So I’m new to torrenting and I wanted to try out totk early (I’m still going to buy it once it releases). I forgot to turn on my vpn while torrenting it overnight. Will I just get a letter or will Nintendo do something.
In most cases you would be fine, but since it’s Nintendo… probably life in prison.
Depending on how many active torrents you have, probably nothing.
In the future, use qBittorrent as it allows you to select your vpn’s network adapter (referred to as binding to your vpn). This ensures that the only traffic qbit can generate is only through the vpn.
What will happen.
Any answer to this is a guess, so… nothing.
If you’re not using qBittorrent get it.
Bind qBittorrent to your VPN. This stops all torrent traffic if your VPN drops it’s connection or you forgot to connect. It’s more reliable than a Kill Switch.
In qBittorrent, go to Settings > Advanced > Network interface and select your VPN interface.
If you don’t know which is your VPN, disconnect it and see which interface disappears.
Maybe, maybe not. Nintendo tends to go after the big fish. You MAY get a letter from your ISP saying “hey, don’t do that” and that’s about it. I wouldn’t worry about it. Fix the mistake so it doesn’t happen again and torrent in peace. 
What will happen.
Boned. ^j/k
Will I just get a letter or will Nintendo do something.
Its a crap shoot. It will depend on if the swarm you participated in was being monitored, and if they scraped you.
If anything, you will get a letter/email from your ISP (not directly from Nintendo) telling you to stop. Its a multi-strike system. Some ISPs handle it differently, and it can depend on how many strikes you might already have.
Best case, you just get a notification telling you to stop. Middle case, they cut your service until you acknowledge the notification (can be online or possibly a mandatory call with a “security compliance” department). Worst case, you get your service stopped and you have to beg/plead or switch providers.
Most likely a slap on the wrist from your service provider. Or like someone else said, life in prison.
Life in prison wouldn’t make them any money, so no need to fear that. Labor camp, on the other hand…
Thank you. I was really worried about this.
This comment needs to be pinned and labelled “Torrenting with VPN 101”