The fact that I can buy a game for $70 price tag today, and still run the risk of it getting taken away from me, by the company that built it, is why I'll always pirate games.

If buying is not owning, then pirating is not stealing.

It sounds like renting

hmmm if I pay rent for this apartment does this mean I can squat in any apartment instead because if buying is not owning, squatting is not stealing

if I have to pay property taxes for a house and the house can be taken away by the government at any time,
thusly buying is not owning,
then moving onto a random plot of land is not stealing?

@jestdotty
Please don't subvert the issue.
Buying or renting a Plot of land is not the same as buying a computer game. The first cannot be duplicated, sold to another, as many times as you like. the second? thats the difference.

Buying something means you own it. It can be then be resold - even at a profit. It cannot be taken back.

If you want me to rent something - there better be some serious renting contract protections in place.
Otherwise - Piracy.

https://devrant.com/rants/11049951/...

Vote for a EU law that forbids this kind of crap!

computer pirating was never stealing. it's a fucked up narrative installed by companies, that someone without money using their software without paying somehow makes them lose anything, which is false as fuck.

@iiii Even worse, in German the word that they use is "robbing".

Does "it getting taken away" mean a refund? Because it's kind of the norm nowadays. You can't really STEAL it from you, that only works one way.

@cprn yes it does "get taken away from you". That's how it is now.

@SidTheITGuy Wait, are you talking about licencing? Because it's what happens when you pay for a game, e.g. on Steam. And every licence can be revoked in certain situations... but it was exactly the same 25 years ago. The only thing you'd own was the medium, e.g. a CD. Everything on it was subject to EULA. If EULA terms were breached, you didn't own the right to use the software any more, i.e. your licence got revoked. What changed (apart from the method of delivery) is nowadays, revoking a licence means the built-in DRM won't let you continue to use the software illegally. And I must say, I understand that, because I create software, so I feel like I should have a say in how it's used. And, obviously, I'm also a user, so I feel like I should be able to use the software I own however I like... but not the software I licence. That's just stealing someone's work. Games is entertainment but also art. You can't own art, like you can't own the words in a book. You only own the paper.

@mostr4am You cannot own bits, therefore, you cannot buy them. This is precisely why whoever wrote that particular set of bits, put in a DRM to revoke your right to use them whenever they want. And if you don't like it, write your own bits.

If intellectual property isn't real, then patents aren't either. Try fighting that battle. Just don't come crying if all technological progress in your country suddenly stops. Don't believe me? Look at China. Their government doesn't believe in IP.

@mostr4am Can't say if you're joking any more.

@mostr4am If what you wish for was true, then you could get my bits online, and my bits could determine they don't like you and wipe all your drives, including the online ones - all legal and cool. 🤷‍♂️ Don't wish for things you don't understand. You might end up investing in NFTs.