Ever used Pirated game properly?

I pirated games for like 11 years (shut up, my country is poor as $#!T, and piracy wasn't even frowned upon here), but now I'm proud to say I'm legit, even tho I'm not sure for how long I can afford to buy stuff on steam like this. :P

Anywho, I'll always download a cracked game first if it's expensive and if I'm not sure I'll like it.

I will once the game actually comes out in English.

pirate because the dev is an ass and didnt give me a demo, so I have to pirate to test play b4 I buy it.

i have but mostly the one i really like i would usually buy it

I just buy games that I think I may like.

I'm pirating anything coming from companies like EA/Bioware/Activision (although most are not even worth downloading)

Yep, with Deus Ex: HR. Played 6 hours, still bought the game. Since then no more pirate games.

Yes, many of games I now own on Steam previously was pirate versions

I might start soon if I don't start winning stuff here......

I have pirated only one game. Only due to the fact that the game did not have a lot of copies made, and sadly the price went nuts as soon as people found that out on Ebay.. Sorry the game is fun but I am not going to pay someone 100+ USD just to get the game.. and that is me not even getting money to the ones who made it. ( Who are out of business.. it was their last game in-fact )

That was Land of the Dead Road to Fiddler's Green. Really buggy game that was actually a heck of a lot of fun with fan made patches. ( Kind of like Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, however unlike the first one mentioned, you could find copies of it, and I bought it around the time it was released :P )

Used to pirate a lot when I was younger. Probably 5% Steam 95% pirated, and now a few years later, I simply can't stand a game if it's not on Steam. Call it what you want, fanboyism, whatever it may be, but I just love the convenience of having one single library and all the community features Steam offers for every game. So if I ever do pirate nowadayws, which is very rare, is to see if the game runs well/is a good port and if it is I just delete the pirated version and buy it on Steam.

Pirated a lot of games. Played, loved, deleted. Then came Steam and boom, 400+ games in account. :) Easier to buy it than crack it.

I pirated a lot of games. still do. Even have pirated software on my computer. I usually buy the game on steam if i really like it, but some of those AAA releases can get expensive so i usually go buy the indie games first.

I recently did that with Dark Souls for the PC.
Got it, tried DSFix to see how/if it worked properly, tried both the mouse+keyboard controls and the gamepad controls, played the tutorial and a bit of the first area to make sure everything was fine.

Deleted it and bought it straight away... I doubt i would have risked a purchase otherwise, since the lack of demo and all the warnings about the poor PC port (which were true, but again easily fixable)

Confession thread

I don't know if downloading the game, playing it for 15 minutes, deciding it's trash and deleting it qualifies as pirating, but I have done that on numerous occasions. I can't risk with my wallet :-) Got 400+ games on steam.

Hotline Miami

I have not pirated a single game for ages. With time I got dissapointed on myself when I began to realise what I was doing. Yes, games are expensive, but those who develop the game really do need the money, that is why they make them.

Now I just live with the Steam sales (Which are plenty!) and the Playstation Plus Service which gives you a ton of games for 375 DKK pr. yr. (Which Equals to around 50 euro.)

Meh, games are sooo easy that it would be waste of time. I mean, Skyrim $12, Borderlands 2 $12, etc. And with these games I know what I'm getting. Rest of the games? They are even cheaper so I wouldn't bother pirating it, all I need is to check some actual game-plays.

yeah many times i've tried pirate version before i've bought full, the same thing with music albums

Yup. Sid meier Pirates !

I only used pirated games till about 1 year ago - when I started to build my steam library. Now playing pirated games just feels like a waste since I don't get any achievements lol

I still use pirated software though.

I used to play pirated games in the past, but I haven't done it for at least 7 years.

Pirating is basically "Hey I have this book/game/movie/song/etc and I'll loan it to my friend" on a massive scale thanks to it being digital. People found a loophole in the system and started using it which is smart.

I always hated how they equate pirating to theft. Just like borrowing from your friend most of the time you are not that interested in a product anyway that you are willing to buy it so if there wasn't a chance to DL it you just wouldn't buy it. Also this serves as a great advertising platform on a longterm and shortterm basis, longterm it will get you hooked on gaming and short term interested in a product.

Today however I find companies have found a good sweet spot with offering internet based content so a cracker might crack the game but to get patches, achievements, certain aspects of the game that need server connection you get locked out of and of course multiplayer. Well if the game is good private cracked servers might get created, patches might get hacked in but it's still a lot of hassle to deal with getting it to work so a great benefits/advertising/illegal balance is achieved with pirating.

Still it is pretty much loaning to a friend on a massive scale and as companies saw they were getting screwed over from potential sales of course laws followed that started smearing it, some games might truly get screwed over but most games I have a feeling can handle pirating aspect of the market and still get rich and pirating helps create that extra buzz and talk on the net to boost the product.

So to me 1 DL Does not equal a lost sale but potentially get someone hooked on the product so he might buy it. It is a wrong, but a very lesser wrong and not stealing.

I find that I don't have money for every good game that comes out. So certain games have to "played at a friends house" so to speak. This however allows me to come accustomed and in need of that product so if I have the opportunity I might go for that game or buy it once it is quite cheap just for old times sake, still I am being lead to a wider market thanks to this if instead I would buy 1-2 games and get only hooked on those series.

I do find it funny how the way you pass on a product makes it "oooh burn in hell sinner" or normal. If a friend gave me a disk with a game on it it is ok. Now imagine that friend didn't have the time and simply uploaded the content of the disk and passed it to me. The end result is exactly the same but one would get me jailed and one would be totally ok. Only thing that changed is how the content was passed to me.

You're banned.