Like really. Now I'm going to say that playing games, listening to music, watching shows/movies and even reading books is a bit of a luxury. It's a quality of life thing. But that doesn't always mean that each of those mediums have to be charged so damn much to even enjoy. Much less, the quality that gets shoveled out anyways with what we've seen.
What pisses me off the most with the entertainment industry, is how they expect you to buy the same things whether it's a different format or on a platform multiple times. Furthermore, they willingly take away shows, movies .etc on a reguar cyclic basis on streaming platforms.
When AnimeSuge went down, I felt a little lost and for once actually considered subscribing to Crunchyroll because AnimeSuge had the 1997 Berserk on there. Guess what? Crunchyroll and no where else had it. So much for the legal alternative, huh? By the way, yes I know of alternative sources so please don't recommend me those thanks.
And this is the thing with this fucking industry as a whole. They honestly have this mentality where if something is not available then it's "too bad, fuck you" or if something is broken or not working then it's just "BUY ANOTHER AT FULL PRICE!" because they look down at people making backups of their copies.
It's like, leave us the fuck alone. If something is not available anymore with absolutely no assured plans to bring it back for re-release and to be available on even streaming platform which leaves us to pirate - let it fucking be. What, are you going to make a shitstorm for people who buy movies and shows while thrifting? Surprised these fuckers haven't gotten to that process yet because of how god damn greedy they are.
If you want to accomplish a noble cause like preservation I don't think it's disingenuous to also satisfy some personal desires along the way. Easier to get people on board to do it if you do.
The issue is when those preservation efforts completely undermine themselves. That is why I specifically highlighted abandonware becoming "upload all your gog installers". When your "noble" intentions are predicated on not being able to buy a game or the DRM being too invasive and then you immediately encourage people to buy drm-free games and upload them to remind the companies WHY drm exists?
There is also very much the question of whether it even IS digital preservation to have a version 2.0 copy of a game that has had massive balance and even mechanic shifts over the past few years. Or a predominantly multiplayer game where botmatches were an afterthought. But at least that is a philisophical debate. Rather than just "gimme that Stranglehold"