LOL. I don't think I have ever heard such ridiculous claims from pro-piracy people. Metallica was made famous by piracy?!?!?! Piracy redistributes wealth?!?!?!

Hey, it's not easy to delude yourself. If pirates can trick themselves into thinking Warcraft was made famous by piracy, back in 1994 when most schools and homes didn't even have internet access, give them some props!

Piracy in general is not a good thing. However small musical acts and directors that intentionally leek their work can get huge benefits in the long run. Its better to be known in some way then completely invisible.

That's an interesting thought. Obviously piracy is illegal and the developer wont see that money, but then again, they wouldn't see money if a game is resold time after time in the used market or even in the rental market. Sure, I suppose you could say that they'd at least see more with the used game business because I don't think a disk copy of a game is going to be circulated around as much as it could on the internet, but still.

I mean, I think you make a point in that it ought to sound weird when somebody condems piracy as stealing money from the developers and then talks about how he/she purchased a used game off of Ebay or Gamestop. Or there's the rental market like I've been taking advantage of. With Gamefly for just over a year now, I've been able to play through tons of games, without having to spend $60 on each of them. Does that mean I'm a bad person?

I agree with this.  Piracy in general is wrong, but we can all think of a few specifics where it's good.    There's always an exception.  So the question "Can" piracy be a good thing?  Of course, just like speeding, murder, war, etc.

Also, "stealing" is the wrong label to give piracy, as it's easily attacked by pro-pirates since copying doesn't fit the exact definition of theft.  Piracy is devaluation of a product, just like lowering someone's land value by polluting.

The best way to fight it is by enforcing the laws we have in place.  Law enforcement needs to monitor trackers and give out tickets like they would for speeding.  It won't stop it, but it will make it too risky or difficult for most.

I'm just curious to how places like Gamefly and Blockbuster can charge you and give away someone's intellectual property but doing so for free is bad. If pirating is bad renting is worse. Developers still "lose" tons of money to no one buying games at least pirates aren't trying to call what they do a legitimate business.

If retail games were no more than $5 to $10 a pop people wouldn't feel the need to pirate(as much). Just like the digital song download prices are good at about .99 to 1.99 per song. If game makers keep overshooting consumer demands with such high end prices for what often amount to low end products then i can't say i blame people for pirating.

Because Gamefly and Blockbuster legitimately purchase every copy they rent out, and don't make new ones. They don't steal in the way that pirates do.

So do the people who get and crack the games they put on the internet, but they don't charge you to play that game. 

That doesn't change the fact that developers are "hurt" over less sales, while they(GF BB) make money off someone else's hard work.  Let's buy 20 copies and rent it out thousands of times.  That's SOOO much better than pirating.

If games were $5 to $10 a pop, there would be no gaming industry because everybody in the industry would be BANKRUPT.

Developers put a lot of time and money into games. Quite often, they are good games. But even if they aren't, that means you can take them for free? You can take somebody else's hard work and give it out free of charge? How could anybody consider that ethical?

In that way, say a few lawnmowers are bad. Does that give you the right to go into Wal-mart, steal a whole bunch of lawn mowers are give them out free? No.

Renting is entirely different. That would be paying for the lawnmowers and letting people borrow them for a little money.

Besides, they'll be able to pirate the PS3 eventually, but by then the PS5 will be out so nobody will care anymore.