Before I start this article I want to make something very clear.
If a game is good, pay for it. Don’t just pirate it.

Good games aren’t made with magic that forms out of thin air.
It can some from a single person, or a massive team, but it all costs something. And whether they ask you up front, by donation, or paid DLC to a free game, considering putting a fair amount in to encourage more.

That being said, there is a good reason to pirate a game… preservation.

While I love the digital distribution systems that have come to be, there’s more than just the tactile sensation of holding a game in your hand.

For various reasons, games are disappearing from these stores.
Sometimes a license runs out, or a developer/publisher goes out of business.

One way or another, they won’t be legally accessible anymore.
This scene already exists, and it’s called “abandonware”.
The common reason for the term “abandonware” is that once the software or games is no longer legally obtainable, or is so out of date it’s no longer sold, it should be in the public domain.
I happen to agree with this concept with few exceptions.
It can’t just be one version or only recently superseded to be called abandonware.

Regardless, to preserve the art and effort put into these titles, people have cracked software protection, or DRM to make them freely available.
Not to get others a free copy, but rather to ensure its continued existence.

I have fond memories of the LOADS of software and games gushing forth during the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Many of them stopped working long ago, the developers have long since moved on, or the software just isn’t needed anymore.

The nostalgia bug hits me pretty hard every now and then so I fire up an old DOS/Win9x/console emulator to relive it one more time. And that wouldn’t be possible if the internet hadn’t provided a way to reclaim these titles from the void.

Thankfully sites likes Archive.org feel the same way, and thousands of titles are available for free download, and growing every day.

Some legal folks claim ANY of this is piracy and want to sue because they can.
I see them as nothing else but greedy, and blind to software as an art form.

And again, I must conclude with a reminder that the titles we have today wouldn’t be around if the developers aren’t compensated or recognized, so give those devs the credit they ask for!
Someday that title won’t be around anymore except in a memory and someone’s archive folder. So make sure it’s just a stepping stone, and not the end of the road.