I can’t explain it, something about the freedom of acquisition takes the pressure off and lets me just launch it and try it out.
Maybe it’s easier to pay some money and hit “install”, than it is to find a torrent, download it and go through the install process, so there’s a selection bias there.
Maybe it’s the fact I downloaded it exactly when I decided to and not when a sale happened or it was in a bundle.
But even then, when I decide I want something right now and I pay full-price, something about that just puts a psychological barrier in between me and enjoying the game. Like now I have to validate the purchase, and if I want a refund it has to happen within 2 weeks, and within 2 hours of play (for steam). It’s just an unpleasant feeling.
Even worse is the subscription model. I absolutely hate the pressure of having to try all the games I put on my list before the end of the month so I don’t have to renew to keep trying them, that just feels like wasted money. But then about a week into the month I’ll lose my energy for trying new games and I’ll let the sub lapse and never try a bunch of the games I wanted to. It’s the worst way to pay for games, even if on paper it’s the cheapest for trying a bunch of them legally.
Very occasionally a game will come along that I know I want and will happily pay for immediately, and usually that means I’ll give it a decent try.
The best experience for me is pirating a game and loving it so much I then buy it, that guarantees I’m going to play it a lot. The latest game that happened to me with was A Dance of Fire and Ice. I bought it like 5 times, once each for me and my two kids, and twice on phone, and I was completely happy to. I even built a custom rhythm controller for it.
Funny story though - the pirated version of ADOFAI puts savegames in user folders, but the steam version puts them in the game folder, so it merges the progress between users. So for that reason, the pirated version is better. I can’t explain the discrepancy.
At least half my library on both Steam and GOG are games that I pirated, played the hell off and then just bought. Most I don’t even touch after buying them, I just do it to support the developer and actually own something I enjoyed.
No, for me its the opposite, when I buy a game I’m more likely to actually play it because I want to get my money’s worth of enjoyment, while with a pirated game, there isn’t a need to play the game, even if I do have fun with it.
eh, a few years back I pirated Geometry Dash, really liked it and played it all the time, so I bought it on steam
I guess I’m talking about launching and trying the game, rather than finishing it. Like once I start playing, the chances I continue are mostly about the game itself, and probably more about my mood at the time than I’d like to admit. I’m talking about games languishing completely untouched. As someone that’s been collecting a steam library for 20 years, I’ve got well over 1000 games and I haven’t played even close to half of them. I play almost all of the games I pirate. I’ve only started doing that a lot in the last year or two, but even in that time I’ve bought a bunch of stuff I don’t play. The pirated ones just call to me stronger.
Pirated game must be launched to verify that it actually works and this remove 90% of mental burden that makes so many games in Steam library to rot
Oh true, I never considered that. Once you install the crack you’ve got to test it, and that gets you over that first-launch hurdle.
I may buy a game on great sale to maybe play later
If I pirate it, it’s because I want to play it asap
I am more of the gang that gathers pirated games but never gets to play them, am I actually hurting the industry this way?
For me personally i find that i play pirated games more lften than the ones i bought, i hate having to use the launchers it is a complete pain in the ass, they all require updates everytime i open them, they’re very sluggish and often try to shove ads and offers down your throat (with exception of steam). I own the dishonored series legitimately but i still play the pirated version.
One of my favorite games is Titanfall 2 and i don’t play it anymore so that i don’t have to put up with the cancer of the EA app
No… I am just more likely to buy a game I pirated if I actually like it enough to keep playing more than a few minutes.
Pirated hades. Played for some hours, had a blast. Bought it on sale and now I’m still playing.
Wish I’d pirated it first. I bought it on Switch after the glowing reviews and played a while before deciding it wasn’t for me.
It gets better the more you play actually. The hidden features unlock after few playthroughs.
The sticking point is the boss fights. I learned from loving Rogue Legacy and not liking Hades that I really hate having to do long, drawn out boss fights over and over again even after beating them.
