Ever downloaded warez/cracks: Yes or No? [Anonymous Poll]

[Oliver]

When I couldn't afford it in my earlier years, I used to download a lot of stuff to test it without any commercial interest. Did you crack a program or did you download warez in the past to check out the software - and did you buy it as well once it was worth the price-tag?

[Smackety]

I had a coworker that would gleefully crack new games just for the fun of it. He would give me copies sometimes, but any game that I was actually interested in I would buy myself. Sometimes very old games are impossible to find except in hacked forml. I will also find cracked games on occasion even though I own the game because I am too lazy to swap out CD's.

[jhunter1163]

I'm with Smackety on this. I don't have a problem paying for games, but the really cool old stuff generally isn't in the stores or even on Amazon, so it's off to Abandonia for me. And if you don't know what Abandonia is, you didn't hear about it from me. :boxedin:

[El Greco]

I will also find cracked games on occasion even though I own the game because I am too lazy to swap out CD's.

One of the many cases where the cracked copy offers more functionality than the original.

[soylent]

I'm one of those people who refuse to have useless plastic coasters in the drive and keep swapping out the damn things when I want to play a different game.

I love steam, especially if I have to install a game on a different computer.

The activation stuff is tolerable; it's fine when it works. I had a broken DVD once, it would read slower and slower to try to compensate but eventually stall before completing the install; not only was I going to have to pester them for a new DVD, I was going to have to call their call center and explain why you've installed/activated it 3+ times or whatever. I just warezed it instead; much more convenient.

[240-185]

Did I use serialz once? Yes.
Did I collect the attached trojans? Yes.

[Dancing David]

It is a personal choice, there are reasons to crack.

But be aware. Keep it clean and do not use your main machine. Use one you do not care about, that you do not care to use for commerce.

[De_Bunk]

I'll buy something if i like it...after i tried it...'cos i want the updates and stuff...things you can't 99.9% get, with a cracked version...

Especially on my pro vid and photo editing software...

DB

[PogoPedant]

Yup, first time it was to be able to play a game I had bought, but whose DRM was so strong I couldn't use my legal copy.

These last few years I've stopped pirating; now I only play console games and stuff I get from gamersgate or steam.

[Z]

I did with the Sims. Then turned around and ended up buying the entire series.

Sims 2, I was given a cracked copy, but again ended up buying the entire series.

I generally use them to try a game out before the price comes down to where I am comfortable paying for it.

I also used to use a cracked copy of Office, a cracked copy of Nortons (isn't that just wrong? And it worked without a valid subscription for four years!), and some other software. In all cases, I've either bought the actual programs since then, or started using freeware instead (for example, using AVG or Avast! instead of Nortons).

And I've had a fair share of trojans to battle... :D

[shawmutt]

No. Anything I need to use I can find for free without relying on someone else to be honest with their cracks. Unscrupulous folks can put all sorts of nasties on programs. I get the academic version of software, or use the free version of expensive software (GIMP for photoshop, Inkscape for Illustrator, OpenOffice for MS Office, etc.)

[Z]

How well does GIMP work?

[shawmutt]

For what I need? Great, but I only use about 10% of the functionality on those types of programs.

[Checkmite]

When I was 14, in the early 90s, I downloaded a "warez". It was called "Win Nuke". I think I used it once, maybe, I forget. Back when chatrooms were HTML and for some odd reason displayed everybody's IP address in front of each of their posts.

[Aerik]

My family's first pc was a win. 95 and my uncle Jim made us a floppy that would load DOOM II if we rebooted it with the disk in. That count?

[Richard Masters]

Conclusion from the poll: Skeptics are thieves. ;)

[asmodean]

A few years ago (well, quite a number of year ago but who's counting) I bought a few games after having tried some incredible demos, only to have the actual game suck donkey ... spherical objects. After that I must admit to have done the dl, test, buy if good thingy.

Now adays I have usally little time to spend on games, so the I get games from the companies that never seems to let me down, and thus never needs a trial: Valve, Blizzard, Obsidian, Bioware, Firaxis...

Still, from time to time the urge to get a nocd-crack is very high, I *hate* swapping discs.

[Richard Masters]

I do wish I had downloaded cracked versions of Master of Orion III. That game was a real disappointment - and one of the few I bought before actually playing it.

The way I see it, Quicksilver owes me money for ruining the game. People still get together and play Master of Orion II instead even though it is over a decade old.

[Christian Klippel]

Yes, i did crack two programs myself loooong ago for my work in a company, when Windows NT was just brand-new. I had to, because these friggin copy-protection dongles on the parallel port made nothing but trouble. Which is rather bad if you need to use CAD, for example, and have to use the port to actually plot your work.

However, i was legally entitled to do so. Our equivalent to the copyright-law explicitly states that to make a protected software work and usable, you are allowed to crack it, have it cracked by someone else, or grab an available crack to disable that protection.

Privately i never had to do any of that, because i use linux on my desktop together with all the free/open source software.

Greetings,

Chris

[quixotecoyote]

I don't do warez, but I'll crack anything that makes me put a cd in the drive.

I remember the switch from floppy to hard drives when we didn't have to keep switching disks anymore, and then POS publishers drag us back to the 80's because they're fighting a pointless battle against pirates.

So **** them, I've got a whole folder of no-cd cracks for my legally purchased games.

[quixotecoyote]

I do wish I had downloaded cracked versions of Master of Orion III. That game was a real disappointment - and one of the few I bought before actually playing it.

The way I see it, Quicksilver owes me money for ruining the game. People still get together and play Master of Orion II instead even though it is over a decade old.

Well duh, MOO II is still one of the best 4x space games out there.

[Richard Masters]

Well duh, MOO II is still one of the best 4x space games out there.

I know, but calling MOOIII, MOOIII in this context is still fraud.

[BenBurch]

Sometimes I download cracks of games I absolutely own.

So I don't have to dig out the box with the CD in it.

[BenBurch]

How well does GIMP work?

I am told it works well, but every time I have launched it I have gotten lost with it. I know, RTFM, and some day I will. But not til I HAVE to.

[Aerik]

A note about my post: I was 10 or 11 at most.

[quixotecoyote]

I am told it works well, but every time I have launched it I have gotten lost with it. I know, RTFM, and some day I will. But not til I HAVE to.

Unless you're planning on doing professional-grade photo editing, may I suggest the more user-friendly paint.net (http://www.getpaint.net/)?

[Ikarus]

I'm with Smackety on this. I don't have a problem paying for games, but the really cool old stuff generally isn't in the stores or even on Amazon, so it's off to Abandonia for me. And if you don't know what Abandonia is, you didn't hear about it from me. :boxedin:

I thought that was legal?

I'm pretty sure their policy is that they only upload games that are no longer sold or made: abandoned.


Wikipedia: "Abandonware is computer software which is no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder. Alternately, the term is also used for software which is still available, but on which further support and development has been deliberately discontinued."

Since the software is no longer sold or supported, the copyright holders are not directly harmed in any way. This is why abandonware sites are, for the most part, ignored by the law.

The distribution of copyrighted software however is, and will allways be, illegal!

[quixotecoyote]

I thought that was legal?


Re-read the last line of the bit you quoted.

[SalG13]

My roomate in college justified using cracked software (mostly games) via the following logic: By playing top of the line games he always needed new hardware. Therefore by pirating software, he was actually helping the computer industry because he spent more on hardware than he would on software.

[Lonewulf]

My roomate in college justified using cracked software (mostly games) via the following logic: By playing top of the line games he always needed new hardware. Therefore by pirating software, he was actually helping the computer industry because he spent more on hardware than he would on software.

Er, that's weird logic. Since the whole question of copyright is that he's hurting the software companies (You know, the people busting their ass to make his game?)

[Molinaro]

I've dowloaded cracked versions of nearly every game I have bought. I hate swapping CDs.

I've only ever cracked one game -- for personal use. I turned the demo version of Avernum 3 into the full version by changing 3 JNE's into NOP's.

[Miss_Kitt]

Another possible interpretation of the poll results is that not everyone knows what those words ending in "z" mean, and thus only those who use them would bother to come into the poll?

That's my thought, anyway.

[Damien Evans]

I used to have an illegal copy of Rome: Total War, but I bought the legal version once the price went down. I've done the same with probably a dozen other games in the past.

I also hates the CD thing.

[Philip]

The CD-in-drive problem seems to mainly be a problem with games and I don't play games. Back when I was using a Commodore SX64 I had lots of cracked games.

Since I first got a Windows PC and now that I have a Mac, I've never used pirated software. I've had to deal with enough bullcrap from hackers without using warez. I've probably already gotten infected just using freeware.

[Lonewulf]

I used to have an illegal copy of Rome: Total War, but I bought the legal version once the price went down. I've done the same with probably a dozen other games in the past.

I also hates the CD thing.

Speaking of CD thing, I loathe the new methods of copyright protection we're seeing; I have the same thing in my Fallout 3 CD. I can't even figure out how to install the game onto another machine, so I'm pretty much limited to my one computer; as gaming companies try to crack down on pirating, they end up hurting the normal legal user in the process.

[El Greco]

And when exactly was the last time that a protection scheme actually prevented piracy ? I recently realized that while I bought all Civilization games, I actually played each and every one of them much more from pirated copies, just because I didn't have to insert the damn disk in the drive.

[grmcdorman]

Speaking of CD thing, I loathe the new methods of copyright protection we're seeing; I have the same thing in my Fallout 3 CD. I can't even figure out how to install the game onto another machine, so I'm pretty much limited to my one computer; as gaming companies try to crack down on pirating, they end up hurting the normal legal user in the process.
It appears to be only the Fallout 3 launcher that checks for the CD/DVD. If you start Fallout directly (look for the appropriate .exe in the Fallout folder), or use the Fallout Mod Manager (http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=640), you don't need the CD/DVD in the drive.

Oblivion, on the other hand, does seem to check for the CD/DVD in the game itself.

[moopet]

Recently I fancied playing UT2004 again. I bought a copy. It failed to work with its own copy protection, so I downloaded a pirate copy and used the CD key from the box of my legal copy.

The first ever PC game I bought was called Archipelagos. I read the manual for about a week, because it sounded cool and because the copy protection was so broken I couldn't start it. So I wrote a crack for it and released it on a warez site. Turns out it wasn't a very good game anyway.

My copy of MS Office 2007 doesn't work with the activation key I got with another version of MS Office 2007. So I had to borrow someone else's CD and install that way, again with my legal key.

I'm also one of those people who hates having to have a physical CD and swap it in and out. We're in the 21st century. I don't want boxes piled next to me and battles with scratched discs and calls to support. I want something that works. The few modern games I've bought I've almost always downloaded a no-cd crack for immediately, and never had to look at the disc again. Also, only one of my machines has a CD drive.

This has mostly been a rant against badly-written software and CD copy protection. Sorry to miss the point: yes, I have downloaded the entire Internet over the years. I have it on a backup drive.

[grmcdorman]

If you install UT2004 under Linux - where it works well, by the way - it doesn't require the CD either.