Did you ever pay for shareware?

[Ze_ro]

I think I only ever actually paid for two or three shareware games ever... God of Thunder (a really great game by the way) and Duke Nukem II are the only ones I can think of offhand. Frankly, I never had a very good attention span, so I usually got bored of the game after the trial level was finished anyways.

How many of you guys actually "registered" your shareware?

--Zero

[ozyr]

Hey, if I really liked (or like) a shareware game, and play it enough, I pay for it. Why? Because I'd expect the same if I made a cool game!!!!

[oesiii]

I don't think I ever paid for a shareware game for the Atari in the 80's, it's a little bit foreign to teenagers with no checking accounts or credit cards. And there was all this free stuff being traded at school at all times.

But I've got better in the 90's, I can usually find good freeware for my PC and Linux apps but I've paid for quite a few Mac shareware programs that I like. A recent one was Richard Bannister's excellent Emulation Enhancer.

[ClubNinja]

My other PC gaming whore friend and I used split many of the registered versions to help cut down costs. Many of those discs are missing these days, but I still have the full versions of:

Every Commander Keen game (1-6)
Duke Nukem
Duke 3D
Doom
Rise of the Triad
Heretic
Hexen
Sango Fighter
Jill of the Jungle
Wolf 3D and Spear of Destiny

[sisko]

Never, but I never really had that many shareware games in the first place....less than a dozen probably.

I remember God of Thunder too....I loved it 8-)

[YoshiM]

The only shareware I really bought was Kali for playing networked games. Technically I paid for EGA Trek and JetPack as Wal-Mart was selling the full versions for like $5 or $10.

Other than that, no. I played the snot out of many a shareware game but moved onto something else after I beat the levels or chapter the shareware came with.

[Sanada78]

The only shareware I've ever had was Doom that I borrowed from a friend so it wasn't really mine. :o

The only one I remember buying was Halloween Harry (AKA Alien Carnage) for 99p. It came with the first mission pack. I was only about 11 - 12 so I couldn't have paid for it as I never had a credit card. Still a fun game though, I'd still play it to this day. :)

[KJN]

Just thought I'd mention that Adept software have made Jetpack and God of Thunder freeware. You can download them here (http://www.adeptsoftware.com/classics).

[TNTPLUST]

I never paid for any shareware until I became a computer teacher for a private k-8 school. The school owns two labs one for k-1 and one for 2-8. The K-1 Lab only has 200mhz computers and no internet access. I am COMPLETLY reliant on Shareware. Try finding software for these antiques that don't require that the CD rom stay in the drive. Even in my other lab I use several games aquired from Popcap.com like Typer Shark.

[TheSmirk]

The only shareware I really bought was Kali for playing networked games. Technically I paid for EGA Trek and JetPack as Wal-Mart was selling the full versions for like $5 or $10.


Another Kali player! I used to use it for DN3D competions and ranking on Cases' Ladder when back when.

Did you know that they are still around and they actually have my registration on file and its still good? Once you reg, its for life so to speak

http://www.kali.net/

[Jasoco]

I've bought full versions of Wolfenstein 3D (All 6 episodes for $5 years layer.), DOOM 2 (At TRU. My grandmother bought it for me. I loved DOOM 1 Demo so much, and my friend had let me borrow DOOM 2 once.) then Ultimate DOOM (DOOM with an extra episode.). As well as Heretic: Shadows of the Serpent Riders (Heretic with two extra episodes.), Hexen and Duke 3D Atomic Edition (Once again, Duke 3D with an extra Movie reference filled episode. I loved that fourth episode so much.) which I got one December because my friend let me try it. (He had the regular version.) I loved it so much.

I loved all those games. My favorite FPS's.

I wish I had bought Strife. I hated mail ordering, so I got all mine at TRU. But TRU didn't have Strife. So I had to live with just the demo. (How I wish, wish, wish there were some way for some one to port that to something. Damn licensing contracts. The best DOOM engine game and yet it was the last.)

[Jorpho]

The only shareware I really bought was Kali for playing networked games. Technically I paid for EGA Trek and JetPack as Wal-Mart was selling the full versions for like $5 or $10.

Wall-Mart was selling EGA Trek? Really?

Sadly, I too never paid for shareware. All those prices are in American dollars, after all. I am sorely tempted by Moonpod's Starscape, but I have enough to play lately.

[WiseSalesman]

I thought this was something completely different. Anyone ever pay for the shareware versions of games? I don't mean registering it, I mean, you bought a disc only to find out that it was shareware? I did that more times than I can count.

[Jorpho]

Oh, I always knew (or almost always knew) that what I was buying was limited shareware. Back then, full games simply weren't in that price range. The fact that they were typically packaged in cheap plastic containers (if they were packaged at all) was also a big tip-off.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I never payed for Shareware and i will never do...!!!!!!!!! :roll:

[Kid Ice]

Funny, the first thing that sprung to mind for me was C64 shareware. I hadn't thought of Doom or Wolfenstein at all, neither of which I consider shareware, but rather awesome demos.

Answer to the question...NO. I had at least 200 pirated C64 games, so using (much less paying for) a non-commercial game was the furthest thing from my mind.

Ahh youth.

[Duncan]

Wolfenstein 3D was one of the few games that my dad was willing to fork out the full price for, after he got hooked on the demo. (Hasn't played another FPS since, either, unless you count Time Crisis. :) )

And Jill of the Jungle - I'm glad someone else remembers that game. Well worth the five bucks. Duke Nukem was right in the same ballpark - I remember the promo screen that mentioned "graphics that blow away Nintendo or Sega".

[Nature Boy]

I'm one of the "no's" in my childhood. My dad pirated the games and I played 'em. Paying for shareware seemed silly when you were copying the real thing anyway.

These days, though, I do pay for it. PPC software mostly. Most recently APE for my SIO2PC cable. Of course all the shareware games that *came* on the APE disc I still haven't paid for, but I'm assuming those addresses are long out of date anyway :D

[Flack]

Same here. I never paid for shareware back in the day, mostly for the fact that I didn't have the means to.

I've paid for a few things recently, including Newsbin and CDR-Win, but boy did CDR-Win (Goldenhawk) really piss me off. I bought CDR-Win about 2 1/2 years ago. I recently reloaded my laptop, and when I went to reload CDR-Win back onto it I was informed "your license has expired." Apparently when you purchase CDR-Win, you only get a valid license for 2 years. I am not embarassed to say I hit Google and found a valid serial number within a few minutes and am using that now. Seems like a bad tactic to get repeat customers.

[Jasoco]

Now a days I pay for other sorts of things. I've paid for DragThing, Konfabulator, TNT Basic, WindowShades X and WeatherPop Advance.

[evildead2099]

Did I buy the full versions of Shareware games that I enjoyed? Yes, but not as often as I should've, admittedly.

DOOM was actually the first PC game that I ever purchased, and I bought it after playing the Shareware copy of DOOM on a friend's 486.

The same story is more or less true with respect to Interplay's Decent (1), except that I waited a couple of years before picking that one up in stores (Descent 2 was in stores by the time I purchased a copy of the original).

When I saw pictures of the PC FPS Strife, I assumed that the game would be just another crappy DOOM clone. A PC Games magazine I'd purchased featured the Shareware edition of the enclosed CD-ROM, so I figured I'd try the shareware out just so I could confirm my prejudice against the game. I was shocked when I discovered what a wonderful game Strife actually was. So shocked that I did not hesitate to purchase a retail copy of the game when I spotted it in stores shortly after the fact.

[evildead2099]

Clarification: I did not pay for shareware copies of games. Rather, I paid to play the full version of games which I previewed via shareware.

Most of the shareware copies that I tried came from the CDs packaged with PC Gaming magazines.

[Johnny_Rock]

Only once back in the day for Realmz, man that was a great game.

[Julio III]

No, I never did. I used to play loads and loads of shareware. It all came from discs on the front of PC mags or discs copied from friends/cousins. I don't know anyone who actually ever had the full game of anything. We all just played the shareware to death and then tried a new shareware game. I've always had huge respect for the Apogee brandname

[Austin]

I remember buying a few Apogee games back in the day, and the Commander Keen game that ID made. Mostly, though, I was given copies of games from my uncle.

[heyricochet]

Just thought I'd mention that Adept software have made Jetpack and God of Thunder freeware. You can download them here (http://www.adeptsoftware.com/classics).

Sir, you are the man, you have made my thanksgiving. I've been wicked bored sitting here at my gmas house even though it is nice to see her and my parents. Old games made freeware are totally the solution. Now 3drealms needs to make all of their games freeware and not 10 dollars.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I never registered any of my shareware games.

[syd]

I haven't ever paid for a shareware game. In fact, I don't pay for many computer games anyway. I don't play many computer games anymore, the ones I do play are at least 10-15 years old and aren't sold anymore. However, I did pick up a registered copy of Blake Stone 3D at the thrift store a few weeks ago for $3. LOL

On another note, God of Thunder was an awesome game! If I were to ever buy a shareware game, it would be that one.

[icbrkr]

You make it sound like Shareware is a thing of the past.. .:)

Do I *still* register shareware software? Yes. I've registered Syngery (OS X proggy), some online doors for the BBS (LORD,
TEOS). I even put out some shareware back in the day for the C64 and received... well nothing.

[Tony Montana 218]

I never in my life payed for shareware. I think its total garbage.