Idk, it’s gonna be all anecdotes but, when I was a teenager I pirated software heavily too, but then when I finished high school I paid for an academic license for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection for my own personal use for example, as well as a few other pieces of software prior to that. And mind you, there was no cloud stuff that forced me to buy it, I just chose to. And I’ve bought a bunch of other software too since then. As well as many games both before and after.
I think more so what made me stop pirating software altogether, and instead either paying for it, or using FOSS alternatives, was in part the realization that it was going to be a bit silly for me to want to get into software development and wanting to get paid for my own software, while at the same time continuing to pirate software. So that is the main reason I stopped pirating software I think. That and the fact that I learned about a lot of FOSS when I started at the university.
I think more so what made me stop pirating software altogether, and instead either paying for it, or using FOSS alternatives, was in part the realization that it was going to be a bit silly for me to want to get into software development and wanting to get paid for my own software, while at the same time continuing to pirate software. So that is the main reason I stopped pirating software I think. That and the fact that I learned about a lot of FOSS when I started at the university.