Goodmongo: Pirates are just thieves and like others try to justify their theft. I personally know people that have lost income due to pirates in music, literature and in coding.
Wolfehunter: How can someone loose income they never had? The only way is someone buying the product and then returning it.
Honestly? If you create a statue and someone steals it you lost that income from what should have been a sale. How is this so hard to understand.
If you steal a song and listen to it you stole someone's work effort. You gained something and never paid for it. That is stealing pure and simple.
Your post where you decide to give something away is not the same thing. Surely you know this.
While a pirate may not buy the game you at least have the chance that their desire to play the game would force them to buy it. They have now received something for free.
EDIT: And I'm not talking about you buying the game and then giving it to a friend after you finish. While it would be best for them to buy it at least you didn't first steal it and then give it away.
Here's a simple rule to know if you are a thief or not. If you take something that doesn't belong to you and the rightful owner is not giving away then that means you commited theft. Downloading music, movies or games that don't belong to you is theft.