Fuck Subscriptions
Naming and shaming all "recurring spending models" where a one-time fee (or none at all) would be appropriate and logical.
Expect use of strong language.
Follow the basic rules of lemmy.world and common sense, and try to have fun if possible.
No flamewars or attacking other users, unless they're spineless corporate shills.
Note that not all subscriptions are awful. Supporting your favorite ~~camgirl~~ creator or Lemmy server on Patreon is fine. An airbag with subscription is irl Idiocracy-level dystopian bullshit.
New community rule: Shilling for cunty corporations, their subscriptions and other anti-customer practices may result in a 1-day ban. It's so you can think about what it's like when someone can randomly decide what you can and can't use, based on some arbitrary rules. Oh what, you didn't read this fine print? You should read what you're agreeing to.
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Some other groovy communities for those who wish to own their products, their data and their life:
Some other useful links:
Louis Rossman's YouTube channel
Look at content hosted at Big Tech without most of the nonsense:
view the rest of the comments
I've not been gaming on PC for a while so I won't judge, but a few years ago it was often quite a nightmare. Has HAWX2 been cracked already? How's the situation with playing cracked online (non-MMO) games? Can you play anything that comes out?
(I'm not trolling... I'm quite curious actually. I don't know I'd have the nerves for it today.)
That's a very unusual game to ask about so I have no idea. Way newer games have been cracked with way worse DRM (Denuvo).
As for playing online I think it depends on the game. Some I believe you can play but only with other pirates. I wouldn't rely on it.
I don't get why you would need nurves for it. If you stick to something like FitGirls official website it's not too risky.
That being said if it's better for multiplayer games to take advantage of steam sales. For an old game like Hawk2 it probably is only a few quid/dollars to buy.
Well I'm just against all DRM on PC, and wouldn't be installing, never mind paying for, any of that bloatware like the game launchers.
As I said I don't know how piracy is now, but a few years ago it was way too annoying, with patches not being cracked or properly distributed and whatnot. Then I also hear Linux isn't as well supported as I'd like, and I wouldn't accept W10 on a computer. (My last machine, that's in storage, still had W7 as a primary with a W10 VM. Yea I know, it was also picky about what to run.)
It just sounds like a whole mess I don't like dealing with anymore.
Now granted, consoles are getting worse as well, with the discless releases and paid multiplayer and whatnot. But I think it still flies that if I install an old 5 € game, I can disconnect the internet and play that thing offline forever until the consoles rusts to pieces, without the thing constantly bugging me about updates that break my stuff, or my downloaded DLCs becoming "inaccessible".
I never had a problem with PCs, whether using them, setting them up, pirating or paying for games, but from AssCreed II onward and the onset of shitty launchers, I eventually quit. That HAWX2 I was waiting for years to be cracked, is just pop-in and play on PS3.
And rather than things becoming better, I rather suspect that shit has become normalised that nobody thinks about it anymore.
You don't pay for launchers. They are free. You also don't pay for multiplayer. If you don't want launchers look at DRM free sites like Good Old Games or pirate them.
You can play Steam games without an internet connection. This is just like how consoles are packed with DRM but you can still play them offline. Why would you even think PCs are any different? Like consoles have always had worse DRM.
Piracy on PC is very much alive and well outside of multiplayer games.
Have you thought about Windows 10 LTSC? I think that is your best option.
Also we are on Windows 11 now, not 10 as the latest version. Keep up.