Lets all just admit it. Although I personally enjoy having a hardcopy (and thus buy at stores), there are justifiable reasons for downloading games illegally:
1.) This game ain't worth 50 bucks but you still want to play that cool beachhead level. Well, that level sure is worth a 2 day download at least!
2.) I have no idea if this is going to work on my computer and there isn't a demo and i don't want to buy the damn thing so I will get it for free and try it out!
3.) This game is freaking old and I can't find it anywhere...except for...that one place....
4.) It is never in stock at a local store and you hate using a credit card in fear of another form of pirate...
5.) The disk got scratched up and it won't work and I don't current have the game loaded on my computer...i suppose downloading it off of a Torrent site wouldn't really be stealing since you DID buy the game before!
6.) The economy is going to hell in a handbasket and I have gone from gamingly stable to "OMG I AM SO SICK OF THIS GAME I NEED TO HAVE SOMETHING NEW!!!!" yet I have no cash!! I know the place to go! So I go buy an ol' game that I know the producers aren't getting much cash flow from anyway.
That is all i can think of at the moment. Feel free to add. Point is, this piracy thing isn't near as bad as game producers think it is. Stardock honestly understands it and i stand behind that company. The thing about Stardock is they don't fit any of the above criteria so i would never have any reason to download their games. I bet the vast majority of people getting these pirated copies are simply trying them out or wouldn't have bought the game anyways. It is a seriously common thing to hear the justification that little Timmy doesnt want to buy the game at all, but hell i will download it for free. It just doesn't seem all that bad looking at it that way. It is just taken too far out of text.
Video game producers should be utilizing other methods of funding, such as advertisements. If i can download any game for free, at any time from all kinds of locations at top download speed all because there is a Coca-Cola sign in the street where a gunfight is taking place...THAN HELL YEAH!!! Even lowering the price to 10 bucks would just be wonderful. I think most people here would agree with me. The video game industry, after over 20 years, is in desperate need of a reform. We need change. I feel that Stardock is at the forefront of this change. Oh and sorry about the Obama political nods there, lol. Don't yell at me, I'm independant.