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RE: The line of piracy in gaming
The only time piracy may be morally wrong is when you download something for free that you would have paid money for had it not been pirated. However, piracy should not be conflated with theft. It is copyright infringement. Not the same thing for a number of reasons.
I mainly agree with this. There are multiple arguments to make in support of piracy. For a multitude of reasons. For example... When it comes to gaming, some devs charge an arm and a leg for the game and sell millions of copies... along with making millions off DLC. So it is hard to feel bad for the greedy. That doesnt stop the concept of copyright infringement being immoral. Though another point to make is that you might not have been interested in that particular product had it not been offered for free. These are two points that can argue for piracy. Lets say the company went out of business and the production just doesnt exist anymore. This is where I certainly think it is moral to do so, especially in today's day and age.
I just hate it when numbers like in your chart above are quoted. It is always assumed that this is the number that game developers lost. However, not every one of those pirated copies would have translated into a purchase if piracy were impossible. It's hard to really make a guess at what the percentage would be but I'm willing to bet less than half.
I sell retro games and I'm doing just fine. I dont feel harmed in business by it. Theres maybe a slight of potential, but I think you're correct on this one.