Not technically stealing no, but you're experiencing and enjoying something they've created and giving them no credit whatsover, which is detrimental to the industry and just plain wrong from a moral standpoint.

So then rent games, thanks to the "direct purchases from the video game publisher." If its on the shelve, then that is all there is to it.

Ofcourse you aren't directly giving them money. But by getting the non-used copy you're showing stores that there is demand for the game, and the higher the demand, the more stores will buy, and if the store buys more the devs and publishers make more money.

Buying used just tells the store they don't need to buy more of the game as they'll make their money on it with used sales. And rentals don't require many games either as obviously they'll use the same games over and over.

Yes PC gaming is cool. I'm fairly new to it too, but I still prefer console gaming. With that said, I will only buy particular games on PC from now on.

I know what you mean.

I just bought a laptop and installed about 40 games on it (all of them purchased. I'm a long time PC gamer and never pirated a game - well, except "Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail", a 1989 Sierra On-Line adventure game which I discovered just recently and which can't be bought anymore).

I installed Civilization IV+V, Heroes of Might & Magic V, Anno 1701, Rome: Total War, The Whispered World, Deponia, Gemini Rue, Botanicula, and others. Plus classics like Ultima VII, Dungeon Keeper 2, Wing Commander: Privateer, Freespace 2, Baldur's Gate 1+2, Broken Sword 1+2, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island 1-3 etc.

PC is still my favorite gaming platform. Especially for genres like point&click, building sims and RTS.

I seriously thought this was going to be a HappyD Thread. He has been very different in his gaming ways lately.

O yeah? Start playing World of Warcraft I meet you in Tichondrius Server as Horde =)

I prefer single player RPGs. If I'll ever try an MMORPG, it will most probably be Guild Wars 2. Strategy/building sim is more my type when it comes to MMO. I'm currently playing a simple but addicting browser MMO strategy game called Grepolis and I'll look into Forge of Empires developed by the same company. FoE is currently in beta phase and seems to be inspired by Civilization, Age of Empires and The Settlers (three of my most favorite PC franchises ever).

MMO's are another reason why PC gaming is not only not dying but actually growing and more diverse than ever. I always wondered why games like WoW, Guild Wars and (from now on) The Elder Scrolls Online are heavily covered by gaming magazines and websites, but at the same time the huge market of browser games is ignored by most media.

oic.