This is an interesting point someone brought up on another forum:
I replied with this:
I wrote this small topic just to point out that I've noticed that people think that pirating games might be wrong and should be stopped at any costs.
I've heard many stories about governments pursuing this problem and arresting people, not only in Russia, where I live, or USA, but in a number of other countries. This. Is. Stupid.
I agree, sometimes publishers get less money. But making games isn't ONLY about getting money, it's about passing stories, feelings, emotions to other people! If I were to make games, I would like people to pay as much as they want. Yes, even if it's 0$. Pirating games helps not only pass news about games, but also let others taste this game, savor it. It gives them just enough time to think whether they like this game or not. Is it interesting? Do they like the graphics? Is story thrilling enough? Will they buy it?
It also helps preventing people berating any games. Like Starbound. Have you seen Steam community? These people couldn't play the pirated version and bought it, thus paying money for a BETA of a great game. The BETA warning wasn't enough for them, so they started talking about how horrible this game is. I'm sure you are aware that some developers stopped working on their games after receiving too much criticism. If people like this game - they buy it. If not - they don't buy it and don't post bad reviews. Publishers - get money. People - experience and new feelings.
So yeah, please, don't say that pirating is bad. You just sometimes don't understand the full picture of situation.
I replied with this:
Personally, I don't pirate games, but I do the so with music. There is one band I absolutely love, pirated almost all their music. After I downloaded them, I felt bad and ended up buying the albums.
Music, along with games are for enjoyment, passing messages and feelings, as <ForumMember> said. However, I think that piracy should still be discouraged; a lot of work (usually) goes into these things. Work that needs time, money and skill. I believe that these things should have a price tag, due to the effort needed in the creation and, as was mentioned above by <ForumMember>, is a career for some people.