system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[ELI5] how do people crack games?
gpt
The game programmer wrote code that says roughly:

    draw_start_screen()
    licensed=get_license_status()
    if licensed==false:
        exit
    enter_game()

Cracking a game involves removing that 'exit' line. Since the end user doesn't have the source code they have to look at the compiled code which is much harder. Debugging tools can help track when the game makes the license check and then that instruction can be patched over.

Now of course contemporary games make this more complicated, so it is a battle of game developers making more complicated code to check the license status and people trying to disable it. Game makers might look for debugging tools and change their behavior; someone might use a VM to hide the fact a debugging tool is being used. The game might check for a debugging VM, people start hiding their VM status. It is a back-and-forth game.

Nowadays game makers might put a small but critical portion of the game online such that the game only works if the remote service is available and checks the license. Then the user has to guess at that functionality and reimplement, or figure out how to patch around it.

But ultimately it all comes down to the game checking on a license and taking an action, and the user tricking the game into thinking the check has passed.