And on the subject of this:
My purpose here is to point out you're mindlessly waving your personal prejudice around, like an asshole, complaining about the ads for content delivery service in a content delivery service thread, like an asshole, and making insane comparisons of piracy [/b](by the way, they would have the right to take away your DVDs if they think you're originating pirated material)[/b] like an asshole.
Analogy time:
#1 You steal property or IP from another individual
1. They catch you
2. They lay charges or file a suit in the courts
3. The courts fine you or force you to pay damages
#2 You steal clothes or other merchandise from a brick and mortar retailer.
1. They catch you
2. They call the police and lay charges
3. The court fine you and put the offense on your record.
#3 You pirate movies from Universal or some other production company
1. They catch you.
2. The police/FBI are informed and lay charges
3. The courts fine you and put the offense on your record.
#4 You do something that violates a EULA while on Steam/Origin/similar
1. They catch you
2. They ban your account and take away everything you've ever purchased
DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE?
The entire concept of EULAs or DRM is offensive quite frankly. You should buy something, and it should be yours. Simple as that.
If a violate some IP law, they can charge me or sue me through the proper channels (ie the police/courts). The fact that corporations like Valve, EA or other digital distribution/DRM services have such powers is absurd and any self-respecting consumer should be offended.
They are OBJECTIVELY worse for the consumer, and the fact that people both put up with it and defend such practices is shameful.
Steam itself is openly deceptive in the way it conducts business as well (as origin probably is):
When you purchase a game, it doesn't say "purchase the rights to play" or "subscribe" it simply says "buy or purchase".
Or at the checkout
ll digital goods are delivered via the Steam desktop application.Digital
goods? You mean like, POSESSIONS? Something I OWN? No. It's a subscription that they can cancel at any time without being required consulting legal authorities whatsoever.
So I "subscribe to steam".
I purchase hundreds of dollars of "subscriptions" to games through steam.
And they can deny me access to all of those for any reason they feel is justified at any time.
And you're saying there's no difference between Steam and GOG?