Intro: Webtoon is an app/website where (mostly Korean) comics are released in short episodes. Those episodes aren't released all at once but usually once a week, you have a free unlock a day and if you want you can have more by either watching an ad or by paying with coins, that are paid with real money. With the smallest purchase ($6), an episode can be unlocked with 3 coins (¢35) up to 7 (¢80). You can also skip the wait by paying with coins. I used it for years and I was ok by watching the ads at the end of each episode. It limited myself to one a day, otherwise I would scroll for hours. But, at the end of June 2024, they did the IPO, so that means ✨enshittification✨
So the guide on how to push away users to piracy:
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Have a scary reminder at the beginning of every episode that says that piracy is illegal. (I can't screenshot that without a rooted phone, it's blocked). This helps the user to have a daily notification that yes, this content is also available somewhere else and you're not bound to artificial limits.
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Put the last three episodes of a series started 3-4 years ago in perpetual paywall. No more "just wait one week to get the new episode". You want to see how that 200 episodes story that you're reading almost every day for 3 years ends? LOL pay $6 to buy a coins package!
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Now that the user is pissed that they can't know how the story ends, they'll just search it on the illegal sites, since over the past years they had to skip through 200 reminders that yes, this story is also available over there.
It is and always will be, this is one of the few "modern phrases" that I never tire of hearing because it is still real and relevant today. But unfortunately, as long as megacorporations are whatever they are and people have this "capitalist" fear of piracy, things will not change and will only tend to get worse!
I used to pay for 4 streaming subscriptions.
Now no one gets my money. I would love to support developers, but I'm unwilling to put up with this bullshit to do so.
Ads even though I already pay? Have to turn off my VPN to use your website? Incomplete series? Inability to watch content offline? Regularly increase the cost well above inflation level? Geolocking content?
Streaming services get shittier and shittier with each passing day. Glad I 'opted out'.
I actually pirate things because I don't like spending money, don't care about content creators and want to save for retirement more than I give a fuck about anything else
The only things I won't pirate are indie productions at this point. If you have corporate/industry backing, though, at that point you can get fucked I'm not paying.
I just add these through Mihon and read everything free. Got tired of their shit quickly.
A note: I'm fine with paying, if it was known from the beginning. But bait&switch enrages me.
The fast pass has been a thing for years, but are you saying the last three chapters are permanently locked? That's terrible.
Yes, not only for this. I have two in my reading list that have the ending permanently locked after completion, the change is recent
I feel like they've had this for a while but maybe the specific situation is different. I might also be getting confused with Tapas.
Years ago I was reading "Extreme Dog Owner" while it was being released and was blocked out of latest episodes. So when the artist stopped the series it took a while before I realized the last few episodes would never get unlocked for me. Sounds like the same situation? Minus the huge piracy warnings.
Luckily I had a friend who bought it already then just read on their device.
