# Is It Safe to Download and Play 'Cracked' Games?



## WinterDave

Would you download, install, and play a 'Cracked' game or program on your computer?

If the game was downloaded from a trusted site, was from a trusted and verified uploader, and the user reviews of the game all said that it was a genuine game, worked well, and had no malware in it?

Because a lot of these games and/or programs have cracks or key generators etc. that get flagged by anti-virus programs as malware....

A good game like Fallout 4 etc?

But you would have to turn your anti-virus off while installing the game, and the computer you are installing it on is also the one that you do all of your banking and online purchasing on....

Do you think it is okay to download and play cracked games if you are very careful, or is it just too risky to infect your computer and one should just stick with paying for Steam games etc at 40 or 60 bucks a piece?

_Staff note: Closed for discussing/advocating illegal acts._


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## RockNroses

I do that sometimes , just make sure to get from a reliable source and never be the first one to try it


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## chinaski

I do it for programs and never had a problem. just get it from a reliable source. PC games get cheap quick these days so I'll just buy those.

If you're paranoid about your **** getting a virus or whatever, GMG is having a sale on all Bethesda games right now. Fall out 4 is 50% off and another 20% with promo code *JULY20*. it's like $24

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/fallout-4/


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## KelsKels

Yes I've played cracked games.. I just made sure the upload had a good rating. No problems.


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## McFly

Get it from a reliable source but don't worry about the cracks being detected as worms or trojans, they have to behave that way to get around security. 

When I got GTA on pc it was during the peak of the DRM nightmare and I spent days trying to get the game activated so instead I just found a crack and had it running right away.


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## Scrub-Zero

It's safe enough if you know trusted uploaders. A quick google search will point you to the most popular. Also i suggest downloading anything behind a VPN since a lot of companies force your ISP to flag you and that can lead to trouble and fines.

In 15 years i was never flagged once, but this year alone they flagged me 5 times(new law in Canada) So get that VPN if you're gonna download regularly. It's not only about torrenting privacy but also your internet activities. Your isp wont even know what you search or download. A good VPN is like 3$ a month if you go for the yearly plan.


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## Aribeth

I've been doing it all my life.


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## NoEgo

I used to do that for years, and was never caught. I used to download cracks of expensive software like Flash, Photoshop, Vegas, and Pro Tools, and nothing happened (there's NO way I'd try that now.) Make sure you download from a reputable source, and always look at the comments before you download.

This is just me, but I much prefer finding a website with a download link than torrenting or using P2P software. I feel like that's more secure.


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## Resergence

I pirate still but only old old games there was thing where at one point fallout 4 was cracked it had an infection that would use your pc as a bitcoin miner becareful only run old old games to be honest if you wanna play the new games I would pay for them when they go on sale.


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## tharsan

There's a good chance even from trusted uploaders, there may be a undetectable keylogger that can capture your credit card and password information.


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## NoEgo

itsjch said:


> I pirate still but only old old games there was thing where at one point fallout 4 was cracked it had an infection that would use your pc as a bitcoin miner becareful only run old old games to be honest if you wanna play the new games I would pay for them when they go on sale.


Yeah, that's what I think, too. I only pirate old media, mostly out-of-print stuff. For music, I'll do it if the artist has died. If you have the money for a new game/movie/album, just pay for it. Don't be an a**hole, and steal it.


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## sajs

I always did that, I think I never bought a game (although I am not the type that usually plays games).

The fact with anti-virus is that their heuristic run across false-positives, this mostly happens because the part of the code in charge of doing the protection mechanism bypass usually uses the same techniques virus writers use which follows a pattern, a pattern that the AV recognizes from their virus database and flags it as a certain type of malware.

That being said, the possibility for the software to contain actual malware is real. It all ultimately boils down at how concerned you are about the possible harm, but if you are concerned about this, then what about visiting any webpage that can download any malicious javascript or have infected PDF files or in some ActiveX component, etc? You will have to worry about all of this.


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## WillYouStopDave

Not an authority on the matter but my guess would be it's not the greatest idea in the world. Especially if you really have to ask. The rule of thumb with anything...

1. If something might be a REALLY bad idea and cause all kinds of chaos

2. You're not sure if it will or not so you have to ask a bunch of strangers online.

3. = Probably a REALLY bad idea.


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## iAmCodeMonkey

Aribeth said:


> I've been doing it all my life.


You are such a rebel. I heart you. :wink2:>


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## ShatteredGlass

Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. I know of a pretty reliable (at least in my experience) website that has plenty of games that are full, malware free copies. I've gotten a few games from there and have had no problems. The only problem with it to my knowledge is that it isn't the fastest website to download from. The speeds aren't extremely slow or anything, but they could certainly be faster, especially considering how much the download page talks up the servers that you're downloading from. 

The ethics of downloading/playing cracked games are an entirely different matter.


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## Zozulya

Used to play cracked games, especially Pro-Evolution Soccer series, which require a decrypted EXE to use big patches/mods. I have bought the games, from PES 6 to 2014, but eventually dropped it having no more interest in soccer games (or Konami taking PC gamers as fools when selling a crippled version on PC).

I don't condone piracy, but at least use a computer that isn't connected to the internet if you decide to do it, at your own risk. You might be banned anyways if you use online functionalities. 

And there are alternative stores where you can buy steam keys for a portion of full price, like g2a . It's grey market, and rules are somewhat unclear about that, some publishers can ban your key if used outside of region, but when it happens, it is quite well documented (video game news& forums).


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## a degree of freedom

I used to and never had a problem, though I haven't for a long time because as I grew older I came to wish to promote faith in humankind and uphold society.


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