If it's a game I'm unsure of, I'll torrent it first and see what it's like. If I like it, I'll then buy it.
Whats the point of buying it, if you've already got it?
Well if I just used cracked versions then:
- most likely no multiplayer support, which is important to me since me and my friends play together a lot
- no patches, any attempt will mean losing any cracks applied
- no support
- possible bugs caused by cracks (sims 2 comes to mind, no-cd crack disables house building)
I try and buy my games from steam as much as possible, because it's one of the few places that doesn't treat you like some thief. You can download them as much as you like and play them on as many computers as you like once they've steam installed. No need for fiddly DVDs or any sort of stupid anti-piracy checks. The save sync and auto-updates are quite handy too, but only if you have a decent connection.
The only criticisms of steam is the awkward offline mode and it's insistence to auto-patch before playing. It's also pretty useless if you don't have a decent connection with a decent download limit, but then again what is useful with such a connection?
EA really pisses me off because of their tactics when it comes to PC games. Due to companies like them, it's no wonder why piracy is high and PC gaming is slowly dying outside sources like steam.
When it comes to other software, I have no problems torrenting and not buying, especially when it comes to programs like Photoshop. They're fucking expensive otherwise.
