Piracy/Cracked Games

russraine · 12 April 2006, 14:53

Hi everyone!

I just wondered what people's opinion of Amiga piracy is now when looking back to the 1990's.

I was about 7 years old when we got our first amiga (Amiga 500 Cartoon Classics pack) and to start with we only had original games.

But it didn't take long for us to find copied games available, and so free games or very cheap ones from Car boot sales or markets became the norm. We did buy a few original games here and there, but most of our amiga collctions right through from the A500 games until we stopped using our Amiga A1200 whe we got a pc and Nintendo 64.

At the time, buying copied games did not bother me, it was the norm.

But looking back on things now, I sort of have a different opinion.

Here is an example, in the mid to late 1990's we did actually buy 3 official games from Vulcan Software, but the rest I had were cracked copies.

Now in 2006 I am friends with Paul Carrington, the creator of Vulcan Software, in many ways, if you look at it the sensible way, the pirate copies of Vulcan games I had were literally stolen from Vulcan, I wouldn't steal from my friend Paul now, so why was it 'okay' to do so then?

I've sinced purchased many of Vulcan's PC software and I hope to have made up for the error of purchasing unoriginal copies of their software.

I'm interested to know what you all think...

Were you a user of cracked amiga software who now regrets it?

Were you a user of cracked amiga software who does not regret it?

Were you an Amiga Cracker, do you regret your illegal activites?

Were you an Amiga Cracker, do you still think it was okay to crack amiga software?

Does anyone here aquire cracked PC (or console) software?

Are there any PC crackers here, why do you crack? What is your argument for illegal piracy?

In my opinion, piracy was wrong then and is wrong now, although most of the software on my pc is legal, a couple of things are not, but I hope for this to change soon and become piracy free.

I believe Freeware with donation is the best poilcy for future software, and I like the idea of ingame advertising to make games Free for the consumer.

All views welcome, no judgments!

kriz · 12 April 2006, 15:07

hehe I always copy everything i can! Also buy what i really like ... but paying for cracked copys suxx! I would never do that..

I dont see any problem at all with it, its not like i would buy all the stuff i have downloaded .. And also I have found alot of stuff that I have gone and bought later (thanks to the copy)..

Hehe everything gets cracked, even shareware stuff

Why? Many reasons, the groups compete in releasing stuff fastest .. People want to try before buy.. Or are young/students and dont have any money for software

adgloride · 12 April 2006, 18:35

On other forums I've heard people say they never realised they made original games for the Amiga. Most of my friends had Amigas and not many bought the original games. The Amiga had some fantastic games but at £25 each they were expensive, especially if you went out and bought a rubbish game.

Galaxy · 12 April 2006, 22:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by adgloride

On other forums I've heard people say they never realised they made original games for the Amiga.

Well those people must be very stupid then. Where did they think those games came from?

gifgit · 12 April 2006, 22:50

I was just the same,I had about 10 original games and masses of cracked/copied disks.I know it`s a cop out excuse but I simply couldn`t afford to buy a new game when I wanted to so I did what most others did, I got copies from friends and went to boot sales.Some things never change and piracy is one of them,most of my sofware on my pc is downloaded via limewire or whichever P2P net work I`m using at the time.Unfortunately software will always be considered expensive and piracy will be rife on any system.I look at this this way (to justify myself).
How would I feel if I`d payed over £100 for mcafee internet and virus sofware and then found out that I could have got it for free?

Phew ! Glad to get that guilt off my chest.

adgloride · 13 April 2006, 00:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Well those people must be very stupid then. Where did they think those games came from?

They were probably refering to how easy it was to get the pirated games. I can remember robocop 3 I think it was and the dongle you had to plug into the joystick port to get it to work. It was meant to be uncrackable and the hackers cracked it in 2 days.

russraine · 13 April 2006, 05:06

Keep the views coming!

whiteb · 13 April 2006, 06:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by russraine

Hi everyone!

Were you an Amiga Cracker, do you regret your illegal activites?

Were you an Amiga Cracker, do you still think it was okay to crack amiga software?

All views welcome, no judgments!

Hahahahaha, you should PM galahad dude

musashi5150 · 13 April 2006, 09:58

I agree with gifgit. I was a kid when I got my first Amiga and I'd have to save my pocket money for weeks to get a new game - so rather then have no games to play I just got copies from mates and invested in an original of X-Copy

I don't regret what I did at all - It was seeing all the great cracktros that got me into coding. In fact, I often preferred looking at the cracktros to playing the games

If I could go back in time would I choose the legal route? ..... not a chance. I wouldn't trade my education of the 'scene' for anything.

Muzkat · 13 April 2006, 10:19

I too had about 10 original games and over a hundred cracked ones. Back then I didn't feel guilty about it at all. Games were very expensive, and also there were never too many original games on the shelves when I was a kid, even when the Amiga was booming. So I used to copy games off my friend - save money, and get access to heaps more games too.

Times have changed alittle bit. When people say that "piracy killed the Amiga," I feel abit guilty. As for modern PC software, I find it way too expensive. Let me illustrate:

New release book: $30 (Australian dollars)
New release CD: $25 - $30
New release DVD: $30
New release PC game: $100 or more

What the hell! I just can't bring myself to pay that much for a game, especially when you can complete many of them very quickly these days, and also because 95% of modern games are complete crap. I even refuse to pay that much for an iD Software release, and I am an iD junkie.

However, if I do really, really, really like a game which I have burnt, I wait until the price has come down abit (to say around $30 - can take a few years or a few months), then I buy it. I do feel abit guilty burning software, becase I am a creative person, and I know how hard those guys who make games must work. So I don't want to freeload entirely.

But, I feel antivirus software and antispyware software should be free. All of it. It shits me that people are making money from people's net and PC insecurities and fears.

musashi5150 · 13 April 2006, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muzkat

When people say that "piracy killed the Amiga," I feel abit guilty.

Yeah, I feel that a little too - but then I think back to my pre-Amiga days when I had a Spectrum (yes, I know C64 was cool - but Speccy was what I could afford

). I remember back in the day when Speccy games were £1.99 - that's great, pocket money goes that far

But since then games stopped being simple 1 man operations in bedrooms and got to be big business, prices swelled, gameplay got crap and fewer truly original games were released because the big companies always wanted to turn a huge profit - and original games were seen as more of a risk. Look at some of the crap licensed games that were released

IMHO as long as games cost more than blank media there will always be piracy...

Although piracy surely contributed, I think it was the lack of hardware updates that killed the Amiga - it just got left behind...

adgloride · 13 April 2006, 16:23

When I had my spectrum then c64 I must have had boxes of original games. I must have had about 2 or 3 blank tapes with a few pirated games on them. When it came to the amiga nearly all my games were copies, I couldn't afford them at all.

At the time I think I got £3 spending money a week so it was almost impossible for me to buy a original game at £25 each. I had to sell my c64, disc drive and about 2 boxes of original games and 2 boxes full of discs to be able to afford the £250 second hand for an amiga 500 plus.

BippyM · 13 April 2006, 18:06

It's quite ironic how 15 yrs ago nobody could afford £20-£25 for a game (Because of pocket money).. Now my kids have a DS and PSP and GBA and they have loads of original games which they paid for themselves (and they currently only get £3 p/w each but can earn more cash by helping out around the house)..

They save and save (we buy sweets etc in bluk so they rarely waste money) and also spend xmas/birthday/easter money etc on games..

They don't complain or whinge that they can't have this or that (well sometimes they do) they simply save up for the game(s) they want and once they have the new game it is all they play for a while!

Mick_AKA · 13 April 2006, 18:38

Sad to say I have rarely purchased a piece of original software since owning an Amiga

As others have said, I used to see guys selling cracked copies at my local car boot sales for a couple of quid, and with that sort of temptation you were looking at anywhere from 5-10 games for the price of a single one retail, yes looking back I do feel bad, and most of my current library of Amiga titles are original, but its the same now really, i mean there arent many students that can afford full copies of things like 3dsMax of Softimage so lecturers in a round about way encourage students to grab pirate copies.
Even now, seriously how many people running emulators have all ligitimate roms?
Ok, end of the day im a thieving little goit, but god damn its fun

killergorilla · 13 April 2006, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by bippym

It's quite ironic how 15 yrs ago nobody could afford £20-£25 for a game (Because of pocket money).. Now my kids have a DS and PSP and GBA and they have loads of original games which they paid for themselves (and they currently only get £3 p/w each but can earn more cash by helping out around the house)..

They save and save (we buy sweets etc in bluk so they rarely waste money) and also spend xmas/birthday/easter money etc on games..

They don't complain or whinge that they can't have this or that (well sometimes they do) they simply save up for the game(s) they want and once they have the new game it is all they play for a while!

Good to hear matey, I'd be happy for my kids to do the same if I had any!

Adderly · 13 April 2006, 20:04

I copied so many games i had hardly time to play them, only archiving and catalog, sorting, swapping....
Older (and wiser?) now i buy the games i want to play and this way i can really enjoy them - and good games are rare if you are a long time game enthusiast, i only buy ~10 in a year, only those who are worth the money.

BippyM · 13 April 2006, 20:13

10.. I bought 1 this year.. FEAR

Rick Dangerous · 14 April 2006, 03:04

Back in 1986 we first met after school for gaming on the Amiga.
But those gaming-meetings went later on into a copy-session.
Anyone knew a buddy, who supplied him with cracked games.
So we sat there for hours and hours to do just copies.
There was no gaming at all!
We used "White Lightning" and later "X-Copy" to do this.
The feelings we got at that time were:
- It's forbidden, but it's somewhat exciting
- Hopefully no one catches us, we heard about several people which got into conflict with the law (Police visits the parents!).

But I think, that this 'Copy-Scene' was very important for the C64 and later the Amiga. People had to buy these machines to play cracked games!

And, in my opinion, this one thing in late 1980's put the gravestone on the Homecomputer-Market:
INTEL-MICROSOFT-IBM decided (they were forced to) to allow Third-Parties to develop hard- and software for their PCs.

Cheers,
Rick

Slayer · 14 April 2006, 04:13

When I first brought an Amiga in 1986 I always intended to buy everything... and even though today I have a vast collection of original software I too got into the scene so to speak...

but for me it was simply obtaining and having the stuff... I spent thousands of dollars (per month) on telephone calls to OS boards... which was really stupid... I could have brought two original games a week, in hindsight I didn't need the scene... I mean, I had the money to buy what I wanted anyway... I mean, I could afford the damn calls afterall...

Someone brought me an xbox at xmas, I brought kotor I and II... Morrowind, Halo and Halo II and guess what? I've finished them all... heh...

I brought a 360 and I've recently finished Oblivion... an earlier ordered modded xbox has finally just arrived this week... boosting a X3 chip with LED screen etc and a 300 gig harddrive...

I won't be using it for piracy... I buy the games and finish them... not collect pirate versions them and waste my time...

I should have stuck with my gut feeling in 1986...

moral of the story... trust thy self

nb: only applicable if you are honest and have self respect... heh

Slayer · 14 April 2006, 04:19

just to note... last week I paid $300 for a collection of 38 original games...

I still collect the software when I get the urge but I've put a hold on any more hardware purchases...

hence to say, my bank balance is going back up... heh...

the xbox media center plays a mean ddf video...

12 April 2006, 14:53	#1
russraine Zone Friend Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK Age: 41 Posts: 22	Piracy/Cracked Games Hi everyone! I just wondered what people's opinion of Amiga piracy is now when looking back to the 1990's. I was about 7 years old when we got our first amiga (Amiga 500 Cartoon Classics pack) and to start with we only had original games. But it didn't take long for us to find copied games available, and so free games or very cheap ones from Car boot sales or markets became the norm. We did buy a few original games here and there, but most of our amiga collctions right through from the A500 games until we stopped using our Amiga A1200 whe we got a pc and Nintendo 64. At the time, buying copied games did not bother me, it was the norm. But looking back on things now, I sort of have a different opinion. Here is an example, in the mid to late 1990's we did actually buy 3 official games from Vulcan Software, but the rest I had were cracked copies. Now in 2006 I am friends with Paul Carrington, the creator of Vulcan Software, in many ways, if you look at it the sensible way, the pirate copies of Vulcan games I had were literally stolen from Vulcan, I wouldn't steal from my friend Paul now, so why was it 'okay' to do so then? I've sinced purchased many of Vulcan's PC software and I hope to have made up for the error of purchasing unoriginal copies of their software. I'm interested to know what you all think... Were you a user of cracked amiga software who now regrets it? Were you a user of cracked amiga software who does not regret it? Were you an Amiga Cracker, do you regret your illegal activites? Were you an Amiga Cracker, do you still think it was okay to crack amiga software? Does anyone here aquire cracked PC (or console) software? Are there any PC crackers here, why do you crack? What is your argument for illegal piracy? In my opinion, piracy was wrong then and is wrong now, although most of the software on my pc is legal, a couple of things are not, but I hope for this to change soon and become piracy free. I believe Freeware with donation is the best poilcy for future software, and I like the idea of ingame advertising to make games Free for the consumer. All views welcome, no judgments!

13 April 2006, 05:06	#7
russraine Zone Friend Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK Age: 41 Posts: 22	interesting Keep the views coming!

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12 April 2006, 15:07	#2
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 42 Posts: 3,210	hehe I always copy everything i can! Also buy what i really like ... but paying for cracked copys suxx! I would never do that.. I dont see any problem at all with it, its not like i would buy all the stuff i have downloaded .. And also I have found alot of stuff that I have gone and bought later (thanks to the copy).. Hehe everything gets cracked, even shareware stuff Why? Many reasons, the groups compete in releasing stuff fastest .. People want to try before buy.. Or are young/students and dont have any money for software

12 April 2006, 18:35	#3
adgloride Amiga Mod Chipper Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: UK Age: 51 Posts: 229	On other forums I've heard people say they never realised they made original games for the Amiga. Most of my friends had Amigas and not many bought the original games. The Amiga had some fantastic games but at £25 each they were expensive, especially if you went out and bought a rubbish game.

12 April 2006, 22:50	#5
gifgit Retarded and dribbling Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Immingham Age: 50 Posts: 443	I was just the same,I had about 10 original games and masses of cracked/copied disks.I know it`s a cop out excuse but I simply couldn`t afford to buy a new game when I wanted to so I did what most others did, I got copies from friends and went to boot sales.Some things never change and piracy is one of them,most of my sofware on my pc is downloaded via limewire or whichever P2P net work I`m using at the time.Unfortunately software will always be considered expensive and piracy will be rife on any system.I look at this this way (to justify myself). How would I feel if I`d payed over £100 for mcafee internet and virus sofware and then found out that I could have got it for free? Phew ! Glad to get that guilt off my chest.

13 April 2006, 09:58	#9
musashi5150 move.w #$4489,$dff07e Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Norfolk, UK Age: 42 Posts: 2,351	I agree with gifgit. I was a kid when I got my first Amiga and I'd have to save my pocket money for weeks to get a new game - so rather then have no games to play I just got copies from mates and invested in an original of X-Copy I don't regret what I did at all - It was seeing all the great cracktros that got me into coding. In fact, I often preferred looking at the cracktros to playing the games If I could go back in time would I choose the legal route? ..... not a chance. I wouldn't trade my education of the 'scene' for anything.

13 April 2006, 10:19	#10
Muzkat Into the Wonderful Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Earthrealm Age: 42 Posts: 1,429	I too had about 10 original games and over a hundred cracked ones. Back then I didn't feel guilty about it at all. Games were very expensive, and also there were never too many original games on the shelves when I was a kid, even when the Amiga was booming. So I used to copy games off my friend - save money, and get access to heaps more games too. Times have changed alittle bit. When people say that "piracy killed the Amiga," I feel abit guilty. As for modern PC software, I find it way too expensive. Let me illustrate: New release book: $30 (Australian dollars) New release CD: $25 - $30 New release DVD: $30 New release PC game: $100 or more What the hell! I just can't bring myself to pay that much for a game, especially when you can complete many of them very quickly these days, and also because 95% of modern games are complete crap. I even refuse to pay that much for an iD Software release, and I am an iD junkie. However, if I do really, really, really like a game which I have burnt, I wait until the price has come down abit (to say around $30 - can take a few years or a few months), then I buy it. I do feel abit guilty burning software, becase I am a creative person, and I know how hard those guys who make games must work. So I don't want to freeload entirely. But, I feel antivirus software and antispyware software should be free. All of it. It shits me that people are making money from people's net and PC insecurities and fears.

13 April 2006, 16:23	#12
adgloride Amiga Mod Chipper Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: UK Age: 51 Posts: 229	When I had my spectrum then c64 I must have had boxes of original games. I must have had about 2 or 3 blank tapes with a few pirated games on them. When it came to the amiga nearly all my games were copies, I couldn't afford them at all. At the time I think I got £3 spending money a week so it was almost impossible for me to buy a original game at £25 each. I had to sell my c64, disc drive and about 2 boxes of original games and 2 boxes full of discs to be able to afford the £250 second hand for an amiga 500 plus.

13 April 2006, 18:06	#13
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	It's quite ironic how 15 yrs ago nobody could afford £20-£25 for a game (Because of pocket money).. Now my kids have a DS and PSP and GBA and they have loads of original games which they paid for themselves (and they currently only get £3 p/w each but can earn more cash by helping out around the house).. They save and save (we buy sweets etc in bluk so they rarely waste money) and also spend xmas/birthday/easter money etc on games.. They don't complain or whinge that they can't have this or that (well sometimes they do) they simply save up for the game(s) they want and once they have the new game it is all they play for a while!

13 April 2006, 18:38	#14
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	Sad to say I have rarely purchased a piece of original software since owning an Amiga As others have said, I used to see guys selling cracked copies at my local car boot sales for a couple of quid, and with that sort of temptation you were looking at anywhere from 5-10 games for the price of a single one retail, yes looking back I do feel bad, and most of my current library of Amiga titles are original, but its the same now really, i mean there arent many students that can afford full copies of things like 3dsMax of Softimage so lecturers in a round about way encourage students to grab pirate copies. Even now, seriously how many people running emulators have all ligitimate roms? Ok, end of the day im a thieving little goit, but god damn its fun

13 April 2006, 20:04	#16
Adderly [Satan^God] Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 701	I copied so many games i had hardly time to play them, only archiving and catalog, sorting, swapping.... Older (and wiser?) now i buy the games i want to play and this way i can really enjoy them - and good games are rare if you are a long time game enthusiast, i only buy ~10 in a year, only those who are worth the money.

13 April 2006, 20:13	#17
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	10.. I bought 1 this year.. FEAR

14 April 2006, 03:04	#18
Rick Dangerous Registered Playmate Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: OZ Age: 54 Posts: 156	Back in 1986 we first met after school for gaming on the Amiga. But those gaming-meetings went later on into a copy-session. Anyone knew a buddy, who supplied him with cracked games. So we sat there for hours and hours to do just copies. There was no gaming at all! We used "White Lightning" and later "X-Copy" to do this. The feelings we got at that time were: - It's forbidden, but it's somewhat exciting - Hopefully no one catches us, we heard about several people which got into conflict with the law (Police visits the parents!). But I think, that this 'Copy-Scene' was very important for the C64 and later the Amiga. People had to buy these machines to play cracked games! And, in my opinion, this one thing in late 1980's put the gravestone on the Homecomputer-Market: INTEL-MICROSOFT-IBM decided (they were forced to) to allow Third-Parties to develop hard- and software for their PCs. Cheers, Rick

14 April 2006, 04:13	#19
Slayer Amiga Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: New Zealand Age: 57 Posts: 695	When I first brought an Amiga in 1986 I always intended to buy everything... and even though today I have a vast collection of original software I too got into the scene so to speak... but for me it was simply obtaining and having the stuff... I spent thousands of dollars (per month) on telephone calls to OS boards... which was really stupid... I could have brought two original games a week, in hindsight I didn't need the scene... I mean, I had the money to buy what I wanted anyway... I mean, I could afford the damn calls afterall... Someone brought me an xbox at xmas, I brought kotor I and II... Morrowind, Halo and Halo II and guess what? I've finished them all... heh... I brought a 360 and I've recently finished Oblivion... an earlier ordered modded xbox has finally just arrived this week... boosting a X3 chip with LED screen etc and a 300 gig harddrive... I won't be using it for piracy... I buy the games and finish them... not collect pirate versions them and waste my time... I should have stuck with my gut feeling in 1986... moral of the story... trust thy self nb: only applicable if you are honest and have self respect... heh

14 April 2006, 04:19	#20
Slayer Amiga Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: New Zealand Age: 57 Posts: 695	just to note... last week I paid $300 for a collection of 38 original games... I still collect the software when I get the urge but I've put a hold on any more hardware purchases... hence to say, my bank balance is going back up... heh... the xbox media center plays a mean ddf video...

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