That's like saying there's a difference between physical torture and physiological torture. Sure, the former will physically hurt you (like ripping off your nails) and the latter won't physically hurt you (it'll just drive you literally insane, like forced sleep deprivation or solitary confinement) but both are equally bad 0_O.
Or it's like hate crimes. Regardless if you scream the N-word at a black person or if you physically assault them, it's still a hate crime. And it's not nice either way, even if screaming the N-word at a black person won't physically hurt them.
So maybe not get too caught up in the nitty gritty details between physical theft and electronic theft? - (ツ)_/¯
Indeed, either way is theft and all forms are equal in their morality, or lack thereof in this case, and damage dealt to the target of the theft.
Note that I wasn't making any judgement as to which was worse, I was just stating that they're inherently different. In physical theft the victim has lost something tangible as well as the opportunity for a sale, whereas in piracy the victim has lost "only" the opportunity for a sale. Both are effectively the same thing, in that something that is being provided with an expected compensation is being taken without giving said compensation, but they have a fundamental difference between them that means you have to treat them differently.
Take for example my case, I do not have the ability to support creators financially. It's not that I won't, I can't. If I pirate something, the alternative is that I don't play the game at all. Either way the developer gets nothing from me in terms of money. I can however provide some value (perhaps not much, but not necessarily nothing) to the dev by praising the game, and recommending it to people that may be able to support them financially. Thus my piracy of any given game has at worst a neutral effect on the dev's success.
If I stole something physically then that's an inherent destruction of value for the seller. I am taking something from them. Even if I do the same thing; recommending the thing I stole to others, that destruction of value means that the worst case scenario is a net negative for the seller.
I'd like to reiterate that I'm not saying that piracy is inherently justified. Hell, if I had it my way then this game would never leak at all, Sel is incredibly generous releasing the game for free two weeks after the release date for the people bankrolling this entire thing. But my problem is not with those who download the game after it leaks, that'd be hypocritical at best. My problem is with the leaker(s).
Downloading a leaked copy of this game harms nobody. At best not doing so would be a show of respect to someone who would likely neither know or care that you did so.
Note that none of what I've said applies to those who can support developers, and would if there were no leak, who don't due to said leaks. If you would pay for the game if it wasn't free, you should definitely pay for it.
TL;DR: fuck the leakers, but you shouldn't feel bad for downloading this game if it does leak. If you can support Selebus (or other developers) then you should, even if you don't have to.
They've lost something tangible in both cases, the money not gained, which is tangible in that you can use it outside of the transaction for the stolen product, including turning it into a physical form. No, theft of any kind can be treated the same because they are both still inherently theft, the only thing missing is an actual physical item that was stolen.
There is no neutral effect, once people learn of an easier source of the game than supporting the developer or waiting the requested amount of time, that's two weeks in this case, so that actual patrons can get benefits that actually mean something, they will flock to the easier source. It's just the nature of most humans, we flock to the easiest method even if it isn't the correct method. I'm not saying those people are lazy, no, it's just in our nature to follow the path of least resistance, usually, there are some exceptions to this. So, you suggest a game after pirating it, the new players you recruited, for lack of a better term, look it up, and they flock here, a pirate site, instead of the three sites the developer officially uses.
I absolutely agree with the first sentence of that third part, it almost never is justified. Again, there are exceptions to this, such as developers wasting their time on DRM instead of developing the game (School of Lust).
Except it does hurt the developer, Selebus has specifically noted a decrease in patrons signing up to support around leaks and downloading leaks encourages them. On the other hand, there is an increase in patron sign ups around versions that are not leaked. The law of supply and demand is in effect here, the leakers supply the leaks and the downloaders download them. Because the leakers see that their leaks are being downloaded, they continue to supply the leaks and because the leak was supplied, it gets downloaded.
