If it's not that big of a deal, why are you white knights always whining the most
You would include me among these "white knights"? Not really in a position to interpret what I "always" do since this is the second time I've posted in this thread, and the first time I've interacted with you.
trying to speak on behalf of others when the artist themselves never bothered to say anything about it?
Perhaps you're right in that no one is in a position to speak for the dev. The dev did however outline his intentions with creating this thread. I would also argue that it's fairly "intuitive" to presume that a dev clearly stating his intentions to create a subscription based arrangement where he can receive financial support for disseminating his work would have, at the very least, reservations about the content he sells being posted in a space he seeks to generate a consumer base for said content, whether words are stated or not.
You need to understand that if you want to benefit from a pirate community, you can't despise piracy.There are also plenty of those who use pirate community to promote and grow and once they're big enough, they abandon them, some even backstab.
I agree. I've actually spoken to a few 3D artists about this very phenomenon. Some of them can be under, for lack of a better term, the "delusion" that they're losing money because of piracy. The fact of the matter is, those who are unwilling to pay, will most likely never pay whether they have access to the content or not. Likewise, those who are willing to pay, may pay under the right circumstances. The HBO series Game of Thrones was the most pirated television series during its run, but it was also the most acclaimed. And that's because piracy for better or worse generates attention for the content. Rather than "despise" piracy as you put it, I think devs should harness it. Branch into other areas and sell merchandise which are inexpensive to produce like t-shirts, posters, and figurines based on your content. Use piracy as a form of advertisement. Devs can also sell physical books or magazines of their content. If they want to disincentivize leaks, they can offer discounted subscriptions for a set amount of referrals. In my opinion, it's all about seeking order, while being mindful of the chaos.
I'm not here to dump some spiel about the "scourge" of piracy. Far from it. What I am saying, however, is, for a 3D artist who's just starting out, and created this thread so he can bounce ideas off potential consumers, would it be too much trouble to not parade the leaks in that very thread, especially when the leak isn't for the sake of "making the content available" but someone fishing for likes? It takes almost no effort to create a separate thread. Just because one is a pirate, doesn't mean that one has to be discourteous.
