I suck at quote editing so using old fashioned copy pasta.
"You can't compare a physical object with limited availability to an unlimited resource like data.
I'm also not stealing anything because I wouldn't have bought any of it, and I see that I have worded my post a bit wrong. If I don't like the game I uninstall and delete it, using that download as a form of extended demo, something that doesn't show only a single section of the game."
As with all metaphors, it's easy to find holes to poke if you nitpick. And in this case I don't quite see how the nitpick changes anything.
What you say is equivalent to "if i dont like the candy bar, i throw it away and used that stolen bar as a free taster of whether it was good or not", or lets use another metaphor (you can also nitpick this one, but I trust you're intelligent enough to get the message behind it, if not then I guess there is no point using metaphors with you), you torrented a film and if you didn't like it, you uninstall it and forgot about it, saving you from a crappy film. It doesnt change the fact you "cheated" to see that pirate film/tried the candy bar/ played the game, circumventing the law to suit YOUR needs. Uninstalling the game/film or throwing away the candy bar after doesnt change that.
"It's something we'll never agree on. Before Napster(lets use that as the start of easy file sharing) I was a console gamer. Napster introduced me to red Alert 2, Black&White, Doom, Half Life and a lot of other games, and basically turned me in a PC gamer. It also 'saved' me from some really bad purchases, mostly in the form of games that wouldn't run on my pc.(not even a real graphics card until we got a new pc in 2002)"
I don't see your point. You would have become a pc gamer eventually anyways, and I was more or less in exact same situation as you when I was 16 ish and my comp savy mate said he could get me any of the amazing pc games he showed me for free.
I didn't go down that path, and continued being a console gamer for a few years, only recently have I become a pc gamer and I've made up for lost time (found most of the old classics that I would have pirated on good old games.com, AWESOME SITE).
If I did like you, I'd have become a pc gamer sooner, but it would have been through a wrong (in my eyes) way.
That pirating acted as an early bridge for you to get into PC gaming is NOT a justification, rather a positive experience which seems to explain your current attitude.
As for saving you from bad purchases, thats life! It's luck of the trade and its happened to me a few times when I'd buy a game and it wouldnt play on my pc.
If my memory serves me correctly, those I couldnt return to the shop I kept around and even got some working later, others just serve as coffee mats
Yeah we really won't be agreeing any time soon, in the same situation we have reacted totally differently and what you see as reasons, I see as excuses.
"I would, but unfortunately I don't have a way of paying for those games. Hell, I want about half the action games on Steam, but I'm also not going to download them just to be able to play. The few I did download made me feel like an asshole so I removed them and made it a rule to never download indie games again."
I'm glad you do show some restraint, you're not a lost cause like some others I've seen.
By "don't have a way of paying for those games" I assume you mean you don't have the money, to which I reply: tough luck, and now we are back to the bad self entitled attitude which really doesn't do you any favors ><
But was your conscience playing on you because they were indie games? It is easier to steal from a faceless corporation after all, and easier to justify in your own mind since proportionally you are doing less overall damage and...Ok im gonna stop here, and say briefly: look up psycholgy treaties on thiefs and stealing in general.
For someone to steal they must justify the act in their own minds, and pretty much every reason or argument you have enunciated are known mental tricks to make the act of stealing easy (now your comment about limited data/physical copy makes sense! It wasnt actually nitpicking but a mental trick)
Im not joking, go out and research the subject, and see if you don't recognize yourself in it.
Anyways, thats enough of a TL DR, I get the impression you are a person with a minimum of morales, but the easy to justify nature of game pirating(aswell as positive early experiences) has weakened your integrity enough for you to dabble in it.
