piracy is an excellent case study into why peer support is a viable alternative to a hyper-individualist, capitalist society, especially when you note that corporations are by far the most vocal opponents to piracy; independent game developers and self-published musicians and writers, who logically should be at greater risk due to their razor-thin incomes, are in fact often either unconcerned by or even actively support piracy
indeed, there is evidence to suggest that piracy acts as a load balancer for wealth; pirates often cite corporate malice as their primary reason, itself split into specifics such as the likes of ubisoft actively destroying their games and refusing archival, and the rise of subscription models (whose prices themselves continue to rise) for inferior services
on the flipside, piracy of independent media is far less common, and the primary reason for this is cited as financial insecurity. pirates will often only download indie games, music, and literature on a temporary basis, with the intention of supporting the creator down the line. one notable example of this is the early days of minecraft; notch (yes, I know) actively supported piracy of his game, which went on to become the best-selling game of all time
even gabe newell, co-founder of the corporation that operates the largest game distributor on the planet, has gone on record multiple times saying that piracy is a service problem, quote:
We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem; if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24x7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.
piracy, much like peer support, is free and unconditional, and seeks to preserve culture and dignity where mainstream society does not. it is for these reasons that, forever and always, I will be fine with people pirating my shit