The ruling class steals from the working class. By stealing from them, you are winning back some small amount of what has been taken from you, and withholding a tiny bit of power and influence they would have had if you’d bought the product. Shoplifting is also morally correct for this reason.

Now, you shouldn’t steal from co-ops, because they generally don’t steal from their workers. Small businesses are a bit of a gray area, as many of them are much more ethical than big businesses, but many of them aren’t, too, and you can’t always know which is which.

And before you accuse me of simply adopting a morality that is convenient to me, it’s true that I’ve always been ambivalent at worst about piracy, but I used to be firmly against shoplifting. Even tried to report a shoplifter to my supervisor when I was working retail, the one and only time I noticed someone shoplifting. (Thankfully in hindsight, they peeled out of the parking lot before they could be caught.) I came by my morals not when I suddenly needed to shoplift or pirate, but gradually as I stopped believing in liberal ideals.

To be clear, I’m not saying you’re some kind of hero if you pirate or shoplift. Just that, ethically speaking, it’s better than buying from them.

No, you didn’t, but you said to “support” the game devs, and how does buying a game “support” them if little of the money goes to them?