Sometimes it’s just about ease of access. I’m happy to pay for games but it’s often harder to track down legal copies of retro or delisted games than it is to find a torrent.
And a number of the files you find on torrent sites were uploaded by someone who bought the content legally. Torrenting is just peer-to-peer file sharing, someone has to acquire the first copy somehow
I can’t speak to the ripping of content, but you have to scroll pretty far depending on the subject to get a better result.
Searching “Soul of Cinder” on Google is all Fextralife, fandom, YouTube, reddit, ign/Gamespot/etc. Wikidot doesn’t show up until halfway down the first page and it doesn’t show up at all on duckduckgo.
The answer is probably to add specific sites names to my searches but I’m lazy
It’s pretty awful but it’s always the first search result for anything souls related. It’s bearable with an adblocker though
It’s the same with Nord. I have to pause my VPN any time I want to access Fextralife wikis
Agreed, the paper-like screen is non-negotiable for me.