Commodore 64 Pirate Copy versus Legitimate Copy

Commodore 64 Elite - Pirated Version vs Legitimate Version

  • I played a pirated version.

    Votes: 13 26.0%

  • I played a legitimate version.

    Votes: 37 74.0%
  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .

Jack Booted Thug

J
I am curious as to how many people played pirate copies of Elite versus legitimate copies of Elite on the Commodore 64.

Pirated software was rife on the C64 due to the ease in copying it (Fast Hack'em, Ditto).

I played a pirated copy which I think my Dad had obtained from someone he knew at work.

I had a friend whose family had a BBC Micro and he had a legitimate copy.

Years later when I dabbled in Frontier Elite 2 I bought a legitimate copy and would play it on a friends PC (we would play it together) as I did not have a PC of my own.
 

djh

djh
Half of the Elite Experience was owning that lovely box, with the glossy manual, the glossy novella, and all the other bits and pieces in the box.

I gave my C64 and all my games to my brother when I went to Uni, but if I could go back and recover it, that's the one box that I'd want to keep.
 

Jack Booted Thug

J
djh said:
Half of the Elite Experience was owning that lovely box, with the glossy manual, the glossy novella, and all the other bits and pieces in the box.

I gave my C64 and all my games to my brother when I went to Uni, but if I could go back and recover it, that's the one box that I'd want to keep.
Click to expand...

I can imagine. I had a photocopy of the C64 manual held together with a alligator clip. My friend, on the other hand, had a nice little booklet which was nice. I also remember borrowing the Dark Wheel off him so I could read it.

Time sure flies.
 

FS3DPete

F
There should be a third option, that of never having played the C64 version.

I did play the BBC version, as well as the Amiga version.
 

Sparticus

Sparticus
Doctor_Demento said:
I always liked the boxes with manuals and all the extras they gave ya. :D
ohhhhhh shiney!! like shiney's!!
Click to expand...

:D

My precious

tumblr_m8a7oxvG9Q1rolh67o1_400.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz-8CSa9xj8
 

Calebe

C
I bought the game but hated the copy protection scheme, that lens thing. I had well still have a 25 inch NEC TV with monitor inputs, and played Elite on that. The lens thing almost had me stop playing Elite it was such a pain to use. I am glad the new version will be DRM free. I am in Alpha so am supporting the game, but if it had DRM I would not be here, trust your player base and fans to buy the game, it is well worth it.


Calebe
 

Styggron

S
Always had the original.

1. C64 Elite
2. Frontier Elite 2 Amiga
3. First Encounters PC CD Rom

Then I started to collect variants as per my sig. :)

It was all about the experience of the box, maps, manuals. This is why I love and kept all the old games we got ALL that extra stuff I LOVED.

@Calebe I'm with you on the DRM. There are orig versions of Spectrum Elite that did not come with Lenslock though. it was a pain I agree.
 

Zieman

Zieman
Would have needed third poll option: both :)

I first got ELITE for my C64 on a tape full of "free" games (I was only 10 then, and didn't speak/read/write English at all, or hadn't even heard of the term "piracy" applied to computer games at that time).

Not much (1 or 2 years) later, I bought a legitimate copy (5,25" floppy, yay :D), as I understood some things a bit better then...

EDIT: voted legitimate, because I clocked substantially more hours on that
 
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Juniper

Juniper
djh said:
Half of the Elite Experience was owning that lovely box, with the glossy manual, the glossy novella, and all the other bits and pieces in the box.
Click to expand...

This. I was also there at 9am outside Virgin on release day for FE2. :cool:

FFE I admit I did pirate (I was a penniless student then :eek: ) so part of the reason why I backed E: D to a higher level than I've done any game was to kind of make up to FD and say sorry.
 

Commander Mick

Commander Mick
I will explain my side of the story later....

Give me another nine or ten hours while I wait for something to happen.

I do refuse to submit to your poll for the reason now one answer makes sense to me.
 

DarkWalker

D
Where I live, until 1991, there was a crazy law prohibiting the import of any computer software or computer part that either had a similar, locally made alternative, or else was considered "superfluous"; you can guess how games were classified.

(That law was an attempt to force the local industry to develop local computers and software; it didn't work well, to say the least.)

Even after that, a reasonable computer game market - one where we could get anything besides the big block busters - only developed many years later. Heck, before digital distribution became accepted, the only way to get any game that wasn't published by one of the big publishers was to pirate it.

So, yeah. I pirated Elite back in the day - though it was the PC version - and I have no regrets about it; the only alternative was to really do without. The same with most games I played back then.

On the other hand, now I have a few hundred games on my accounts on both GOG and Steam - including about every single game I played back then that is being digitally distributed - and besides have backed Elite Dangerous, so I would like to think I've redeemed myself ;)
 
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