Not-particularly-spoilery FORCE AWAKENS question

Did it seem to you like droids were treated in a way less slave-y way than in either of the previous trilogies? It seemed like people were treating them just like, y'know, people, with agency and lives of their own and stuff. It seemed like they were treated less as property than before. Do you think something encouraging happened in the thirty years between the events of JEDI and FORCE AWAKENS?