. Which... is fine. Just obnoxious when people pretend they are noble because they want to play Darklands without paying.
Which is kind of the other recurring theme. People want to be pirates. Cool, steal that shit. Just don't pretend you are morally superior and a freedom fighter and blah blah blah. You want free shit. Cool.
My reasons for pirating varies by the context, however. Sometimes, I'm pirating something for morals & freedom, while other times it is because I would rather pay money for it but the only option is a DRMed one (and yes Steam is a form of DRM if it requires Steam to play), whilst other times I just pirate it because I don't wanna pay for it.
So, yes, depending on the context, someone can be a pirate for reasons other than "pirate".
Bottom-line is that while I agree with you that people shouldn't kid themselves if they're just being a pirate for pirating's sake, I think you also shouldn't ridicule others who are pirating for less-selfish motivations, at least during instances when that is their sole, or at least primary, motivation.
Tl;dr – Shit's complex yo.
If you want to accomplish a noble cause like preservation I don't think it's disingenuous to also satisfy some personal desires along the way. Easier to get people on board to do it if you do.
The issue is when those preservation efforts completely undermine themselves. That is why I specifically highlighted abandonware becoming "upload all your gog installers". When your "noble" intentions are predicated on not being able to buy a game or the DRM being too invasive and then you immediately encourage people to buy drm-free games and upload them to remind the companies WHY drm exists?
There is also very much the question of whether it even IS digital preservation to have a version 2.0 copy of a game that has had massive balance and even mechanic shifts over the past few years. Or a predominantly multiplayer game where botmatches were an afterthought. But at least that is a philisophical debate. Rather than just "gimme that Stranglehold"
Probably because consumers have made them billionaires.
Because they will always have people who support them, regardless of how mean they are, as long as there are people afraid of "pirating" this will never change.
I had a friend at work who said "People who pirate stuff are just as bad as burglers" to me. I had just been Burgled 2 weeks before Christmas.
I replied "Right so I'm as bad as the smack heads that robbed my kids presents, is that what you're saying?"
He did that thing folk do when they look like a fish breathing then tried to backtrack, but that's when he became a "work colleague" again.
Price your goods right up to what the market can bear. Business sense.
Don't pay parasitic corpos for somethingyou can get yourself for free... Also business sense IMHO
Because "we" do, as evidenced by the people willing to pay the price(s)
Just a reminder if you want free books / audiobooks check out Libby, it connects to your local library. You just need a library card!
Insert Arrested Development banana meme here
They know we can't. They need to tell their shareholders this though lest they gnash their teeth.
