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Re:Sci Hub repository torrents of scientific papers by kankroc on Monday May 21, 2018 @08:41AM (#17117939)
I think the parent comment was referring to video game piracy before Steam.

It was a mess of custom launchers, DRM, losing the CD/DVD or key so people would turn to piracy to access stuff they already owned.

Fast-forward a few year and most people are fine with Steam as long as it's the unified launcher for doing thing.

Re:Sci Hub repository torrents of scientific papers by DrBazza on Monday May 21, 2018 @10:24AM (#17118572)
Pre-Steam also coincided with pre-Internet / online gaming. Having half your software assets lurking on company servers now makes protecting your IP considerably easier.
Re:Sci Hub repository torrents of scientific papers by jacquesm on Monday May 21, 2018 @08:45AM (#17117962)
Ok, that's a good point. But video games are rarely created with public funds and in general are not crowdsourced to then be placed behind a paywall. Even Steam has plenty of competition.

If there were a disruption of the world of scientific publishing that would have a parallel in entertainment I would have chosen Spotify over Steam.