My first legit game on the PC was team fortress 2, bought it on my friend's recommendation in 2009. After that, one game lead to another, though I still pirated games in some form till the end of 2010. It wasn't until 2011 that I completely stopped pirating games and only bought games that I intended to play the most. One of the best perks of going legit, you never have to worry about stupid cracks not working, crashing your PC, or corrupting the saves.
Was a budget gamer in the beginning, but now I pre-order games which are compelling and have most appeal to me. I guess it comes with time & age. Once you start earning and buy stuff with your own money, nothing can replace that feeling.