I stole games raw during the early 2000s. It wasn't the fact I could not afford the games (well, until about 2004 when things were dire) but it was just the fact they were there. That is why you had broadband and not dial up. And they were everywhere, literally waved in your face.
I still bought games but only the ones I would have bought any way, whereas stealing them allowed me to play games I would not have bought otherwise. I have a huge back catalogue of very old games in a 500 cd binder..
However, as much as people think it is bad to steal games (and it is, I've always known right from wrong) it allowed me to experience the best game ever. One I would totally not have bought at all. I remember some one saying "Fallout 3 is coming out soon you must buy it !" and these were the days where I had £20 a week left to spend. So I had to choose very carefully, or, for two weeks I would be broke and bored.
I downloaded Fallout 3, got some help from my pals (because I had never ever played a RPG before that) and within a couple of weeks I was hooked.
Since then? I bought FO3 in a dvd case, the limited lunchbox edition, the BOS ltd edition with statue, the GOTY and so on. Then I pre ordered FONV ltd ed box set and bought all of the DLC one by one and then bought GOTY on Steam. Oh, and then I bought FO4 ltd ed and a load of merchandise from Bethesda (Tshirts, masks, guides etc).
That would not have happened had I not sampled the wares first. So you could theoretically argue all bloody day, but that is a fact.
I guess if you have more money than sense then you could buy it to try it, but I just didn't have the funds. It has, however, opened up a whole new meaning to PC gaming for me, and it wasn't the last RPG I played either. I bought a genuine Skyrim on launch too.
