I’ve always bought my games on steam or OFFICIAL key resellers (GMG) since I was an adult, but sometimes it has got really expensive.

Do you consider ‘cracked games’ safe for your PC, your data, and finally your privacy?

You should always support developers, but it’s not always possible.

  • Snot Flickerman
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    2 months ago

    GOG digitally signs their games and have no DRM, thus no need for cracks.

    If you can get a hold of a GOG version, you can check its validity.

    For games outside the GOG ecosystem, they are all unfortunately at risk.

    I played Baldur’s Gate 3 via a pirated GOG version on release with friends until I was able to afford my own copy, then moved the saved game over to the legit copy.

  • @[email protected]
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    252 months ago

    No.

    I pirate everything, but am very very reluctant to do so with software or games.

    I only pirate in cases where the company involved is just too gross to support (looking at you, Adobe), or if there’s absolutely no other option.

    But I consider pirated software and games absolutely suspect 100% of the time, because I’m old enough to remember when every keygen was also a keylogger, and every crack was also a rootkit and touching any pirated software was going to give you computer herpes without fail.

    So maybe it’s not that bad anymore, but I mean, do you fully trust in the morals of someone who would spend the time helping you steal someone else’s shit to not add just one more little thing to it for themselves?

    • @[email protected]
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      132 months ago

      every keygen was also a keylogger

      Always worth rolling those dice - think of the amazing trackers jams!

    • @[email protected]OP
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      62 months ago

      Exactly my thoughts. I already missed a deal on GMG twice because they’re not super clear when they’re discounts ends, and I were too late. I won’t buy a game full price on steam so unofficial key resellers are probably what I’ll use.

      Since the money won’t go to the developers for sure, I thought I may as well pirate it, but yeah I’m a bit concerned about safety tbh. It isn’t anime or netflix we’re talking about.

  • @[email protected]
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    212 months ago

    Running any binary that you can’t examine the source of (and confirm it was built from it without modification) is risky. It’s mostly a balance of trust and risk. Even developers have been known to insert what we could malware.

    That said, if you get your cracked content from a trusted source, I’d say it’s generally safe. Otherwise, exercise extreme caution.

    Is GMG an official reseller? Maybe I am out of the loop, but I thought they operated in the grey market.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 months ago

      GreenManGaming is a legitimate reseller, in a similar fashion to humble bundle or similar sellers.

      I also do not like them because their keys if you are buying on sale for a new launch, their keys are usually UK based as they are UK based and they will not let you play on sooner launch dates, as I learned with Mirrors Edge Catalyst’s release when I wanted to play on day 1 and should have bought direct through origin, but instead now I had to wait a week, and they did not offer a refund policy.

      So instead I bought the game again on origin and gave away the other key as a free giveaway to spite them 😂

  • @[email protected]
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    2 months ago

    Search for this keyword : “Fmhy”. It the acronym of free media heck yeah and It’s a curated list of safe sites. Fitgirl repack are the safest you can get.

      • @[email protected]
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        2 months ago

        The users themselves. Everyone that use cracked software know the binaries could potentially contain malware, so the people that share these cracked software need to build trust from the community before being called “safe” and get recommended. If ten if not hundred of thousands people use the binaries from a specific “site” or “repacker” without ever getting a virus, then it’s most certainly safe to use/download. Fitgirl is the safest and most known repacker ever (as long as you download from the official site and not some shady copycat, that is)

        • @[email protected]
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          22 months ago

          Considered safe only because people haven’t noticed anything malicious happening? Yeah, that’s still a no go for me; just because people haven’t noticed, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

          • @[email protected]
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            2 months ago

            If You can afford to pay, then cool. Most people that pirate can’t afford the games/apps anyway, so it’s not really a matter of asking if it is safe to pirate but what site are safe to pirate from. Also, Pirates tend to be tech savvy from getting screwed a few times when they were younger (Ex: me), so a good chunk most certainly know how to detect viruses.

            • @[email protected]
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              22 months ago

              You think you know how to detect a virus, but you only know how to detect a virus that doesn’t hide it’s actions.

              It’s not about paying for software or pirating it. It’s about if you pirate software, should you run it on bare metal, a VM, or on a machine with nothing else on it.

              I think pirating software is perfectly fine, but I’d never run it on bare metal on a machine with other stuff on it.

          • @[email protected]
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            12 months ago

            I hope you compile all your own software from verified sources then rather than downloading a ready-built Linux distro with binary packages.

  • @[email protected]
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    92 months ago

    hmm… lets see. Do I buy and download the game filled with a rootkit or download the version that doesn’t have one?

    • L3ft_F13ld!
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      132 months ago

      Also FitGirl. Often she repacks DODI’s repacks, but makes them much smaller for those with slow connections or limited bandwidth.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 months ago

    I would say that online games anti cheat systems are probably about as bad as it gets for privacy.

    As others have said its more risky to use pirated games from a digital security perspective especially if you are running it as an administrator. So its good to try and find a source you trust and monitor your system for suspicious activity.

    My bet is most users here do not practice good data security and assume their “common sense” will prevent them from malicious files.

      • Snot Flickerman
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        2 months ago

        You do, especially if its a new game.

        I had seen other comments mentioning the same and had considered mentioning that is out of reach for a lot of people but then didn’t.

        Like my PC is running STALKER 2 great on the lowest settings, but if I had to run it through a VM first I would lose a lot of performance and probably dip below 60fps.

        Most games people want to pirate are brand new so telling them to do something like reformat their (probably only) PC to run baremental Linux with a Windows VM for the game is just silly and unreasonable. At that point you may as well just buy the game if you need a whole extra computer to pirate it safely.

        I couldn’t possibly run brand new games in a VM and I only have one computer that can even play modern games. Silly suggestion.

  • Ithorian [comrade/them]
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    42 months ago

    Plundering in the early-mid 00’ was dicey but in the last ten years I think the only problem I’ve had was getting a tarbomb once and even that could have an honest mistake on the part of noob coder. I am a little wary of games that have online hacks and normally block all online features. Honestly you have to be more careful with torrent client than anything. Most of them try to back door a ton of garbage when you first install them. And yeah always use a vpn or you’ll get angry messages from your isp.

  • Claudia
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    32 months ago

    Consider splitting the costs with your friends on GoG?