How do YOU pirate?

[Ivan]

Do you try before you buy? If you finish it without having a great experience do you not think to buy it? Do you try and once you see you're really enjoying it, stop and buy it?

I found that if I'm really enjoying something after the first hour or two I stop playing and add it to my wishlist. However, if the experience is so-so I typically finish it and never think about it again. Rare are the moments when I enjoy something so much and finish it in one playthrough, though that happened recently with Inside. To "make up for it" I bought it for a friend to check it out on his birthday. What's your experience?

 

[Abu Antar]

I haven't pirated anything in ages, but when I did, I didn't give a crap about supporting anyone. I just did it and finished the stuff I liked. Uninstalled what I didn't like.

 

[Tiny Tim]

I got into gaming through piracy. Here's my story
I used to casually play games as a kid ( when my parents were buying ) mainly PS2 and portable but also some pc games. Then when i reached high school i just lost interest and stopped completely. I had other hobbies - notably films - but no more games. Then a couple of years ago i felt nostalgic and instead of digging up my old PS i started looking into PC gaming. Watching some playthroughs on youtube, i found myself reluctantly torrenting aaa games that my laptop couldn't even run properly just to get a taste (yeah right) .

First i grabbed the early Assasin's Creed games. And though i found them to be intorerably silly plot wise and it was sort of a guilty pleasure, i found the gameplay to be very interesting. Slowly, i was hooked. I got up to revelations that year, and even tried 3 before my poor laptop died a heroic death trying to handle hours of heated gameplay. It is notable though that if not for piracy it wouldn't even have crossed my mind to pay 40 euros for any of these games.


Anyway, at some point after that i discovered games that i actually liked and bought a decent pc. And after years of torrenting, i reluctantly started buying.


Things i might buy now:
Old games ( they're super cheap and it's convenient though often it's not the original developers that are getting the money )
Indie titles and games by smaller studios ( because they're cheaper and to support devs )
Games i've played so much in my torrenting days that i felt i should own ( like fallout new vegas )



Things i might still steal:
Crappy AAA titles when i feel like playing them, though i never do. Last one was fallout 4 just to see how bad it is ( it was worse than i thought) .
Games that i'm not sure i wanna play and are currently expensive

 

[oneself]

Shamelessly.

 

[Bibbimbop]

With a parrot and an eyepatch.

 

[Night Goat]

Why would I ever pay for something I can get for free?

 

[Mynon]

Wael, first you need a boat...

 

[Forest Dweller]

I pirate it, get as much enjoyment out of it that I can, and then hunt down the designer and rape him/her.

 

[pippin]

These days, most things I pirate are from abandonware sites. Few games are worth pirating these days. I'm still planning to buy Twitcher3 and Nier Automata when I get my new computer.

 

[Ivan]

Why would I ever pay for something I can get for free?

I would if I'm really enjoying something. I was playing Furi and it "clicked" with me an hour into it. I uninstalled it and added it to my wishlist. I'm not going to be paying "top dollar" for it, but I know that there's an experience I'm hungry for, and that's enough for me to warrant a purchase. I guess my adage is: good experiences don't come free.

 

[Gerrard]

I don't. Everything is shit not worth pirating, the only good games worth playing are worth buying. Maybe not always at full price, but still.

 

[buru5]

Most of the games I pirate I've owned at one point in time and just don't have the physical media to play it again. If I respect the developers I will pay for the games, if I don't I have no qualms about pirating without paying.

 

[Tytus]

I mostly pirate Paradox games (though I own a bunch of them) because I hate their DLC practices. They are worse than EA and Ubisoft combined. I await sales to buy them later on - because of the mods.

 

[Excidium II]

I pirate games that I probably won't give a fuck about anymore by the time it's 75% off.

 

[Sigourn]

I pirate, and if I like the game, I will add it to my "will have to buy" list. This list even includes games I once liked, but that I no longer like, such as Skyrim and Fallout 3. So far the list isn't particularly big:

- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Fallout 3
- Fallout: New Vegas
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Baldur's Gate (haven't played much, but it's a worthy purchase)
- Planescape: Torment
- The Witcher (I got this one for free on GOG, so I should buy it on Steam I suppose)
- Gothic
- Wasteland 2
- Fallout
- Dark Souls (annoyances aside, another worthy purchase)

 

[Fargus]

I pirated ME Downsyndromeda and unistalled after an hour. It's not even worth pirating. Same with Shitout 4. Pirated Rimworld after my friend suggested the game, then bought it as soon as it was on steam, because... worth it.

Other than that i haven't pirated anything in years. And with steam refunds i dont even need to anymore.

 

[Cynicus]

I used to pirate like a mofo when I was young and broke. Most crap wouldn't be worth the effort these days. The few games that have interested me over the past several years have usually come from small, independent devs, and I make it a point to pay full price for those. Anything else usually waits for a bundle or massive discount.

 

[Somberlain]

I don't really pirate much anymore. Older games are so cheap on GOG/Steam and sales are so frequent that it's just more convenient to buy.

Only games I'd consider pirating are nu-AAA shit and games from crooked companies who don't deserve money but I just don't care about the latest Call of Assassin's Battledogs trash or inXile games so I don't pirate them either.

I do download ROMs of old console games that can't be bought anymore though, so there's that.

 

[mondblut]

I pirate everything and never play it.

 

[Echo Mirage]

There just isn't anything really worth pirating anymore. And if it is then it takes so long to crack that by that time it is cracked it can either be bought for next to nothing on a key site or you can watch the whole thing on YouTube and come to the conclusion that it probably isn't worth buying or playing. The only games that are interesting and worth playing these days are indie games and they are generally worth the price of a pizza price tag.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

I pirate because I want. I want because I can.


NOBODY WILL EVER STOP ME!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!


I'm not going to spend a dime on games until we have some sane prices. Closest I see are prices for old games on GoG.
That's not happening until the dollar lowers down.

Buying a game for 15-30 reais is ok, buying a game for 200 reais is bullshit and I will not do it. Ever.

'sides, for now I have no money. Later through, I might buy games I like, but only good games with good prices. I'm not going to toss real money on popamole.

 

[Biscotti]

I pirate because

A) The price of the game is too high, fuck shelling out 60 bucks for a single game

B) I want to try before I buy. There's these things called demos that were used for that purpose back in the day, but apparently no one can be bothered with those anymore even though it's easier than ever due to platforms like GoG and Steam.

 

[Luckmann]

My primary target of pirating, if I were to do it, which I would obviously never engage in because that would be highly illegal and I'm a well-mannered and well-adjusted productive member of society, would be things with excessive DLC:s, pre-order bonuses, skins, and generally tons of stuff that you cannot reasonably acquire. This includes a ton of Paradox titles because they cut shit up piecemeal and then dole it out until suddenly you have to shell out over 120€ for the full game, but also practically any game that features pre-order bonuses or backer content that cannot be easily unlocked.

The worst offenders are those that give out exclusive content that are time-locked, or given out during an exclusive event you might've not even known of, nevermind had a chance to attend. If I were a pirate, I'd pirate that every day, all day, forever.

 

[mondblut]

I pirate because I want. I want because I can.


NOBODY WILL EVER STOP ME!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!


I'm not going to spend a dime on games until we have some sane prices.

You were doing great until that part. Nobody gives a fuck if you are a pisspoor hobo, sell your kidney or go suck dicks to make some quick bucks, whatever. "Sane prices" my ass, are you fucking commie?

 

[Mozg]

Old console stuff because they won't slap it emulated on Steam or GoG (where I'd pay five bucks)