When I was in high school, the only way to play a demo* seemed to be an extremely limited shareware version. Towards the tail end of high school, the games tended to have viruses like crazy -- or would be so horribly made that it'd mess up your system.

That's when I started exciting (excite was an old search engine for you young 'ens) "warez" and downloading more reliable demos. If I liked a game, I'd be glad to buy it. But with only maybe $100 for an annual gaming budget, I wasn't willing to part with $30 for something that could end up being total crap.

Viruses were a little more rampant in those days for my PC.

These days, I don't even get demos. I just look at reviews and gameplay on YouTube and Amazon. Of course, if I buy a game for $20, it doesn't break the bank like it used to.

*edit: I meant "Demo," not "game" as originally written

I buy games my buddy pirated.

The first copy of The Witcher I ever played was a cracked copy of the original, unpatched, unenhanced version my buddy had on his pc. I was house/pet sitting for him while he took his wife on a three-week bike tour along the Danube. Loved the game, felt bad about how I came across it, and subsequently bought four copies (some as gifts).

This.

Yes, they are!

I remember downloading a copy of the original Civilization from some random BBS. I got hooked and went out and bought a copy as soon as I could.