And I should add this: I believe there are two kinds of pirates:

1. Those who know they're cheap fucks
2. Those who pretend they aren't cheap fucks

While both are pretty bad, at least the first group admits it and at least aren't so bad (and even respect them for admitting it).  The other group is just annoying because they keep saying they do it because they would never have bought it, they are going to buy it later or if it's good, it's too expensive, blah blah blah blah blah.

At least be honest with yourself: you aren't pirating for any of the reasons 1 through 9, you are in fact doing it because you are a cheap greedy bastard.

Well, according to Valknut he seems to think video games are essential to babysit his kids so I'm pretty sure he would have bought them even if that excuse wasn't bullshit.

i really don't get the whole idea of "i make this much money, i have to support this many people, blah blah blah and thus i can't pay for video games like you"... video games are a luxury like anything else, they are not the be all and end all of life.. if you can not afford a game, you can not afford a game.. don't buy it, don't steal it.. seriously.. what makes a game different from anything else.. i'd love to get a lot of new things, but if i don't have money for it .. i don't..

i just can't understand how that can be used as an excuse.. seriously.. just because you can't afford something at this time in your life, doesn't mean you can just go get it for free... you treat it like everything else in the world.. if i can't afford a new plasma, i won't buy a new plasma, simple as that.. i don't go and steal one... if i can't afford a new house, i don't buy a new house, and i certainly don't steal one (if that were possible)..

gaming is a luxury like any other piece of entertainment, if you can't afford it.. then you can't afford it.. leave it at that

i think i just regurgitated one point out into three paragraphs, sorry about that

I'm going to slightly retract what I said earlier and throw out an analogy with objects.

If you're so strapped for cash that you have to download games, why don't you go and steal a TV as well?

Well, because you can't do that without getting caught and in huge trouble. You only pirate games because you don't get in trouble.

It's still wrong though, and it still comes down to you taking or copying something without paying the money it costs everyone else, so of course people are going to be angry with you.

well Ben, I'd say the major difference is that if you steal a TV, whoever you stole it from is now missing that TV.

I'll add to the dodgy analogies present in this thread with this one :

Piracy is like masturbation in the 50s. Everyone tells you it's bad but everybody does it.

In the baker analogy, I did present a way for someone to copy bread.
The reason I chose the name "Jesus" was because of one bible story where he multiplied donated bread and gave it to the people who followed him. The reason I chose that story is because someone had to work hard making the bread, someone bought said bread, someone multiplied said bread (without the baker losing any resources) and gave it away for free.
I'm not saying my analogy is perfect, but it does get the message across.
The reason I made that analogy is to present the reader some moral choices.
Should Jesus who multiplied the bakers bread and gave it away to people for free be persecuted?
Should the people who ate the bread for free be fined or thrown in jail?
Should the guy who bought the bread and donated it to Jesus be blamed and sentenced?
What can be done to help the baker? 

You called that analogy stupid.
Enlighten me?

It's true.

I own well over a dozen anime series that I wouldn't have even bought had I not pirated them in the first place.  It's because I am cheap.  I don't want to spend $30-$50 on an awful series.  I don't want to waste my money nor do I want to support the makers of that series. 

I'll support the good ones though because I hope they'll make more.  For example, I love Full Metal Panic.  It's one of my favorite anime.  I've pirated every series/spin-off of it as it has come out.  I've also purchased the box set of each as soon as I saw in in-store. 

I don't think that justifies piracy as a whole nor do I think that I am in the majority, but I do know that a lot of companies have benefited from me pirating things.  ^_^

I think Piracy is a problem but the extent of the effects of piracy are completley blown out of proportion,

If the developer makes a product that really apeals to the consumer then the consumer will respond very positivley e,g GTA IV , GT5 , Halo 3 etc businesses blame piracy because of a lack of interest in their games (due alot to their games being complete crap) I'm sure piracy affects games sales but I seriously dought it makes games that would otherwise be profitable fail to reach profitability.

My personal opinion is that it's ok to pirate if the person couldn't otherwise purchase the game or seriously wouldn't purchase it either way , in both situations there's no loss to the developer/platform because they can't loose a customer they never had , it's not the same as running into a store and stealing physical property that belongs to some on else I think.

True, to me... counterfit rolexes, and designer clothes made and given away... shouldn't be illegal... and to my knowledge isn't.

It's only illegal when the person charges money for it.

Either way, nobdoy i know has be arrested for owning knocked off goods.

However illegal money printing is always illegal since money isn't a product so much as a government document standing for something.