[matthewrobertso]

Your argument strikes me as tautological in that you've created a hypothetical sad situation and are arguing that because it is sad we should change our behavior. I think it's probably worthwhile to think about if the situation could actually occur in our world.

Otherwise, why not construct the absurd thought experiment: what if the intern that got laid off won a bunch of money and didn't have to work? Piracy is obviously moral and great because the intern is now rich.

Obviously this wouldn't happen to most interns given how the world works (losing your job is bad). Thus it is a bad thought experiment.

Similarly, if having a game pirated leads to an increase in sales, this is a bad thought experiment.