No. Just no. That's not how it goes.

Do you get to go to a movie for free because it's one you probably wouldn't have watched in the first place? Do you get to eat a fancy restaurant for free because it's one you probably wouldn't get to go to? Do you get to go to a sports game for free because it's a team you don't cheer for?

No on all those.

So why should you get to enjoy a game that you otherwise wouldn't have bought for free? You don't. These people are hurting the industry because they are enabling others and they are getting something for nothing. It is not some clever ploy to get people to buy more games, they actually are hurting the people that make the games you enjoy.

First of all, those examples you gave are completely different and have nothing to do with the issue. Secondly, I already said I don't really pirate games. Once again, it does NOT cost the industry money because they have NOT lost sales. Those sales would not have been there in the first place, they just assume they would. However, I guarantee someone that has 2000 movies, CDs and games pirated would not ahve paid for all of those.

 You completely missed what I was getting at: why should somebody get something for free that everyone else has to pay for?

Those people that you say would never have payed for the game still got the game and that's all that matters.  They had some reason to want to play it and they are hurting the industry.  It's just that simple.  If someone wants to play the game, they have to pay for it.  They aren't special and they don't get to play for free.

And I have had about 1000+ DVD's (recently sold many of them), about 50 games at any given time, and about 3000 MP3's which are all legal. 

You have an interestingly idealistic view of it, twestern. It cannot be denied, however, that a great deal of pirates are chronic, meaning they refuse to pay for anything. And as we're discussing electronic data, there's no physical medium being stolen. Thus their thefts in particular ultimately have no impact on sales or inventory, since they really would not buy the product anyway and what they're stealing has no tangible existence. That doesn't mean they're right in what they do (they're not), nor does it make them somehow excusable pirates (they're definitely not; if anything, they're the worst of the lot), but it is a fact that you cannot lose a sale if it would never have been made in the first place.

i saw sum fake ps2 and wii games the other day lol

I could not have said it better myself.

Nobody HAS to pay for anything. You can either not have it at all or you can get a pirated version yourself. However, you must also realize that there are many, many people, especially in other countries, that cannot afford to buy all the stuff that you can. I think it is more wrong for companies to take advantage of people than it is for people to take advantage of companies. Don't forget just how much money those companies make (billions) and how all they do is complain that they should be making more. The average person in the world is extremely poor, and the people that run and own those companies are super rich bastards.

Strong use of words there, so you actually believe that someone who sits at a computer and downloads a song or a game actually deserves to burn in hell? An infinite time in pain and torture just because they downloaded a few things?

Wow, I would of thought that would be reserved for rapists and people who shoot up schools, not 'pirates'.

I agree that he is taking pirating way too seriously. I guess the hundreds of millions in profits that all those companies make is just not enough in his opinion, even though the average person is poor as hell.

Well IIRC legally you are not to tape stuff off TV like a football game so probably most of us are guilty of some piracy. Deep down it's not just about money it's about one's own character. (character is what you do when you believe no one is watching) So I try not to justify too much piracy as in the general sense it's still stealing (take that which isn't yours).