that can change at any time if Valve bothers to patch it
Sure. And DRM free can become DRM laden with a patch too
it’s technically piracy
No it’s not. It doesn’t even legally count as copyright infringement. You are legally allowed to crack your own legit copy of software. The only thing possibly in the way is the EULA of the software (almost all of them have a possibly-illegal no reverse engineering clause)
it takes effort the average person isn’t going to do
The average person isn’t going to be backing up their games in the first place.
Okay, but:
DRM-free avoids that, hence why GOG has value.
Sure. And DRM free can become DRM laden with a patch too
No it’s not. It doesn’t even legally count as copyright infringement. You are legally allowed to crack your own legit copy of software. The only thing possibly in the way is the EULA of the software (almost all of them have a possibly-illegal no reverse engineering clause)
The average person isn’t going to be backing up their games in the first place.