I never had pirated software for my Amiga - I had no access to BBS and I was the only one of my friends who owned a computer - they all had Atari, NES, etc.
Speaking of Piracy - check out this article.
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Another-view-of-game-piracyI do believe Piracy doesn't hurt game sales nearly as much software vendors claim.
Everyone I know who won't pirate only buy 4-5 PC games a year and maybe a few more console games cause of the used prices they can get them at a Gamestop, etc.
My friends that do pirate - they have hundreds and eventually only end up really playing a few - and still buy 3-4 games a year cause they can't pirate on consoles easily or its a game in a series they always have bought. So we still spend about the same each year on games - they just monkey around with more than I do.
I write software for a living so I just choose not to pirate - plus installing hacks, mods, utilities, etc is the best way to hose a machine and some of my friends have gotten eat up with viruses!
