I think my first game was some crappy Pacman for my BBC Micro. I cannot even remember who made it. That was also on cassette. Someone started a computer club in my home town of Bedford. It started with good intentions and people would bring along all sorts of machines to show off, but it degenerated into a copying club. Basically an IRL version of the BBSs @slobberchops writes about.
I used to hang around in Boots, Tandy or WH Smiths to see what computers and games they had. I think we could play them sometimes. There was an independent shop selling the Video Genie which was a clone of the Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80. My Beeb came from another shop that sold electronic components. I really had to save up for it.
Those were fun times.
I was a member of Wakefield Computer Club and that was exactly the same lol....very quickly turned into a night of swapping and copying games!!
Video Genie, I'd forgotten all about that until you mentioned it and you're right, it was supposed to be a TRS80 clone, talking of which, don't you miss the Tandy catalogues....I could have ..and did spend a fortune in there. Luckily, later on, my brother worked in a branch and you wouldn't believe the amount of 'faulty' kit that he bought very, very cheaply lol ;-)
I was jealous of a friend who worked in Tandy. They were the Maplins of their time. I guess ebay has replaced a lot of that business. I just bought some components there.
They all became copying clubs, it was much more fun then!
It is a little sad as copying does impact on the software business and I have worked in that a lot, but not consumer stuff. Same thing happened with music, which was even easier to copy. A friend ripped off loads of Amiga software, but I don't know if he played all the games. I bought a fair few games on Beeb, Amiga and PC.
I absolutely agree, but for me, it was the thrill of making the copy. I wasn't really into games, especially when they brought out those tricky loaders that flashed coloured screens as they loaded such as the US Gold games. Took some cracking!
I know some floppies could take ages to copy bit by bit. I was never into the cracking, but you have to admire the skills. I hope some of those people got decent development jobs.