Most people have a false perception of the reality of piracy. Most of the people that complain about it think it actually takes something away from the makers of the game, when in fact most pirates couldn't have afforded the product in the first place and never would have actually bought it. One thing they simply can't wrap their minds around is the idea that the vast majority of piracy goes on in nations where the average salary is less far less than $10,000 a year AND games are far more expensive because they are imported.
The real issue they use to defend their position is that people's jobs depend on these sales. Unfortunately what they don't understand is that from an economics standpoint the game developers don't actually lose money to piracy. Even active pirates in wealthier nations such as the US that could probably afford these games wouldn't change their behavior one way or another. In short, they were never going to pay for the game, so the company didn't actually lose anything at all. It's another concept that some people have a hard time wrapping their heads around, but if I had a dime for every time an anti-piracy fanatic didn't understand something I'd be struggling to figure out how to spend the money instead of struggling to figure out how to get the money I need to get my game to publication.
Also, since we're talking about people not being bright enough bulbs to illuminate some essential truths, these anti-piracy people are clearly unaware of the fact that IF piracy were stamped out completely, it wouldn't raise sales. Pirates are pirates for financial reasons, and if they couldn't "steal" their games they'd buy them used. Game developers don't get a single dime from used sales, so breaking up piracy rings wouldn't help one iota. The only people who would gain from it are companies like Gamestop, which the video game industry considers to be as much of an enemy as piracy. Sony and Nintendo both have tried to stop game resales almost as much as they have tried to stop piracy, and if you argue that you buy games new to support developers you have to loathe people who buy legitimate used as much as pirates because they hurt your precious developers MORE than pirates. They legitimize the idea of not buying a product from the developer and, worse still, they do their business legally in the US instead of illegally in China and Brazil (where it doesn't matter to begin with, due to low salaries).
Really, anti-piracy people just don't think about anything they can't see in their own world. They can't be bothered to take the time to realize that not even one more game would have been made in the history of the industry if piracy were non-existent because they know neither economics nor human nature. They assume, falsely, that a +1 for piracy is a -1 for developers when it is not a zero-sum game, and they do so because they neither understand the market nor human beings outside their tiny circle of associates.
You do not have the right to never be offended.
