- Jul 11, 2006
- 75
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- 18,630
With the recent Bioshock fiasco where I can only install the game 5 times on the same computer, I am so steamed about this that I just have to share my personal story to get this off my chest. Please understand I am not advocating piracy. (Hopefully that will be very clear if you read my entire personal account.) But I want to make it clear that it was the PC game sellers themselves who introduced me to piracy!
I like to think I’m an honest guy who does not steal and who purchases what I own. I lived by this philosophy for years, purchasing my PC games in stores and online. Then I bought a Ubisoft title which had Starforce on it. The fact that the developers of Starforce were very adamant their copy protection would not damage my optical drive was rather unconvincing when there were so many personal accounts to the contrary.
So I started Googling to see if there was a workaround. And then I discovered it: no-CD cracks. So now I could install and play the game without the disk or ever activating Starforce. (Well that was easy, I thought.) So I started using no-CD cracks for other games I legitimately owned as well.
Then I bought a used game off Ebay. I don’t like buying games off Ebay because I routinely receive bootlegs. I therefore typically email the seller before I purchase one and ask a few questions so I’m confident the game is for real. This time, the seller proclaimed the game to be in like new condition. The one I received was the most scratched disk I’ve ever seen – it wouldn’t even install.
That’s it, I thought. I’m not buying anymore used games off Ebay. So since I had been enlightened by the world of no-CD cracks, I had become aware of other ways to download games. (I won’t share any details, but I’m sure a lot of you know what I mean.) So I started downloading games that you could no longer find except on Ebay. (Seemed fairly innocent since they were no longer available new.)
Just to be clear - if the game was still available somewhere on a legitimate site as a purchased download, I used that instead. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with these results. One download off Dell’s site was so slow that I wondered if I was using dialup. Then, an eternity later, the actual download finished with no game manual. In addition, it came with strict rules on how many times I could install and play the game – restrictions that did not come with the retail version. In fact, the retail version could even be played without the CD! I paid for one more download from a different site, and when it came with similar restrictions, I decided I had enough. (Gosh, I thought. Why would I purchase a download when I can get better service from a “free” download?) Actually, I ended up downloading both of those games I legitimately purchased again (for free!) to avoid the idiotic install restrictions.
Next thing you know, I’m downloading all sorts of games for free since I now know how to do it. In fact, I start going into stores and noticing games on the retail shelf (which I had assumed were no longer available as they were a few years old) are the very games I had downloaded. (So I think to myself, hmmm – that’s not really fair to anyone that I should download this stuff. I’m contributing to piracy, and piracy as a whole is hurting the PC gaming industry. Then I just end up hurting myself when consoles get titles like Call of Duty 3, etc. which never get released to the PC. Maybe I need to be more conscious of this before I start searching around the internet for a download.)
So I purchase a THQ game along with about five others. Not realizing it, I purchased the CD-ROM version instead of the DVD version. (Dang, I thought. Oh well, installing six disks won’t kill me.) Well, when I got to disk 5, a serious installation error prevented me from continuing. After a little Google search, I discovered that this was an unfixable problem with some copies of the game. The only way people were able to fix it was by returning the CD-ROM version for the DVD version.
Just one problem with that – I purchased the game online (not exactly as easy to return as driving down to Best Buy) and I had just exceeded 30 days since I bought it. (I had been busy with the other games I bought, and only just now had time to install this one.) Now I’m really annoyed. So I email THQ’s tech support explaining the problem. The response I get is a grocery list of unhelpful feel-good checks (like make sure my disk isn’t scratched – even though I already told them it wasn’t; and make sure I have the latest version of Direct X!) So here’s a game where I know there’s a legitimate problem on some copies of disk 5, and even the game’s developer won’t help me. So guess what I then decide to do? I was not happy that I had to download another game that I had legitimately bought (especially after deciding not to do it anymore!), but I felt like I had no other alternative.
But to be truthful, I eventually realized that the whole concept of downloading pirated games was ridiculous. I was spending more time searching for downloads, the serial keys, the no-CD cracks, the online manuals, and printing off CD covers then I was actually spending playing the games! Online, I was reading comments rationalizing it all, and it all boiled down to these people being whiny cheapskates. I decided I had enough of it.
And then… Bioshock came out where you are basically paying $50 to rent it five times! So I’m asking myself, what exactly is my incentive for being honest???
I like to think I’m an honest guy who does not steal and who purchases what I own. I lived by this philosophy for years, purchasing my PC games in stores and online. Then I bought a Ubisoft title which had Starforce on it. The fact that the developers of Starforce were very adamant their copy protection would not damage my optical drive was rather unconvincing when there were so many personal accounts to the contrary.
So I started Googling to see if there was a workaround. And then I discovered it: no-CD cracks. So now I could install and play the game without the disk or ever activating Starforce. (Well that was easy, I thought.) So I started using no-CD cracks for other games I legitimately owned as well.
Then I bought a used game off Ebay. I don’t like buying games off Ebay because I routinely receive bootlegs. I therefore typically email the seller before I purchase one and ask a few questions so I’m confident the game is for real. This time, the seller proclaimed the game to be in like new condition. The one I received was the most scratched disk I’ve ever seen – it wouldn’t even install.
That’s it, I thought. I’m not buying anymore used games off Ebay. So since I had been enlightened by the world of no-CD cracks, I had become aware of other ways to download games. (I won’t share any details, but I’m sure a lot of you know what I mean.) So I started downloading games that you could no longer find except on Ebay. (Seemed fairly innocent since they were no longer available new.)
Just to be clear - if the game was still available somewhere on a legitimate site as a purchased download, I used that instead. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with these results. One download off Dell’s site was so slow that I wondered if I was using dialup. Then, an eternity later, the actual download finished with no game manual. In addition, it came with strict rules on how many times I could install and play the game – restrictions that did not come with the retail version. In fact, the retail version could even be played without the CD! I paid for one more download from a different site, and when it came with similar restrictions, I decided I had enough. (Gosh, I thought. Why would I purchase a download when I can get better service from a “free” download?) Actually, I ended up downloading both of those games I legitimately purchased again (for free!) to avoid the idiotic install restrictions.
Next thing you know, I’m downloading all sorts of games for free since I now know how to do it. In fact, I start going into stores and noticing games on the retail shelf (which I had assumed were no longer available as they were a few years old) are the very games I had downloaded. (So I think to myself, hmmm – that’s not really fair to anyone that I should download this stuff. I’m contributing to piracy, and piracy as a whole is hurting the PC gaming industry. Then I just end up hurting myself when consoles get titles like Call of Duty 3, etc. which never get released to the PC. Maybe I need to be more conscious of this before I start searching around the internet for a download.)
So I purchase a THQ game along with about five others. Not realizing it, I purchased the CD-ROM version instead of the DVD version. (Dang, I thought. Oh well, installing six disks won’t kill me.) Well, when I got to disk 5, a serious installation error prevented me from continuing. After a little Google search, I discovered that this was an unfixable problem with some copies of the game. The only way people were able to fix it was by returning the CD-ROM version for the DVD version.
Just one problem with that – I purchased the game online (not exactly as easy to return as driving down to Best Buy) and I had just exceeded 30 days since I bought it. (I had been busy with the other games I bought, and only just now had time to install this one.) Now I’m really annoyed. So I email THQ’s tech support explaining the problem. The response I get is a grocery list of unhelpful feel-good checks (like make sure my disk isn’t scratched – even though I already told them it wasn’t; and make sure I have the latest version of Direct X!) So here’s a game where I know there’s a legitimate problem on some copies of disk 5, and even the game’s developer won’t help me. So guess what I then decide to do? I was not happy that I had to download another game that I had legitimately bought (especially after deciding not to do it anymore!), but I felt like I had no other alternative.
But to be truthful, I eventually realized that the whole concept of downloading pirated games was ridiculous. I was spending more time searching for downloads, the serial keys, the no-CD cracks, the online manuals, and printing off CD covers then I was actually spending playing the games! Online, I was reading comments rationalizing it all, and it all boiled down to these people being whiny cheapskates. I decided I had enough of it.
And then… Bioshock came out where you are basically paying $50 to rent it five times! So I’m asking myself, what exactly is my incentive for being honest???
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