I can't fully agree more. I've lived around the same way you have. Always being exposed to a new way to get stuff for free. My friends and I are some of the only people at my school who actually buy their games. I swear, anytime a game is coming out we get asked the question of, "Why do you still buy your games?". You get treated like you have been living under a rock. I wish people would realize that it hurts the industry.

Everyone has a youth of piracy. It's just a fact of life. We didn't think much of it. What seperates "innocent pirates" from the douchebags is that, when you grow up, you'll have more money to spend. If you continue to pirate from that point on, yeah, then it becomes an issue. When you don't have disposable income and you pirate, I don't see it as big of a deal and let's face it, adolescent moral compasses are fucked beyond repair anyway.

@Narishma

What if people started pirating Nintendo? Oh sure, in your dreamworld another developer would come and replace them, but you would still miss them, no?

Wintersocks: Piracy on Nintendo platforms has never been more prevalent than with the DS and Wii but that didn't stop them from making boat loads of money.

... the only true way to combat piracy is to look at other revenue streams. I hate to say it, but with advertising dying off in TV (what with specialty channels and the ability to skip ads using a PVR), advertising may be one of the few ways to produce games at a reasonable cost that offsets the extra work that is often needed to pirate a game. Sony has also found another deterrent with the Bluray disc... if the games are large enough, the download process alone (not to mention the ability to burn blurays) is a minor deterrent to piracy.
I do think that when internet is more widespread and faster...that we'll eventually no longer be "buying" games... just purchasing a license to play them. The game itself may not even reside on our console or computer, but instead may reside on a server... with only one access that is paid for.

I do pirate video, particularly TV. If I miss an episode of Lost, I have no compunction about downloading the episode and watching it on TV via my PS3 rather than watch it on the network's website with their poor streaming video quality. I also occasionally pirate a mini-series I could have DVR'd but didn't or even a movie that has been out for awhile and is usually a "chick flick" that my husband has no interest in renting.

I did pirate one game in my life... and as you noted, it was a situation where I didn't even realize it was pirating. A friend gave me a "copy" of his PC game and I didn't clue in that it was essentially theft. Currently I always try to buy new copies of games from Devs I want to support... but in all reality, if I particularly dislike a dev I'll buy the game used and wouldn't even be adverse to a pirated copy.

I will sometimes pirate, but only in cases where I can't find my original copy of the game. I already paid the money for it, I'll be damned if I pay again because I lost the disc or the key.

@Eaten by a Grue

Well yeah, of course. I installed a chip in my Playstation and Playstation 2, there's more alternatives though, such as a boot-disc (which only costs a disc) and what not. Some of these "mods" allow you to play online as well. I'm not 100% sure of when it comes to modding the consoles of today (PS3, 360 and Wii), but I believe the principals are the same.

On another note: I think the piracy for the PS3 and Wii are extremely low, if not non-existent. Due to technical terms, such as Bluray.