The easy way to become a /v/idya pirate This guide is for beginners.It informs about the risks of piracy, how to prevent them and where you can find the treasure.It's not for advanced/experienced pirates. 0.Reasons There are many reasons to torrent video games: >The game is banned or censored in your country like Hotline Miami 2 in australia >You don't want to support the developer (Phil Fish) >The game forces you to install DRM software like Steam (defectivebydesign.org) >You're broke >You just don't care and want free stuff 1.Setting Sails 1.1 Research Before you dive into the sea you should take some time to research your local laws. What power do media companies and their lawyers have in your country? How often do people get busted for piracy? How expensive is it if they catch you? In the EU for example we have IPRED (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enforcement_Directive) which gives the media companies a legal right to secretly force internet service providers to identify the customer behind an IP address. If you have been exposed it can get very expensive (you can trust me on this one). 1.2 Take protection So whats the best way to torrent anonymously and risk free? You should defienetly use a VPN, a Virtual-Private-Network. It encrypts your traffic and sends it to their servers, then into the ocean of the internet. The benefits: >all your traffic is encrypted >you don't expose your real IP adress >VPNs can be used to overcome geo-restrictions like Hulu or Youtube etc. You can alsow use them to connect to different countries to get cheaper games/subscriptions >If you live in a country with internet censorship in place (like spain where certain torrent sites are banned) you can use your VPN to bypass these restrictions. >It keeps you out of mass spying through data retention laws. >If you ISP slows down certain protocols (like BitTorrent) you can surpass these restrictions because all traffic looks the same for them. Important note: VPNs can not give you 100% anonymity if you are targeted by federal agencies. As long as you just share some games you sould be fine. Alsow if you use a VPN while browsing 8chan please don't break any rules so the other users who share the connection don't get banned too. 1.3 Choose a VPN First: Forget free VPNs. They're nearly always slow and insecure, some even log your data to sell ads. VPNs are cheap (around 5 bucks per month) - see it as an investment. Torrentfreak has a good list of VPN providers -> https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/ A short list of "good and secure" providers: 1.Cryptostorm.is 2.Mullvad.net 3.Privateinternetaccess 4.IVPN 5.NordVPN 6.AirVPN 7.VikingVPN These are just a handfull of VPN providers I personally recommend which doesn't mean that others are less secure. You should always make some research first before using a VPN provider. Some don't allow BitTorrent or log your data. Generally you should NEVER use a VPN client which is not Open Source/ Free Software. There can be possible backdoors. An important feature many clients have is that they stop the internet connection on failure.It prevents data leaks e.g. your download stops and doesn't continues over your ip adress. 1.4 Choose a Torrent Client There are tons of different torrent clients in the web and many are shit, so let's settle it down. Note: The list only contains open source / free software clients. None of them come bundeld with Adwdare, Toolbars etc. 1.qBittorrent: It's lightweight and has a lot of additional functions such as prioritization, torrent querying and selective content download. 2.Deluge: A lightweight and simple client, you can add many functions through plugins 3.Transmission: It comes with all you need. Normally for Max/Linux, a Windows version can be found here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/files/Transmission-Qt/ Please NEVER EVER use uTorrent, as they actually installed a Bitcoin miner on their users computer. 1.5 Get an Antivirus Programm It's always a good idea to check your torrents to see if they're infected by malware/trojans/viruses, especially if you use Windows. There are tons of different programms so this is just a small overview. These listed below are recommended by a consumer magazine in germany and tested by AV-Test. These are not free but some come with Trial versions: >Bitdefender Internet Security >Kaspersky Internet Security >Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security >Avira Antivirus Pro >F-Secure Internet Security >G Data InternetSecurity This is a list of free antivirus programms: >Panda Free Antivirus 2015 >Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition >Avira Antivirus >Avast Free Antivirus >Malwarebytes Note: I haven't tested them all by myself, if you're not sure make some additional research. Now that you're ecquiped with a VPN, a BitTorrent client and a good antivirus it's time to set the sails 2.The map that leads to the treasure You can start by checking out (and contribute to) the link dump threads on /scurv/. Besides torrents there's always mega.co.nz and volafile.io to share securely. You can get a lot of GOG games from Sarah: https://thepiratebay.se/user/Sarah116 Coudn't find the treasure you're looking for? Try search engines like kickass.to or thepiratebay.se Always use popular torrents or torrents from trusted/verified users to reduce the chance to catch a virus or other harmfull software. Always remember: More seeds = better.More bandwith More peers = better.Peers are uploading too More seeders/peers = better.More open slots, more avaible bandwith Similar seeder/peer ratio? Choose by number of seeds. Please always seed the torrents for a while - without the community filesharing doesn't work. 2.1 Private Trackers Private trackers, other than public trackers like the Pirate Bay, are exclusiv. You need an invite to create an account and when you're in there, you need to follow some specific rules. They often have a very active and strong community. I would only recommend seeking for an invitation if you're really commited, else you won't last long in there. The rules you have to follow are different from site to site but they often look like this: Ratio: You need to have a certain upload to download ratio, meaning you can't download torrents and delete them — you need to seed.(Which makes it for 3rd world internet users like myself impossible to get in) Invites: Users you invite reflect on you, and if they're bad for the community, it can fall back onto you Uploads: If you upload files to the site, they need to be of a certain quality, format, and/or use a certain organizational structure. The reward for following these rules is that private trackers come with a larger collection of high quality files and high download speeds compared to public trackers like TPB.