Cracks - Pros and Cons

[tomz/TIDE]

For years the argument that the spreading of Cracks of new games is what killed off the C64, as C64 software makers/houses moved onto other platforms (usually higher,like Amiga or PC) and in part I agree with this,but having said that, I have often wondered why on earth didnt the game makers of the day put trainers in their new games,some games were near impossible to finish,you might get to level 5 if you were really good,sadly the other 145 levels you never got to see....

To me this is just bad programming because you will always have a certain percentage of people playing the game who can only play it to a certain level,as you own the whole game you should be entitled to see the ending(luckily for us Vinny (ex Hackersoft) in the UK has a site that deals with endings to C64 games.

Even Sega on the cartridge game console (Master System) had codes in their games that would activate a trainer or two now why didnt the C64 game makers have the same foresight? This too is part of the downfall.

I own many Cracks as well as Original software,sure get hold of the Crack but if you enjoy the game,well buy it!

Whats your opinion or experience in this area.?

tomz

[retrobrad]

When we first had our C64 i was pretty young (about 6 or 7 years old) we had piles and piles of copied disks and you would load them up and it would come up with the 'cracked by' screen - i never knew what it meant though - i just wanted to play a game = )

but now you mention it there were loads and loads of cracked games and it would have had a huge impact on the developers, so i guess i would have purchased the game if i played it quite a bit, after all they did put in the effort to make the game...

[Misha]

To be honest i`ve had loads of cracked games over the years, yeah i`ve not felt guilty because alot of software houses can deal with a small amount of copied games floating around,if i like the game though i will buy the original, i know it would seem to others that i have no morals but i do....i`ve always believed in supporting shareware if it`s good enough and would be happy to hand over money for great games such as Warblade & Deluxe Pocmon.

SUPPORT SHAREWARE!!!!!

I guess the whole piracy issue is a double edged sword,games have become increasingly more expensive over the years so people copy them & crack them,alot of copies flood the market which means people don`t buy the original,hence the fact that newer games then come out with an increased price tag to try and prevent developers & Production Teams from loosing money.

I wonder how many of us are guilty of or responsible for great software houses going out of business,there were some great developers knocking around on the Amiga in it`s hay day but so many went bust to.

[jungle ninja]

Look, nowadays that I have the money for it, I would buy the games I really liked and the ones I didn't I would have cracked ones or in the case of the pc, downloaded ones or copies.

But in the day, I didn't have much money to go round. Well my parents did, but they only gave a small allowance, so I would not become a money lover. So the most of my games where cracked versions. But I did and still do own a lot of original ones. I would get many for birthdays, christmass and when I saved money I would buy many. So I did have a vast collection of original games, but yes, I agree, most games needed a trainer. But I like original ones better, because I do support good games, but most games today the day are crap commercial s..t! Sorry for that.
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If it ain't Pirates! Then walk the plank!

[ozzipete]

Its a bit funny I have heaps of originals that I have stored away for safe keeping I find that if its a good game rather than play the original to death I will try and grab a cracked ver, rom or rip of it.
Like the old saying learn the three R's
RENT it
RIP it
RETURN it