From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


It's time for me to reclaim my throne as the unofficial surveyor of
CSIPGA with yet-another Completely Random And Pointless poll. Let me
show you how it's done.

---------------

This month's query is:

Back in the day, did you Copy That Floppy? Did you hoist the black
flag and sail the seas of digital piracy? Were you a naughty collector
of illegitimately acquired copyrighted games?


A) No, never! That would be *wrong*. Every piece of software I
have ever used has been properly licensed, and I have the
BSA reports to prove it!

Ar) I may have a few pieces of shareware that I used past the
allowed trial period.

Arr) C'mon, who hasn't shared a game or three with a friend?

Arrr) Let's just say that a lot of the games I used to play
came with built-in cracks

Arrrr) I almost never paid for games; why should I when they
were all available for free if you knew where to look?

Arrrrr) Who do you think cracked and uploaded those games?
It was me!

Arrrrrr) I dont own any software; I just stream it over a
subscription service

Arrrrrrr) Every piece of software I have ever used I wrote
myself


---------------

So, shamefully, I must admit that I probably fell somewhere into the
"Arr" or "Arrr" category ('shared a game or two' to 'a lot of the
games'). At least back in the early days. I got better later on.

I mean, at first there was no idea that what I was doing was even
wrong. John had an interesting game and you wanted to try it? Why
/not/ give him a copy? Sharing is a virtue, after all. For all that
it's practically a meme now, back in those days I'd never even heard
of "Don't Copy the Floppy" or similar anti-piracy attempts. The idea
that it was illegal didn't even occur to me at the time.

Later, I knew better...but did it anyway. How could I not when so many
games were so easily available on BBS boards and elsewhere? Even then,
it was often as much an issue of convenience as price. Downloading or
sharing disks was just easier than making a run to the store
(especially since, at the time, those stores were few and far
between).

And even later... well, I had a way to get around and money to spend,
so the habit died out. Plus, games were getting more complex, and I
liked getting the complete package (especially the manuals and boxes.
Who can resist a nice box?). So I folded the skull-n-crossbones and
became a good citizen... mostly. Maybe a few cracks for some shareware programs. But these days, not even that.

But I'll admit, one of the reasons I've gone into collecting old games
is so that I can finally *buy* all of those games I used to play
illegitimately back in the day. It may have taken a few decades, but
I'm finally on the up-and-up!

(Well, except for WinRAR. Nobody ever registers that!* ;-)

---------------

What about you? Where did you fall on the Arrr scale? Did you keep
your hands squeaky clean back in the day or were you a scurrilous
knave? Maybe you still are? No judgments here; share your shame! And
what's the status of your WinRAR install anyway?











* For those who have no idea what I'm going on about: WinRAR was a file-compression program, similar to WinZip or 7Zip, albeit able to
compress files slightly better. It offered a free trial, after which
you were expected to register it. But because there were no penalties
for using the program after the trial ended, it became infamous for
nobody ever registering it. I certainly never did so (although, to be
fair, I also stopped using the program almost twenty years ago because
a) I rarely used RAR archives, and b) for the few times I actually
needed to open them, the freeware 7Zip program sufficed). But until
that point, I just used the program unregistered. Just like everybody
else.

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:04:29 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

It's time for me to reclaim my throne as the unofficial surveyor of
CSIPGA with yet-another Completely Random And Pointless poll. Let me
show you how it's done.

---------------

This month's query is:

Back in the day, did you Copy That Floppy? Did you hoist the black
flag and sail the seas of digital piracy? Were you a naughty collector
of illegitimately acquired copyrighted games?

A) No, never! That would be *wrong*. Every piece of software I
have ever used has been properly licensed, and I have the
BSA reports to prove it!

Ar) I may have a few pieces of shareware that I used past the
allowed trial period.

Arr) C'mon, who hasn't shared a game or three with a friend?

Arrr) Let's just say that a lot of the games I used to play
came with built-in cracks

Arrrr) I almost never paid for games; why should I when they
were all available for free if you knew where to look?

Arrrrr) Who do you think cracked and uploaded those games?
It was me!

Arrrrrr) I dont own any software; I just stream it over a
subscription service

Arrrrrrr) Every piece of software I have ever used I wrote
myself

I have a large collection of games which proves I actually purchased
games back in the day. But I also pirated them. So I fall somewhere in
between Arr and Arrr for sure.

I have WinRAR still installed right now but I don't think I actually
used it in a very long time. I haven't even thought about this program
in awhile until you brought it up in this thread. I don't think I will
install it on my next computer.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:31:39 -0400, Mike S. <[email protected]> said
this thing:

I have a large collection of games which proves I actually purchased
games back in the day. But I also pirated them. So I fall somewhere in >between Arr and Arrr for sure.

If its not too daring to ask, what era were you most active in your
piracy? Early 8-bit floppy-era? DOS era? Early Win95?

For me it was mostly the early days, when games actually came on
single floppy-disks and it was easy to copy 'em over. By the time
games started coming on multiple disks, it wasn't as easy or fun.
Downloading was an option but I most remember the "Hey, Frank, nice
game, can I get a copy" era where you'd just sneakernet the game to
your own computer.

I have WinRAR still installed right now but I don't think I actually
used it in a very long time. I haven't even thought about this program
in awhile until you brought it up in this thread. I don't think I will >install it on my next computer.

I'd remove it today. There are numerous known security vulnerabilities
in the software, and while they are supposedly being patched... well,
let's just say that the backers of its software development aren't
well respected.

WinRAR is only really necessary if you want to create RAR archives. If
all you want is the ability to open/extract RAR, then 7zip works as
well.


--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Back in the day, did you Copy That Floppy?

Oh yeah. Not that many really, it took too long, but Turok comes to mind.....I still haven't bought it after playing it back then :)

rms

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:

Back in the day, did you Copy That Floppy? Did you hoist the black
flag and sail the seas of digital piracy? Were you a naughty collector
of illegitimately acquired copyrighted games?

I copied a lot of software, not just games, but, if I used it much, I always made a point of
buying it.

DOS comes to mind, along with Desqview, WordPerfect, Windows, and Wing Commander.

Copied them all, bought them all.
--
Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos -- the only sysadmins that matter
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 3/9/2026 11:04 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

It's time for me to reclaim my throne as the unofficial surveyor of
CSIPGA with yet-another Completely Random And Pointless poll. Let me
show you how it's done.

---------------

This month's query is:

Back in the day, did you Copy That Floppy? Did you hoist the black
flag and sail the seas of digital piracy? Were you a naughty collector
of illegitimately acquired copyrighted games?

Arrrrrr) I dont own any software; I just stream it over a
subscription service

It seems like this should be lower since it's legal and paid for by the service, which you in turn pay for. (unless there's some streaming
service that's not legal that I'm not aware of?)

Similarly I've rented (nintento & PS) games, and sold used games both at
swap meets and to used game stores, and loaned/traded games with
friends. Which probably was against EULAs or something though it was a
long time ago. Or is that what "Arr" is? Not really sharing, but loaning/trading/buying/selling.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:38:02 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:

If its not too daring to ask, what era were you most active in your
piracy? Early 8-bit floppy-era? DOS era? Early Win95?

DOS and Win95 era for sure.

I actually have very little pirated software from the 8-bit C-64 era.
I have two bins full of purchased games from that time in my garage.
My parents were generous with supporting my hobby and I had a paper
route to make enough money to basically buy whatever I wanted. And I
wanted games.

I'd remove it today. There are numerous known security vulnerabilities
in the software, and while they are supposedly being patched... well,
let's just say that the backers of its software development aren't
well respected.

WinRAR is only really necessary if you want to create RAR archives. If
all you want is the ability to open/extract RAR, then 7zip works as
well.

Ok, fine. I just went through my installed programs. I removed WinRAR
and a few other things I wasn't using anymore. If I need an extraction
program, I will install 7zip.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 11 Mar 2026 08:55:38 -0400, Mike S. <[email protected]> said
this thing:

On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:38:02 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><[email protected]> wrote:

If its not too daring to ask, what era were you most active in your
piracy? Early 8-bit floppy-era? DOS era? Early Win95?

DOS and Win95 era for sure.

I actually have very little pirated software from the 8-bit C-64 era.
I have two bins full of purchased games from that time in my garage.
My parents were generous with supporting my hobby and I had a paper
route to make enough money to basically buy whatever I wanted. And I
wanted games.

Lucky. I've very little remaining from that era; most I'm not that
unhappy to have lost, but at one point I tossed all my Infocom boxes
from the 8-bit era (the classic grey boxes with the built-in manual),
and those I really regret losing.

Oh, and that one floppy disk filled with pirated games for the Apple
II... if only because I remember the games well enough to say I liked
playing them, but not well enough to remember what they were actually
called. Especially that one Star Wars text adventure that I never
could finish... if only I still had that disk (real or imaged) so that
I could figure out what those games actually were!

WinRAR is only really necessary if you want to create RAR archives. If
all you want is the ability to open/extract RAR, then 7zip works as
well.

Ok, fine. I just went through my installed programs. I removed WinRAR
and a few other things I wasn't using anymore.

Ah, the occassional disk clean-up where you start uninstalling apps
that at one time looked absolutely necessary and then you never ever
used again. "NSudo? TweakUIX? ValiDrive? What the hell are these
apps?!?! Delete delete delete!"

(Just be careful you only delete stuff that's safe to delete... a
lesson I learned long long ago, back in the DOS days when I first
noticed those seemingly unnecessary files io.sys and command.com ;-)

If I need an extraction
program, I will install 7zip.

Or, unless you frequently use weird archives (RAR, ACE, LZH, whatever)
just stick with Windows own built-in ZIP capability.
(even though .7z format is notably better... then again, with disk
space being so cheap, who needs good compression anymore ;-)

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:17:09 -0700, Justisaur <[email protected]>
said this thing:

On 3/9/2026 11:04 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Arrrrrr) I dont own any software; I just stream it over a
subscription service

It seems like this should be lower since it's legal and paid for by the >service, which you in turn pay for.

I always put the less serious options at the end of the list. Anyway,
AFAIK there is no way to use a streaming service without having any owned/licensed software installed first. At least not on PC, not yet.

(unless there's some streaming
service that's not legal that I'm not aware of?)

I don't know of any, but now that I think of it, there probably is. I
mean, c'mon; you know some guy has set up a 'pay us and play all the
games you want' service, without bothering to actually license the
games and establishing themselves in a country where copyright laws
aren't well enforced.

[Is there a 'rule 34' on the Intenet, except that it
applies to piracy? There ought to be, because I'm pretty
sure at one point or another, everything gets pirated]

Similarly I've rented (nintento & PS) games, and sold used games both at >swap meets and to used game stores, and loaned/traded games with
friends. Which probably was against EULAs or something though it was a
long time ago. Or is that what "Arr" is? Not really sharing, but >loaning/trading/buying/selling.

Renting games is only illegal if you're in Japan (regardless of what
Nintendo said). So long as you're not living there, you don't get an
Arrr! for doing that.

Reselling (or trading, or giving away) is also legal... so long as its
physical games. The industry carved themselves out a neat loophole
saying 'it's only a license' when the made all games digital
downloads, though. It's one of the reasons digital took off the way it
did. So no Arrrr! for you there either.

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2