I think that the biggest issue with piracy is just how easy it is for dedicated hackers to do. If you're going to make a game, at least put some real effort into making it piracy proof. All too often a game developer just have a platform of games with basically the same generic copy protections with minimal changes at best. For example, PC games have CD keys and code that makes sure that you have the actual CD/DVD in a disc drive that require you to have actually purchased the game to play it, but via virtual CD/DVD mounting and cracking these were broken through as a viable protection years ago. Yet these copy protections are still being widely used, and I see no signs of them being replaced with more effective protection in the near future. As a result, someone that can pirate one game on a platform probably can pirate the whole lot with little trouble, I've gone to torrent sites (yes, I do use torrents on occasion, though only for older games and other media that I would have a hard and expensive time getting my hands on, as I want to them to continue making said media) and seen games that have very recently been released already having been pirated.
While it is true that any sort of protection can and will inevitably be hacked and pirated regardless, at least try to make it difficult for them. If you did this well, it'll takes weeks, months or even years for the hackers to pirate your game, and by then, aside from the occasional unit here and there, you'll probably have sold as many of that particular game as you ever will, and most of the rest that get sold will probably be used copies you don't get money for anyway so your profit margins won't be much effected.
As for the original poster topic, indie developers are so nice to their customers because not only are their expenses smaller to make games, but because it's really the only ammo they have against piracy. The indies can't afford to develop one effective copy protection after another or to strong arm and screw over people to protect their game's copyright like the triple A companies can, so, the idies try to get people to want to come back again and again. If the indies tried to protect their copyrights the way triple A companies do, practically EVERYBODY would pirate their games and hardly anyone would pay for them, they would lose everything, while triple A companies don't really need to worry about pirating because even to a dedicated hacker it's much harder to pirate them.
