Price of Progress: In Support of Piracy

If internet was decade and a half ago as it was today, I do not think my trip would have been as fun.

I remember using popup blockers and deciding on what are morally correct ways to serve ads to my visitors (for example, I never used popups nor exit crap that tries to make last minute sale). But I look at what I run today and I could not possibly advise anybody not to do same and run Malwarebytes, AdblockPlus, Noscript, ...

When I started out I think I was getting infected by random virus every week. In last decade I have not had a single infection. I do however see 'blocked' by Malwarebytes and Avast about three times an hour.

I also remember what it was like to contact small game developer with an issue, or talk to sysop at random BBS, before there was internet. And how much more polite interactions were. How much higher value individual customer had when getting product to individual customer was harder.

So with progress, and ease of getting in touch, price was human decency.


Now I no longer receive any politeness from any representative of gaming company. They are no longer niche, and gamers are no longer a minority they needed to survive. Now target demographic is children, so they employ children to deal with them. And todays children are anything but polite.

I remember when I purchased my first copy of Warcraft. The original. And how I purchased several copies of Warcraft 2 and of Tides of Darkness, and actual expansion pack, not this overpriced DLC crap that is en vogue today. And loyalty I had towards Blizzard Entertainment for over 15 years.

And now such memories are forever tainted by how little Blizzard Entertainment really cares about their customers following period of success. If there is Warcraft 4 or Starcraft 3, I'll just get it off torrents, and buy my wife something with money I'd give Blizzard instead. If Blizzard dies, I am certain another douchebag of a faceless corporation will be more than happy to take their market share. And unless there is online component I have to have, I'll just get my game for free again. I am done supporting human garbage that cannot be bothered to show bit of human decency.

And unlike most of you, I can actually afford to go to court and defend myself for next millennium should I need to. Plus I live in Canada now, which tends to side with downloaders. So all those thousands of dollars I was giving Blizzard every year, buying their products for family and friends, they will find a new home and Blizzard can find a new sucker to support their lack of customer support.

Thanks to Vedmak.