Coelocanth: 1. I'm not sure I buy the whole OCD angle here. If you really want a physical item (such as a new cordless drill, for example), does your OCD make you go out and steal it if you don't have the cash for it?
*************************************************************** 2. I see nothing here but rationalization. It's really not the same thing at all. At first release, when the game costs ~50 bucks is when the game companies get the most revenue. People that purchase at release are buying the right to play it at that time, and are thus paying a premium for it. Later down the road, the right to play it costs less, which is where you're saying you buy. So by pirating at release (or early in the game's life cycle), you're playing without permission to do so
at that time. And you're cheating the game companies out of the revenue they would receive to do so. You can rationalize it all you want, but the net effect is
not the same.
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3. You're confusing 'needs' with wants. A want may feel like a need to the individual, but it's still only a want. No one is going to die if they don't get to play their favorite game genre.
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I doubt he's trying to convince you to convert. I imagine he, like myself, realizes it's a futile endeavor. I believe he's just trying to point out that your arguments are little more than rationalizations.
1. Again, OCD/need plays more/most often into deciding whether or not to pirate MUST HAVE titles of certain series/genres/etc. It's more an adding supportive factor when pirating and again not the end all be all deciding or influencing factor.
2. Rationalization and one's decisons go hand in hand, IMO, for better or for worse....but one's moralities still play a huge part in those decisions. As for the net effect not being the same, read it again. In the example of me downloading a game when it first comes out and then paying for it later on (for say....15 dollars...in a sale.) they get the amount of money from me and I now legally own the game I wanted and played. In the second example I don't pirate but wait and AGAIN buy the game(again for 15 dollars). They get the same amount of money in both cases and aren't losing any physical product in the first example, so IMO they're almost the same thing...barring the legality of the first example and how some might view it as being immoral.
3. Yeah some might not die if they don't get a certain thing(like alcohol/tobacco/etc), but they still suffer the mental and sometimes physical effects opf withdrawl when they don't get what they depend on.....thus in some ways it is a need, as in needed to prevent such withdrawl effects and to those experiencing whatever need they do for whatever reasons it is a need, if albeit an imagined one. It still has it's effects on those people though, both when they do what they feel they must and when they are forced not to for whatever reason s. Also, even legitimate game buyers have
needs" if they absolutely MUST HAVE Xgame or y genre NOW and go to buy it as soon as possible. It's not just me or pirates like me who are like this btw.
4. And what are your "arguments" but "rationalizations" as to why i'm wrong in doing what I do or why I don't need to do what I do(for whatever reasons you may come up with)? If i'm rationalizing(as you say), then you are too.
Irenaeus.: I'm not trying to "convert" you, I just genuinely don't get it :)
Some reasons why I wait a few years, rather than pirate the originals (other than that (a) that's illegal, and (b) I wouldn't know where to go to get them anyway):
1) Game Developers keep track of how many downloads via Torrent are made of their games. If lots of people pirate the game with the intention of buying it later, the company has no way of distinguishing these from people who pirate it and don't buy it later. They just have more stats to encourage their DRM department.
2) If the game is a big release, then it is more likely to be patched to be a better end product.
3) If the game is moddable, then more mods are likely to have been made.
4) My PC hardware is more likely to play 3yr-old games than the latest ones :)
5) It's more likely that add-on packs will be included in a "Gold" edition, so I have everything in one place for that game.
1. I don't care if they track the downloads.....IMO(as I said before) DRM boycotts or less torrented downloads aren't going to and aren't currently solving anything. Companies will always move to protect their investments regardless of if their IPs are being pirated or not. That's just how it is.
2. Good one, and I often don't pirate on day one but a month down the line hence this doesn't apply to me.
3. Again, see number 2.
4. Mine is better so this doesn't affect me either.
5. I can always pirate those too, or when I legally buy a cheaper legal version of the game I pirated awhile back the gold edition might be the one on sale thus I kill two birds with one stone anyways.
Again, I could care less whether it's illegal or not, as I do often some things considered mildly illegal and it doesn't bother me...it's how I feel morally about such acts that's important to me imo.
GameRager: You say I should play a game years later when it costs less, and I do this already. I simply pirate it first so I can play it and then buy a cheap copy of the game after the fact....it's basically the same thing, except for being illegal and all. I see nothing here but rationalization. It's really not the same thing at all. At first release, when the game costs ~50 bucks is when the game companies get the most revenue. People that purchase at release are buying the right to play it at that time, and are thus paying a premium for it. Later down the road, the right to play it costs less, which is where you're saying you buy. So by pirating at release (or early in the game's life cycle), you're playing without permission to do so at that time. And you're cheating the game companies out of the revenue they would receive to do so. You can rationalize it all you want, but the net effect is not the same. 
