[mellonxcollie]

"a pirated copy of a digital game does not equate to money being taken out of my pocket"

This is really what it comes down to in my opinion. "Stealing" means that you are taking something from someone and they can no longer profit from that thing. If you steal a bag of chips from the store, the store can no longer make a profit from those chips and they lose the money that they spent to order the chips to the store. When something is pirated, nothing is lost in that sense. The only thing that is lost is "potential" sales which really means nothing. The creator can still distribute and profit from their creation regardless of how many people pirate it.

I worked at a movie theatre for years and got into unlimited movies (+ a guest!) for free. While I was working there I probably saw 2-3 movies a week. Since I've stopped working there about 3 years ago I've probably seen less than 10 movies that entire time. I only go to the movies now when there is something that I really want to see. The fact is that the only reason I saw those movies is because I got into them for free, I would not have spent money on them otherwise. The same is true of most pirated media I consume. If I had to pay for it, I just wouldn't watch it at all, and if I like it enough, I do pay for it or try to support the franchise in other ways (ie anime figures).