In some countries that have lower currencies, a AAA game (like Cyberpunk) on PC or a Switch game (think Pokémon) can cost up to 5 days of minimum wage, even with some regional pricing.
Piracy makes gaming somewhat affordable since PCs may be available through cheaper 2nd hand markets and can be used for other purposes besides gaming.
Yeah, coming from a similar country, buying a Nintendo switch game would cost roughly 3 to 4 days of minimum wage, before tax.
Steam does go a long way to making indie games a lot more affordable though, but AAA games can still cost an absolute bomb. For hobbyists, having only subscription options for software like Photoshop is just too expensive to pay for when they make no income.
I enjoy top down stealth games, and haven’t seen this game get discussed much, but it was pretty fun - Serial Cleaner (and sequel, Serial CleanerS)
You play a guy who cleans up murder scenes for an unknown serial killer, all the while evading guards and other security measures. It’s a pretty fun experience, and I do recommend giving it a go if that’s your kind of thing.
There’s also the Marvelous Miss Take, a game where you play a woman on a mission to perform a series of heists. Also a top down stealth game, you get to use some gadgets to distract guards while you sneak past and to your goal.
Both are older indie games, but enjoyable for at least one playthrough.
Bit tired to format, but these should help. Start here:
Kind of depends which angle we approach it from. Someone does have to first purchase the game to get a DRM free copy to make (legal) copies to share. It’s not really stealing outright, and publishers understand that they’re giving their customers the option to share their games with others when they sell on GOG.
In this view, then it’s kind of like paying it forward. Those who cannot afford it can use it for free. Those who can are encouraged to pay, get their own copies and pass it along to others at disadvantage, like sharing infinitely replicateable books.
Admittedly it’s a more optimistic view assuming most people would do that. But, if pirates pay for Stardew Valley, it means there are people who abide by this.
It’s a matter of education and how they understand the situation I suppose. I was a Reddit refugee moving over from the official app because the news really showed how anti consumer the company was being. It’s not much of a protest, but I only go on Reddit now if I really need certain information, so I don’t think it’s a total failure.
Bots and trolls will probably follow as Lemmy grows and gains traction, but I hope by that time moderation will have improved and will be able to scale to handle that.
Granted, it would be rather dumb to be going online with anything pirated on the switch, but dual booting is a pretty fair way of going about it if you already own games/ want online options. Just takes extra memory in the SD card.
Definitely recommend it.