I don't know about anyone else, but within the last two years Itunes, Steam and GOG have made me seriously reconsider what I was doing and you know what? It is all about convenience. As a consumer, I found it easier to pay and download than to hunt, scan for viruses, spend forEVER downloading, feel guilty, install, crack, feel guilty, disable a firewall, feel guilty, never play online, feel guilty, and clutter my drive with a bunch of software that made me feel like an asshole.
The Witcher is great and was the first game that made me go "its about ****ing TIME someone made a game that calls to my inner gamer"
Then I stumbled across GOG when looking for Fallout digital distributions and... well... all I can say is damn. Features, prices, selection, aggressive expansion, and management philosophy is the first time I have ever felt there was hope for the future of the gaming community. Companies like EA and Ubisoft are tearing our industry apart with rehashed crap that basically treat their customer base like a bunch of drivel. Well, when you get treated like crap, you stop paying for crap. That doesn't mean you wont download to play for five minutes though. I don't think I could ever thank the GOG team enough for what they are doing. Seriously, this service is a win win on all counts and I like how after buying one game, I found that I am buying games for if I feel I might want to play them later. Next week I plan on getting a ton of games... and port royale? Omg mmmm. You guys are great. Keep up the good work. Oh, and don't forget to add the original rainbow six and the mechwarrior series. That is of course i naddition to all the must haves like Grim Fandango, X-wing series, any game from 1998 (best year of gaming EVER) and the age of empires series. Can't. Go. Wrong.
I love you guys. Seriously, If I was young enough to wish for something from Santa, it would be that this company gets the praise it deserves. You guys, valve and Stardock are gems in a sea of bull****. Keep it up.
You know we all love you.

I totally agree with that :)

Wouldn't say CD Projekt was the catalyst for it. The combination of Steam and GOG, and the mere fact that I've got a job and still live at home, so that I can use the money for anything I want, was the main reason. Never felt guilty though, but if I see a game somewhere, that I did at some point pirate, I'll now buy it, so GOG and Steam helps out with that a lot.

CD Projekt is one of the rare companies that actually CARES.
I love them.

Since I seem to have shitload of money lately (pretty much the same reason as sheepdragon), and since distribution services like GoG and Steam exist, I didn't pirate a single game for about a 3/4 of year now...
Yeah, CD project is one of the rare companies that actually cares. And I will gladly give my money to companies like that!

Stop Pirating? I never started!
Though I do take the opportunity to talk like one on September 19th :D
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CD Projekt appear to of quickly become a favourite amongst gamers (and various tech/gaming online sites). With all the love around, they must be doing something right :}

Well, I was one of the guys that got hit by steam when they did the 20,000 account suspension a couple of years ago. Then I got a job, then I got a console, and then steam stopped sucking. Now the world is complete and I spend way too much money on games and music. Seriously though, I just wish my campus connection was faster so steam wouldn't take 6 days to fix my language pack problem with the witcher EE. Seriously. 14kb/s is just too slow for a university in silicon valley, I mean, come ON.

Well, "pirating" is a big world that you should use carefully.... Pirates attack ships in the Africans seas, pirates sell counterfeit goods in the streets, pirates sell copied DVD and Blu-ray disks.
When Internet comes in the equation "download = piracy" things are WAY more complicated, indeed....
Anyway, I have a rule: I buy original products if they deserve it and when I can afford it, but I try everything, I do stuff, I try to catch new malware for my fancy collection on not-so-polite websites :-D

I still insist on demoing a game for 24 hours before I spend any money on it. Usually there's a demo, and that works, but if there isn't, I might pirate it for a day to try it, only if it's over 6 years old. I always buy the game if I like it. Sometimes even if I'm unsure about it, and it can be had cheap. I have a thing for legit, hard copies.
And I always end up cracking my CD-based games that require the CD to be inserted during play. I have a hard drive, I don't need or want to fool with swapping CD's. If I wanted that, I'd buy an XBox. Thankfully GOG games don't suffer from this silly restriction. Seriously, what do CD checks DO anyway? Even for games without serious copy protection that install everything to the hard drive, they still want you to keep the CD inserted.
GOG hasn't affected what little piracy I do, since I always ended up buying the games I pirated and liked anyway. But I am more apt to say, "Well, I've never played this game before, but it looks cool, and it's $6/$10, so what the hey, I'll buy it."

Never been a pirate and do not plan on starting.
That is why I am here on gog and not downloading MassEffect, Spore or the like; because I want play games and pay for them but I do not want the DRM associated with way too many games.

To say true, i was "pirate" in my school age, but as games changed (to worse sadly) i have changed too (i started listening to my better me and got good work), just few months back i was thinking about returning to torrents (new games are just about hype, there is no chance to find out if they are good or not - space siege, or functional, not mentioning some really stupid DRM ideas like bioshock or mass effect), then i accidentaly hit GOG, and BOOM, my inner me prevailed, why should i bother with some torrents, or new games which doesn't have "soul" anymore while I can open GOG and buy some games of my heart (last few days i am playing JA2 and it's far more fun then fallout 3). And pirating is bad :) i want to support those companies which make good games. And GOG of course.
To say it short, yes, gog prevented me from slipping to the dark side of the force.
edit: i bought some games just to support gog and i am not going to play them ;) (at least anytime soon)

Hehe, quoted for truth. When I studied I pirated mostly and bought only the real gems (Fallout, CnC First Decade, Hitman series..).
But now when I am working while still living at home, there is no more pirating for me.Only GOG.com + one or two AAA fullpriced games a month. And its awesome : ).
And regarding GOG, I feel like I want to buy all those games even though I would never play them all, just to support these guys...they need all the support they can get, because what they are doing is the best thing to happen to gaming since ever.

steam didnt do annything on that front for me. as its must be logged on idiocy.
Impulse (from Stardock) on the other hand, yes.
and GOG ofcourse.
although i have newer ben DLing games much, ive mainly DLed games whitout demos, or in Gorky 17's cause, since it was impossible to find the game for sale. even asked a local store to be on hte lookout for it. (that store could find you a Golden Zelda NES cart if you asked for it) and still they could not get the game..
Hope it comes here.

If GOG and Steam continues like they are while EA and Ubi continues how they are I can see GOG and Steam getting a lot of my money. I was never a pirate and never will be but I will be damned if I don't support one of the few companies that actually take the time to appreciate us as gamers and customers instead of criminals. I refuse to pirate even abandonware and this place makes it much easier for me to get games I have wanted for years with little to no problem. I bought descent 1 + 2 for the simple reason of the good service here. I have a huge thing against intrusive drm and refuse to buy any game with Securom or Starforce (dead in the U.S but not other parts of the world) in them so as I see it this website is saying stick it to the man and letting us play the game like we should, without stupid restrictions like activations.