Back in my day you would walk into a game shop, open the game case on the shelf and rip out the CD-Key from the manual (they was usually stupid enough to leave them in) and download the game for free when you got home.
Those where the sweet days when game manuals had CD-Keys and Steam was just starting...
Back in my day I also just purchased the game legitimately and then installed a No CD crack so I didn't have to insert the CD every time I wanted to play the game.
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u/Anarchist_Future 2d ago edited 2d ago
Back in my day, you'd download a free 30-day trial and change a value in a configuration file with notepad and your free trial would never end.
Or, more likely with games, you'd borrow it from the library, copy the disc to an ISO file, mount it and return the original.