Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world ALostInquirer @lemm.ee 9 mo. ago

What are some of the more popular non-commercial cultural things you're aware of?

This could be things that once were commercialized but are now public domain, or have largely resisted commercialization to this day. In this context I mean this as aiming for profit and being sold/monetized.

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Libraries.

Any university that doesn't charge tuition fees.

The Internet Archive.

Fugazi (the band)
- I listen to Fugazi almost every god damned day.
- Internet archive is doing amazing work, and the world will be so very grateful one day even as much of it tries to shut them down now.
Many board games, such as chess, go/baduk, backgammon, and mancala were played before capitalism or copyright were invented; and thus have always been in the public domain.

Precursors to chess date to the 700s CE, and chess was played under recognizably modern rules in the 1400s. Go may date to the 200s CE, but took its modern form in the 1500s. Backgammon-like games are known from Persia circa 800 CE, and modern backgammon from the 1600s. And mancala games are over 6000 years old.
- Go is the best 2 player game ever. Fight me!
  
  Let me guess, your preferred battleground for the fight is a go board?
Somewhat nuanced, but riding a bike anywhere. There have been many failed attempts to license or tax bicycles. The bicycle has been around in various forms since 1817, and in most cases, the laws on rights for cycling are as old as the corpus itself. Once you have a bike, you are as free as you dare or as free as your local independent cycling infrastructure supports.
- You can get a DUI on a bike in a lot of the US. The same DUI you can get driving an F350. I dunno, feels kinda fucked up to me
  
  The way it is written, you can get a DUI on anything wheeled, even sneakers with wheels embedded could land you a DUI in theory.
  
  It sounds even dumber for the rider, and you can still hurt pedestrians. I dunno about it being the same as for cars, but it is a heavy moving object.
Wikipedia
- Yeah, I'll take some cocaine too!
Fan fiction.
- No thanks. I'd rather not read erotic literature of some niche genre written by lonely virgins.
  
  OP just asked what was popular. Judging by the volume of fan fiction on the net it's super popular.
  
  Heaps of it's not erotic any more as far as I can see.
  
  I read it if I don't like the ending of a movie or book, they have a genre called "fix it" where they write a more sayisfying ending.
  
  I was thinking among other things of HPMOR, which is non-erotic, though the other parts are possibly accurate.
  
  Filk music? The musical equivalent of fan fiction, but it is slightly commercial now.
There is still a lot of nature related things to do with minimal to no entry fees (often times you just “pay for parking”).

I’m big into hikes on public lands or going to a public park. Met some awesome people and seen some cool shit that way.
Maybe doesn't quite fit but tabletop role playing games. Most of everything you need to play is available for free online, even for the popular commercial games. All you need really is paper, dice (sometimes), some imagination and some friends.
- Paper... Check.
  
  Dice... Check.
  
  Friends...... shit.
  
  You can also play with enemies, but I don't know if I'd recommend it.
- Yup. I remember plating Battleship with pencils and graph paper. Great fun, and if your opponent cheats, make them use a pen so they can't move their ships.
Music is pretty popular as a form of culture, and it has historically been a thing shared for enjoyment of culture primarily instead of for profit. Obviously modern music can be commercial but the history of music in general is much deeper than the modern commercialization.
Geo-caching.
- Unfortunately the original non-profit hobby got co-opted by a corporation.
  
  There's opencaching but it's dead.
  
  I didn't know this. Depressingly predictable. Ugh.
  
  Thanks for informing me.
- Run by a for-profit company and they do hide a lot of features and even caches behind a premiun subscription.
  
  It's not that bad though, most do just fine without paying a cent.
  
  Permanently Deleted
  
  There's a specific app for that? I see people doing geo caching the same way they do that painted rock thing. Can usually find clues and riddles to find them posted on a physical message board at the community center.
Libraries! If your library is signed up for OverDrive/Libby you can get their whole ebook and audiobook catalog at your fingertips, all from home.
Virtual pinball. You can get all existing tables and many more that were dreamed up by passionate fans of the game and it's all shared freely online. I even think it's legal.
Pen&Paper maybe? yes, i know you can go out and buy DnD modules and books, dice, stuff. but the cultural part of it seems to me to be just friends sitting together telling stories
Disc Golf!

Solid fun at any skill level and very modest cost. A round of disc golf is basically an excuse to go for a nice walk while hanging out with friends or even solo.

You can buy a few discs for 10s of dollars and can even share them if you want. Courses are everywhere (at least in Canada, but I suspect elsewhere too) and usually absolutely free. Discs are portable enough to take whenever you visit a new place. If you want to get serious, you can spend a little more, get more discs or a fancy bag, go to tournaments, but it is still cheap compared to almost any other sport and really hard to spend much money on.

I am absolutely terrible, but I get better every time and I have so much fun.
- I can vouch for disc golf, me and buddies just started playing a couple summers ago, now we play at least every weekend!
Shoes
- my dude, how are shoes NON-commercial??!

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