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"Piracy. Is it worth it?"

Let me tell you a story. It all began a few years ago when I told a friend I was going to buy Half-Life. He suggested to me that he would be able to get it pirated, from a friend who downloaded them from the Internet. Intrigued, I brought Half-Life from my friend for a fiver. I installed it. It worked. I was happy. I got away with it for £25 quid less than I would have normally paid. I was happy. I asked my friend what other games I could get. As years went by he offered me Blood 2, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Quake II and III. I was happy. Of course one of the cons of purchase from my friend was that he demanded the CDs back after I had installed it. Recently, I acquired free Internet access. I thought to myself, maybe now I’ll be able to download the games myself. Overjoyed with myself I started to look for a game suitable. I thought of The Sims. Right, I said, lets download it. It downloaded safely. I installed it. It worked. I was happy. I had now paid nothing for a game that would have cost me £30. I was happy. I played The Sims and I enjoyed it. But a while later, I needed a new game. My urge had started again. My craving for a new game. I looked on the web again, eager to calm my senses. I found a new web site. One with many games. I looked for a game suitable. I found Deux-Ex. It looked quite good, a new game for me. For nothing. I started the download of the first batch of files. After it finished, I quickly started the other batch. But soon, after realising it was late, stopped it. I opened the first batch of files and unzipped them to a folder. I turned off the computer. The next day I tried to turn it on. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. My whole hard drive had been erased. All my work, my files, my songs, and my games. Nothing. I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream at the computer or at myself for my foolishness. No. I smiled. I felt like a cloud over me had been scattered. All my games had gone, all of them! No more piracy, I told myself easily. I was cured of my addiction. I really did feel like a new man. I began the slow process of bringing my hard drive back to standard, and decided, to celebrate, to go out and, for the first time in a long time, buy a game. Do you know what game that was? Half-Life.

Let me tell you a story. It all began a few years ago when I told a friend I was going to buy Half-Life. He suggested to me that he would be able to get it pirated, from a friend who downloaded them from the Internet. Intrigued, I brought Half-Life from my friend for a fiver. I installed it. It worked. I was happy. I got away with it for £25 quid less than I would have normally paid. I was happy. I asked my friend what other games I could get. As years went by he offered me Blood 2, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Quake II and III. I was happy. Of course one of the cons of purchase from my friend was that he demanded the CDs back after I had installed it. Recently, I acquired free Internet access. I thought to myself, maybe now I’ll be able to download the games myself. Overjoyed with myself I started to look for a game suitable. I thought of The Sims. Right, I said, lets download it. It downloaded safely. I installed it. It worked. I was happy. I had now paid nothing for a game that would have cost me £30. I was happy. I played The Sims and I enjoyed it. But a while later, I needed a new game. My urge had started again. My craving for a new game. I looked on the web again, eager to calm my senses. I found a new web site. One with many games. I looked for a game suitable. I found Deux-Ex. It looked quite good, a new game for me. For nothing. I started the download of the first batch of files. After it finished, I quickly started the other batch. But soon, after realising it was late, stopped it. I opened the first batch of files and unzipped them to a folder. I turned off the computer. The next day I tried to turn it on. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. My whole hard drive had been erased. All my work, my files, my songs, and my games. Nothing. I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream at the computer or at myself for my foolishness. No. I smiled. I felt like a cloud over me had been scattered. All my games had gone, all of them! No more piracy, I told myself easily. I was cured of my addiction. I really did feel like a new man. I began the slow process of bringing my hard drive back to standard, and decided, to celebrate, to go out and, for the first time in a long time, buy a game. Do you know what game that was? Half-Life.