thief: noun - a person who steals, especially secretly or without open force.

You take something from someone else, against their will and without compensation.  With regard to video games, you take something that a team of people have worked on day in and day out for years to create without acknowledging their work at all purely because you want to.  You don't have the honesty to admit the value of their work.  Instead you are saying that your personal enjoyment is more important than the work of potentially dozens of people.  You are an outstanding example of the self entitled gamer Brad is complaining about, although in a different way than the article highlights.  

Cars are significantly more expensive than video games.  Your logic says that you should take any car you want and drive around whenever you want.  The nicer the car, the more expensive, and therefore the less able to afford it you are.  Therefore you should be stealing DB9s and Maseratis all day long based on your sorry excuse for morality. 

As seanw3 says, at least have the integrity to admit who you are and run with it.  

You can throw in all the GWB noise (yawn) and library rationalization you want.  It doesn't change that you steal from people and you do so without even the basic defense of necessity.  You steal luxury goods.  As an aside, the library argument is flat out wrong.  Libraries PAY FOR THE BOOKS YOU BORROW.  The author is compensated.  What you're doing is walking into a B&N or Borders (if you can still find one), taking a book off the shelf, and walking out.  

Hence, thievery.  No gray area.  No rationalization available.  You are a thief.  

But thats counter intuitive though. If I promote the taking of things that arn't actually yours then I be hurting any moral code against it. That doesn't help society in anyway if I strip its moral values. Who cares about its intellectual stimulation if people can't even tell wth is right or wrong in morally good way.

So you're saying people are justified stealing because it enhances their... what?  Cultural level?  Intelligence?  The only thing you listed that can legitimately be counted as a primary source of stimulation or education is books.  If the others are your primary source of either simulation or education you are neither stimulated nor educated.  Regardless, it doesn't muddy the waters one bit.  It's theft.  

You think it is greedy for someone to make something of value and begrudge someone else who takes it and uses it without providing equal value?  Seriously?  Congratulations for undermining the entire world economy and the very system that has led to the greatest amount of human progress in history.  Why not carry this nonsensical Utopian idea to its logical conclusion and say that no one owns anything and that we are all entitled to everything.  Because what you're saying is that if something can be rationalized to have societal cultural value that it is wrong to charge people for it. 

Whether or not the creators go out of business is irrelevant.  Piracy is stealing their work.  In the case of the "class of goods that make society better" you are essentially stealing the product of others minds.  That doesn't make it any less theft or any less wrong.  It's not a gray are at all.  

And all of this this ignores the fact that that thieves stealing video games are not doing so for any reason other than their own enjoyment.  

And you're posting on the boards of the perfect counter example to your argument.  Brad has repeatedly told the story of how he founded Stardock out of necessity and stuck with it because it was the best professional & monetary opportunity for him.  

See here.

People create for their love of creating, but they stick with it because they can make a career out of it.  

Haha, funny arguments. One guy already equals breaking the law with being amoral. I guess you got no clue about morals then. Sorry buddy but law DOES NOT EQUAL morals. Both laws and morals depend on society and culture and no way you can ever make them equal.

Another talks about I have no clue what. I didn't take anything from anyone. At best I reduced possible profits, but as I already said I cannot afford that game anyways. So no profits lost. And Brad is not complaining about me, I bought Elemental because I had money to spend at that moment and the game (and promises) looked OK as well as I wanted to support Stardock with what little money I have. I also don't troll people for fun of it or bash them for kicks hiding behind internet anonymity. No I am just a guy in early 30ies that figured out how this world works and does not want to conform to it. You can keep living in your happy place and be oblivious to the world if you like. I just don't agree with being happy that we are not all given equal opportunity when born or being happy that everyone is only chasing profits and thinking about themselves.

You look at single case while you should be looking at the big picture. Maybe one day you will understand.

As far as car example, if you really need a car in your life you can probably afford a cheap but reliable one. More expensive cars are made for the rich people anyways. I don't understand this comparison. And stealing a car directly reduces profit of its owner instead of reducing only possible profit. If you don't understand the difference I cannot help you.

Ok, library. I guess you missed the point once again. Library was an example of something that works, but if you change it slightly as I showed it becomes similar to video games industry. Why not go the other way? Why not have online services where you play 5$ per month and play any games in the list (or a limited number per month)?! I would be able to afford this price and many would. I would pay 10$ or 20$ per month for such a deal easily. Did anyone check if this is more worth then 60$ games that many pirate instead of buy?! And then another 40$ or 60$ game in the same month.

I like how free to play games are becoming popular and where you can pay as much as you feel it is worth it. Check out Path of Exile, a free to play aRPG where you will not pay anything for power but only for cosmetics or stuff like extra stash space. It will survive with microtransactions that will not reduce the play enjoyment of those that don't pay. I will gladly give them some of my money for their respect for gamers. Compare this to CoD games with 60$ price and 4h of single player.

Blah blah blah.  You are taking something that others have spent years creating.  They added value to an idea by turning it into an enjoyable experience.  You take that experience without compensating them.  You are a thief.  Yes you are hurting their profits, but that's not the point.  You are taking something YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO.  You didn't help create it.  You didn't help fund it.  You did NOTHING to earn it.  But you take it.  

Try to throw all the bullshit justification you want into.  You steal the hard work of others and use some highly flexible, shoddy moral philosophy to justify it to yourself.  

You know what most people do if its a bad month and they can't afford the game they want?  They wait.  Get it when it goes on sale.  Or they save money. Forgo a night at the bar each week for a few weeks. Or they realize that they don't want to be thieves and they simply go without.  

I am sure I have done more for my fellow man that I didn't ask money for then 95% of world population. I would still probably do it if I didn't become a cynic in the meantime

OK, you call me a thief and that is OK. That is your right to call people what you want. I call thieves people that abuse the system that is put in place. I call the system a thief.

You say we steal from your country, but at least we don't murder people all around the world for power or oil. How do you think you have your wealth? Do you really think you work more then rest of the world? Or that your manhours produce more? Do you think your life would be so easy if oil was not cheap for you and people in China were not producing most of what you use?

There is a limited amount of wealth in the world and for someone to have more someone else must have less. And today world works so that everyone wants more and nobody wants to share. Nobody cares for others, even be they from your country, town or street.

Hardcoded morals? Really? You said you know a lot about human nature or something like that? So please explain to me how murder is wrong (civilians or cops killing each other) but state murder (soldiers killing others) is OK?

Nobody got a real reason to kill someone else. If someone needs something others should provide. There should never be a reason to murder someone for something. But we do, all the time. And many praise it, call "murderers" heroes, even when they do it outside their own country.

Instead of working for yourself we should all be working for each other. You should be happy to share you work with us as well as I should be happy to share my with you. But then we would not have those who have more, would we?

I'm pretty sure "thou shall not steal" is a moral code that goes beyond law, it's something ingrained in the religions and cultures of more than half the world's population and I'm sure well beyond those Abrahamic religions. So I find it perfectly appropriate to call a theft of intellectual information amoral.

Hepler needs a sense of humor?

I was getting trashed by morons for having the gall to lose a game yesterday.  I called them five year olds and told them to grow the fuck up.  A wasted effort, but I'm an asshole so it comes naturally to me.  They're everywhere.

I don't see any danger here, just reactionary retardation.  If anything, I'm depressed by the coverage given to something so pathetic.  It's morons on the internet being morons.  Be amused by the few intelligent enough to come up with witty repartee, and weep for your eyes over the masses that can't.

Boshimi and I were talking about this very thing the other night. 

Another issue with the "entitlement" crowd is when they actively and publicly work to ruin the reputation, fun and community morale of a game because it isn't the game they wanted for themselves.

"Let me win or I'll take my ball home and no one can play."

P.S. And hasn't anyone taught Frogboy how to embed a link yet?

TorinReborn, to you, for fighting the good fight.

Xia, Seanw3, Kantok, I fear that the irony of your entitled world view displayed in this thread will be lost on you. You and I were lucky enough to be born in some of the richest parts of the world. I'm happy for you and wish you nothing but the best in life. But don't think for one second that our life experience is shared by even a large part of the world population (even in our own countries experience varies widely based on plain dumb luck). For most people, life is pretty crappy. Untill everyone has the same quality of life as a middleclass western person, there is nothing moral or just about the values you are trying to enforce. (Not that there wouldn´t be a lot of things to improve if everyone did have that standard of living.)

PS: Seanw3, you might want to do some research on Croatia and it's recent history before making rediculous statements like this:

First and foremost, I feel terrible for Ms. Hepler; that's a horrible thing to have happen to anyone.

Second, this just feeds my instinct that anonimity in the web probably needs to be reduced.  Accountability breeds respect, and with respect comes community.  The people who post inflammatory comments like that aren't actually building any community, they're destroying it.

Satrhan, I'm just guessing, because I also happen to be entitled.  But if life is really that crappy for some folks (and I've no doubt it is), I think the right answer might be to put the computer down, go outside, and make the world better, rather than helping yourself to the labor of others to continue avoiding the issue of your crappy life.  Video games are an entertainment, which comes well after some other needs have been met.

Whinnihym, I'm not sure what your point is; is it that I shouldn't be playing video games but rather spend every waking moment improving the world; or is it that the pirates (those that pirate because they can't afford to buy games at least) have no right to entertainment of their choosing until they have fixed all their problems themselves?