What is your relationship with cracked games?

[tomberyx]

Pirate games is something none of you should do, it hurts the developers for their existence (the good ones).

But these "pay to win games" should be pirated immediately, these money suckers should always be pirated because they deserve to be robbed.

 

[AncientBoi]

I think I have 2 of those. Sorry, can't remember which ones though. LoL

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I remember that one or more Sims sequels were literally unplayable on some computers because the anti-piracy measures clashed with Windows or some such bullshit. The original game disc simply wouldn't run. And even if you were able to make it work somehow, every expansion pack would break it again.
So the established practice in fan circles was to buy the game, and then never ever take it out of the box, and play a pirated copy instead.

There were a lot of similar instances where the DRM software on the disc would either break the game, was actually spyware, or actual malware in some cases, so cracked copies were a must.

Try a StarForce infected[sic!] game. It can literally make a Windows installation inoperable. During my CD experiments I also tried StarForce games. Result? Had to restore a backup image to bring make the PC work normally again.
SecuROM v7 sometimes rejects the original disc (depending on the drive, speed settings,...)
Some ProtectDISC versions (acedrv09.sys, acehlp09.sys) can make Windows Vista and newer randomly go BSOD while not playing the game(s).
SafeDisc secdrv.sys is a literal security risk, so bad, that Microsoft disabled it.

Detection errors, blacklisted software, problematic drivers, risk of damaging expensive CDs/DVDs by frequent usage... No-CD/DVD cracks were a must for practical usage of games. Despite a crack being piracy according to the copyright law (downloading decrypted main executable file), I don't see a moral problem here: Such a file is useless when not already having the rest (game data), hopefully obtained via legal methods.

Disc based DRM problems were the reason why I stopped buying (or even caring for) PC games altogether about 2003 (and never started buying them as the new digital distribution is by far worse).

 

[Alexander1970]

What is your relationship with cracked games?​

Test before buy.

Since there are less and less demos (and 89% of the games are simply programmed as shit...), one is literally "forced" to test games before buying them. Pictures and work in progress videos are only misleading and often presented completely differently than in the final finished version......

 

[KleinesSinchen]

simply programmed as shit...

A man of clear words.

 

[zxr750j]

I remember using cracks for adding infinite lives and money to games.

 

[isoboy]

I don't give a shit. I'll PRESERVE whatever I want. I finished Abzu within two hours on steam and got away with a refund. That was scummy, I have to admit. OH WELL. MOVING ON.

 

[Purple_Heart]

i started making mods on my cousins pc. i found a pirating site and got my games from there to make mods for em lmao. i was like 9 when i started to make mods.

 

[SylverReZ]

My first introduction to cracked games was when my dad downloaded me a few Game Boy Advance ROMs as well as an emulator called VisualBoyAdvance. When I saw this for the first time, it blew my mind, like I couldn't believe that a Game Boy was running on a PC. Later in 2007, I got myself a white GBA that my dad bought from eBay. I remember it coming in a brown square box, followed by a Sainsbury's bag, containing both the console and two games: Pac-Man Collection and Tetris Worlds.

Unfortunately, I don't have the console anymore, and I've lost the two games. I sold my GBA on a car boot to a fucking scalper, who also tried to steal some of my games, but was caught red handed by security and was booted out.

That doesn't matter for me anymore, as now I have my sister's GBA SP that she didn't want anymore. It was also far more convenient to recharge the battery without having to run to the store to buy another pack of AAs.

 

[Purple_Heart]

once i had a Japanese Kyogre Special Edition GBA SP...but it got stolen on an Anime Convention.

 

[McLeanParsons]

I like to replenish the collection of my games only with a license , I sometimes try unofficial releases only for 1-2 hours to understand if I like the game and not to pass it , then I either delete or buy the game everything is simple

 

[shadowheart]

I like to replenish the collection of my games only with a license , I sometimes try unofficial releases only for 1-2 hours to understand if I like the game and not to pass it , then I either delete or buy the game everything is simple

I do the same.
I used to be able to sometimes download a pirated version, but now I try to buy everything. I also like to have games in my collection, and piracy should be avoided because it hurts developers.

 

[DBlaze]

My most recent "piracy" move is a game on steam that we have on family share, but we like to play at the same time, so we ended up just using steam to keep the game up to date as it has many updates, then run a diff on folders and copy over the changes to the copied game folder and keep the crack in place.
So the main "owner" of the game can play the game with steam online, and the other can run it "cracked".

It's ridiculous and I refuse to buy 1 game multiple times for my household to be able to play it at the same time, and I don't want to force someone to run steam offline just because someone else wants to play it at the same time.

But my main reason otherwise is to try the game and see if it's worth 50/60€ when there is no demo available

 

[Purple_Heart]

There is something where you can unlock all dlc from a steam game but ya need the dlc files... I cant name the Programm ofc lmao

 

[Reploid]

It's okay to be lesbian with games

 

[SylverReZ]

It's okay to be lesbian with games

It's okay to be gay with games, it is always morally correct.

 

[1NOOB]

money is the only reason , if i had endless supply of money id just buy stuffs and not bother with pirated stuffs , theres games i bought way later cause i could at that moment , or theere was a sale . but life can be hard and money is used for everything , if i can put some of the entertainments in the free section of my life its gonna help . also the little coat of paint that capitalism as put everywhere is starting to get thick . its all about the money money money .

 

[WalterSlovotsky]

I started off pirating because I was just poor and couldn't afford the games I wanted. I was always poor growing up, and I was always jealous of the few kids I knew who had money like that, who had pretty much every console and tons of games. My friends were chosen based on which game consoles they had, so we could trade and borrow games from each other.

Always wanted to be that cool kid with hundreds of games. Watching Nickelodeon growing up and seeing kids win 5-minute toy store runs, thinking of all of the video games I would grab if I were that lucky kid.

So, it's mostly childhood wish fulfillment. I haven't played even a twentieth of the games I have in ROM or ISO or whatever format. I just like HAVING them. Gives me a sense of comfort that if the zombie apocalypse ever comes, I will be safe and entertained in my bunker with all the games I have eHoarded over the years.

 

[Anxiety_timmy]

When I was alot younger and was poor and didn't really have any income, yeah I pirated damn near everything. Now I either buy physically or just pirate things.

 

[SodaSoba]

I have mixed relationship with piracy, as many when younger and can't afford it you just did it. I tend to see it as a try before you buy these days (try refunding games a lot it doesn't always work out) or even play before it's released.

I can justify buying games I have previously pirated and have done many many times (stray being one) it's still important to support the developer imo, the irony is had I not of pirated stray when it originally released on the pc I probably would not have bought it when it came out on Xbox.

At the same time there are games I would refuse to buy again like Skyrim which is almost on as many devices as doom these days.
I tend not to be bothered by "pirating" retro games especially when I already own the cart or if the cart is unobtainable or overpriced.

In my house we have prime/Disney & netflix but I have the same stance about TV & movies as I do games.

The argument is usually that piracy is harmful. I tend to disagree as those that normally pirate usually have 0 intention on actually buying what they're pirating.