yhwx said:
Let’s try to evaluate a situation that one would be in given how people actually think:
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Option A: Go the route we think of as morally correct. First, one would have to find a way to download these files. Most will opt for the single-file download, as the multi-part wars are way too persnickety for most people to care for. If you are not so lucky as to be blessed with good Internet connection, then this might take a while. Sure, you could go to the public library, but there’s more hurdles than you think there. Firstly, the Internet there might not be any better; secondly, you have to make time for going there. Not all people can do that, there’s things like work and school and family and various other scheduling conflicts. Now, let’s say that you clear this hurdle. Now you need a Blu-ray burner. If you don’t have one already built-in to your computer (most people don’t), then you must buy one. We’re already at a major stumbling block here. People don’t like money being attached to anything. An app that costs five cents is likely to do much worse than an app that’s free, no matter how little the price difference is or how great the difference in quality. But let’s say that you do buy a Blu-ray burner. Now you have to hope that all the software works for it, and learn the software. Pass all these hurdles, and boom, you have your Star Wars disc.
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Option B: Go the route we think of as morally irresponsible. Let’s lay out the steps for this one: first, have the means to buy a pre-made disk, buy it, and then enjoy. It’s really as simple as buying toilet paper from Amazon, most of the time.
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Option C: Do nothing. This option is implicit in almost all choices.
Pressed to make a choice, most people would choose option C — that’s what most people do in situations with stakes like these. If one is inclined to do something, option B requires way less effort, for the same reward, so most people would choose that. Remember, most people don’t have the same moral compass we do about these sorts of things.
Any argument that makes the point of “it’s not REALLY that hard” or “this is how you SHOULD think” is missing the point. People don’t think nobly most of the time. It’s true of all of us. It’s just human nature. While yes, to us here, option A didn’t seem like a lot when we did it, that’s only because we’re here — and people here are different from the general population. What I wrote is how people think of things. If you accept these principles, it’s perfectly logical to see why people take the ‘B’ train.
Yes, but all this only adds up to the sum of people who absolutely need to own it on a disc. I think an enormous amount of people (especially within certain age ranges) are perfectly comfortable with downloading an MKV or even some smaller transcoded version on a public tracker. Hell, even VPNs are now a part of common conversation and not just a topic for nerds/pirates.
Not everyone, obviously, will want to pass up physical media. And I’m aware that this is the thread specifically dedicated to the discs. But when faced with the options of ‘pay for overpriced burned discs’, ‘do nothing’, or ‘download free MKV’, the third option is going to rank significantly in some people’s decisions, even if they might have gone for the discs if they were more convenient.
