Some personal thoughts on piracy (warning - long post)

[hollowleviathan]

The problem with the patronage angle is that people will often and easily base their decision whether to purchase (patronize) at least partly on the perceived need of the artists. A well-off company will get less sympathy from pirates than, say, Amanita Design, makers of Machinarium. In the end it's either a flawed perception of entitlement (IE I'll pay when and if I want to spare the money), or a move towards videogames as financed without expectation of return by grants from wealthy philanthropists. Neither seems ideal.