From then on, John played Garry's Mod on Steam, and he was able to enjoy the game's vast community and regular updates. He learned a valuable lesson about the importance of supporting game developers and the risks of using pirated versions of games.

The download took six hours. When the progress bar finally hit 100%, he extracted the files, bypass-patched the launcher, and held his breath. A custom splash screen appeared—a grainy image of a G-Man with a distorted face—and then, the familiar clinking sound of the Source engine loading menu. He was in.

A precursor to the Steam Workshop that allowed players to download content directly in-game. The Transition:

Here’s the bottom line: