Religion is a subset of ideology, and both are a mechanism to recruit labor to fight and not the reason for conflict. Material isn't cheaper to buy, the "owner" of the material has all of the leverage - lock them in like a SaaS contract and them jump the price up, and the buyer can't do anything. Crops and slaves are no longer valuable as port worthy coast and natural resource deposits, but the fight is still over land and power.
It's influencer marketing. These 'ego battles' are a show to keep their brand in front of you. It's engaging like reality television. This is very valuable, especially for companies that need to fund their growth through investment and grants.
Yes, it was crazy. $2/hour in 1997 dollars! Agreed… I think only Pubg has come close to replicating the intensity of emotion in PvP (which was my main interest in playing)
I got into programming through MUDs, have the fondest memories of those times and deeply appreciate their role in my life. I ran up a giant AOL bill playing Dragon's Gate that I had to work off by doing data entry that helped me understand the basics of computing, and then using that knowledge to create so many scripts and highlights in Rapscallion MUD client. After that, I realized I could make more things and never stopped. What a great time. I remember being online when the MUD I played reached their maximum number of concurrent players - 340 - and thinking that the world was so big. Crazy to think about online gaming today.
The free encyclopedia is an advertisement for a nonprofit that does a lot of things: https://wikimediafoundation.org/what-we-do/. They manage costs of producing the encyclopedia by using volunteer labor. They operate a similar model as nature documentaries that drive donations for conservation and climate groups. These are all good things - still an advertisement.
Any information that comes to you for free or is on a screen is an advertisement. All of it. That's the point. Do you think people spend millions and billions of dollars creating and maintaining a content delivery network because they just want you to know about things?