Bit like Best Policeman is an Ex Criminal

There's the obvious challenge, "because it's there". Cracking's fun and relaxing, with the occasional pulling out of ones own hair. It's gratifing to see a program run the way it should, without all the nasty protection.

Have to agree with that. I'm hardly the worlds best reverser, but I do it for/to gain the knowledge. I'd rate myself as a good coder, and reversing helps me to code better. You see certain things in the deadlist that aren't .... "apparent" .... in the higher level code (C++ etc). But most of all, I do it because I have a personal interest in security, and it's all related.