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Cyporiean wrote:Its a good thing the folks at Forgeworld don't have to worry about rent.

Comparisons like this make me laugh. The prices on FW and GW in general are incredibly overinflated compared to the cost of materials and the objective value of labor put into it. When you sell individual models like a Manta for upwards of $1.5K, you aren't "barely scraping by" in the same way non-business entities like actual humans are.

When Forgeworld or GW has months where it can't afford to pay health insurance for it's employees or has to shut off heat to their buildings, you give me a call and then I'll consider the positions comparable. Until then, please stop making false comparisons in an effort to overvalue the loss of profit casting causes.

Destrado wrote:

plastictrees wrote:No, you see, it's totally ok if you're not the specific kind of nerd that KhornePsyker imagines he isn't.

And insulting him proves you're cool, and your point. Bravo.

Nerd is an insult here now? I'm a nerd. It's good of you to jump to the defense of someone that describes a portion of Dakka members as basement dwelling neckbeards. Defending his right to self expression is vital for some reason.
Being cool is very important to me, so we absolutely need to work this out.

Howard A Treesong wrote:For example, I have bought a lot of the original metal RT Space Marines but none of them have backpacks. As is often the case, small parts are easily lost over a period of 20 years. So what can I do? These old metal backpacks are very hard to find, they only appear in tiny numbers and usually come with another Marine if on eBay, GW ceased making them or even offering them for sale over 20 years ago and I need about 50 of them. So seriously, what should I do other than recast the very few that I have? Technically what I intend to do is illegal, but COME ON be reasonable about it.

This is a perfect example of what I am personally OK with... glad you posted it.

Of course, Dakka could never condone or allow people advocating such a practice, and neither could any other site. However, it's not legal to drive a mile over the speed limit either... but what really gets you in trouble is driving 20mph over it. It's similar here... but personally, I would not cast bolters that were available to buy from Forgeworld, for simply that reason- they're available to buy!

I WANT to give these companies my money... unfortunately, some things they just decide they don't want to make money off of anymore. In those cases, where it's also not reasonably possible to get on the second-hand market, either, is where I consider it OK for me personally.

darkPrince010 wrote: Comparisons like this make me laugh. The prices on FW and GW in general are incredibly overinflated compared to the cost of materials and the objective value of labor put into it. When you sell individual models like a Manta for upwards of $1.5K, you aren't "barely scraping by" in the same way non-business entities like actual humans are.

When Forgeworld or GW has months where it can't afford to pay health insurance for it's employees or has to shut off heat to their buildings, you give me a call and then I'll consider the positions comparable. Until then, please stop making false comparisons in an effort to overvalue the loss of profit casting causes.

Do you ever buy anything? Because this if "cost of materials" + "objective value of labour (which I'm terrifed to ask for your take on)" is your value metric then you must be constantly screaming in rage and frustration at an uncaring sky.

RiTides wrote:
I WANT to give these companies my money... unfortunately, some things they just decide they don't want to make money off of anymore. In those cases, where it's also not reasonably possible to get on the second-hand market, either, is where I consider it OK for me personally.

Well for 'oldstyle' old parts which are not made anymore, a lot of indy sculptors are now making updated old school parts which can fill the need without needing to infringe. The legacy Jumppack market is one good example of this as there are dozens of jetpack parts which fill the oldschool look without needing to have the original parts recasted. There is no coincidence FW and everyone else is making retro parts.

If there is a market, someone will fill it.

I have no idea on the legality of this (if someone could shed a little light that would be great!) but is it still strictly illegal if you make a modification to the original gun, and then cast?

For example, if I wanted to extend the barrel on the bolter, and add an ultramarine symbol to it, it would be painstaking to sculpt on another 20 or so. Here "the caster" wouldn't be cutting corners in terms of saving money, but rather saving time and achieving unity to his models.

If that all makes sense.

nkelsch wrote:

RiTides wrote:
I WANT to give these companies my money... unfortunately, some things they just decide they don't want to make money off of anymore. In those cases, where it's also not reasonably possible to get on the second-hand market, either, is where I consider it OK for me personally.

Well for 'oldstyle' old parts which are not made anymore, a lot of indy sculptors are now making updated old school parts which can fill the need without needing to infringe. The legacy Jumppack market is one good example of this as there are dozens of jetpack parts which fill the oldschool look without needing to have the original parts recasted. There is no coincidence FW and everyone else is making retro parts.

If there is a market, someone will fill it.

The thing is, I even include those in my "do not cast" list as I own 100 pre-heresy jump packs from Chapterhouse . Treesong's example was something I didn't think would have demand (the tiny old backpacks for RT marines) but I could be wrong.

A good example in my case is the Echidnox hedgehog model. It was made available by Reaper if you ordered a certain amount on a SINGLE day... a day that I missed! So, they Could make it... but choose not to. I wanted a number of them as stand-ins for Brushfire while I await the making of official models (which I will then purchase gladly). In my eyes, they're missing out on a sale because I would gladly pay them for the model if they would choose to make it available... but they won't.

So, that's what I'm thinking of. I understand that not everyone will share that view... but if a company has the ability to make a model and chooses not to for whatever reason, I don't feel like I'm "taking money out of their pocket". If it's available in ANY form, I'll go for it.

A good example of my "going for it" are the Dreamforge mini-leviathans. Bought 10 of those suckers, and pretty much blew the hobby budget for the whole year! But they were available, if expensive, as a limited run, so I sucked it up and paid the price!

plastictrees wrote:Do you ever buy anything? Because this if "cost of materials" + "objective value of labour (which I'm terrifed to ask for your take on)" is your value metric then you must be constantly screaming in rage and frustration at an uncaring sky.

I do, but I'm not a blind consumer. I rarely-if-ever buy GW at face price, and will never do so again while they continue to keep their prices at this level. If I go to Walmart and buy the off-brand Chicken Noodle soup for $1 cheaper than Campbell's, does this make me a stupid consumer because I actually try to find cost effective alternatives?

As for my value of labor, I actually don't underestimate it so much as I suspect you overvalue it. For example, a generic space marine (and a tenth of the bitz in the box) costs, according to GW, ~$3.6. This covers the cost of plastic for polystyrene pellets is ~$0.002 per cm^3 (Approximately. Using the high estimate here http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/546969831/Hot_Sales_Recycled_or_Virgin_HIPS.html). Even assuming the 25mmx28mm space is a solid polystyrene cylinder, that's ~13.7 cm^3 of plastic, coming out to a wallet-busting 3 cents per model in plastic. Even if 95% the other $3.57 goes towards things other than the artist's wallet, that's still $1700+ per 10K minis sold (So every thousand boxes or so) to the artist.

Now, that's all conjecture thanks to GW not releasing sales figures, but I'm not claiming that they should be working for free. I'm simply saying that GW is vastly overcharging for their models, and as a result, I see no problem in any alternative model purchasing techniques that might deny them a sale.

*Edit* To head off the inevitable accusation that I steal/recast/murder hobos for models, I do buy models at face value from companies, such as Reaper and Mantic, because they charge sane and reasonable rates for their minis instead of the gilded-with-invisible-gold prices GW charges.

Just because they're overcharging does not mean it gives you the right to do something illegal, though.

heartserenade wrote:Just because they're overcharging does not mean it gives you the right to do something illegal, though.

Legally? Of course not.

Morally, however, I believe it allows me to create an artificial source of competition to counter their essential monopoly on this aspect of the hobby (Fantasy/Scifi tabletop wargaming).

*Edit* By monopoly I don't mean that no other systems exist. However, Warhammer eclipses so many similar games that many, many gamers I've encountered have only ever heard of tabletop wargames in relation to GW's products. Now, normally having an incredibly popular product isn't a bad thing, but take a look at a similar example: Microsoft in the pre-Apple-iPod days. Microsoft was essentially a monopoly at the time, despite other competing products like Linux existing. However, your average person on the street had a much better chance of hearing about Windows versus any other operating system of the time. Luckily, competition has emerged to Microsoft with Apple and Google, but until then, it was a monopoly.

Similarly, while GW is being challenged for control of this aspect of the hobby by PP and a few smaller ones (Possibly Mantic and Infinity), it still holds a very strong monopoly and is violently protective of their IP in cases like Chapterhouse to cause eyebrows to raise about whether they're protecting their monopoly as well. I simply view casting as an illegal but moral form of anti-monopoly practice against a company that is still operating and profiting as such.

I find it somewhat strange that people in the "against making your copies" movement seem to have no problem whatsoever with other companies that blatantly rip-off GW's I.P.

RiTides wrote:

Howard A Treesong wrote:For example, I have bought a lot of the original metal RT Space Marines but none of them have backpacks. As is often the case, small parts are easily lost over a period of 20 years. So what can I do? These old metal backpacks are very hard to find, they only appear in tiny numbers and usually come with another Marine if on eBay, GW ceased making them or even offering them for sale over 20 years ago and I need about 50 of them. So seriously, what should I do other than recast the very few that I have? Technically what I intend to do is illegal, but COME ON be reasonable about it.

This is a perfect example of what I am personally OK with... glad you posted it.

Except there is a difference in each situation. In the situation in the OP the parts are still made and the company still sells them. It may not be cheap, but he should (IMO from a moral perspective) purchase the actual parts. How he purchases them doesn't matter, there are tons of ways to do it, but the point is that FW is still offering the models themselves and since they are easy to obtain legally they should be obtained legally. If you can't afford it all I can say is tough luck. It may not be fair, but this is an expensive hobby and you don't have a right to little toy soldiers, especially toy soldiers with special guns that cost more. If you care that much about making your army unique (this isn't an insult I use IG forgeworld parts that I like) then you shouldn't bitch about not being able to afford it, you can buy generic soldiers, or buy on very small scales, you might need to spend more time and money building your army, but that is life.

In the other case, even if it is illegal I see nothing wrong with it. GW doesn't make the part yet, no matter what you are doing they aren't getting money, it is faster and easier go ahead.

You're massively over-simplifying the costs involved on the part of the manufacturer for some reason. I'm pretty sure you don't actually think that the equation for mini production is Raw Plastic + Sculptor = $$$. There's no objectively "fair" price for miniatures, unless you have a completely subjective concept of how much profit a particular company should be making fixed in your head.
It's nice that you don't want everyone involved to starve to death, but I'm pretty sure that most companies would consider "not starving" to be a pretty low bar to set for themselves success wise. At no point does the cost of an item justify its theft. Just because you consider them to be insanely priced doesn't suddenly open up a loophole. I appreciate that you're not explicitly saying that you steal models (recast) but you are making these statements in a particular way in this particular thread.


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darkPrince010 wrote:

heartserenade wrote:Just because they're overcharging does not mean it gives you the right to do something illegal, though.

Legally? Of course not.

Morally, however, I believe it allows me to create an artificial source of competition to counter their essential monopoly on this aspect of the hobby (Fantasy/Scifi tabletop wargaming).

Nope, would still be stealing. What moral objection do you have to GW other than "they make more money than I think they should!"?
If you're just saying, I'm choosing to buy other companies models, then that's great, but why are you saying that in a thread about recasting?

plastictrees wrote:

darkPrince010 wrote:

heartserenade wrote:Just because they're overcharging does not mean it gives you the right to do something illegal, though.

Legally? Of course not.

Morally, however, I believe it allows me to create an artificial source of competition to counter their essential monopoly on this aspect of the hobby (Fantasy/Scifi tabletop wargaming).

Nope, would still be stealing. What moral objection do you have to GW other than "they make more money than I think they should!"?
If you're just saying, I'm choosing to buy other companies models, then that's great, but why are you saying that in a thread about recasting?

Obviously stealing is stealing, and against the law, but is it also always wrong?

I don't think it is.

plastictrees wrote:You're massively over-simplifying the costs involved on the part of the manufacturer for some reason. I'm pretty sure you don't actually think that the equation for mini production is Raw Plastic + Sculptor = $$$.

The cost of raw materials is essentially nil, and while I do freely admit the costs of the injection mold itself and the sculptor are not cheap, compare it to another company such as Mantic. They have a cost of ~$1.25/model, a third the cost of a GW model, yet they aren't struggling to make ends meet, and are arguably prospering. I know GW has a larger company to maintain, but does that mean every penny of the 200% additional cost/model is simply to support the rest of the company? Heck, look at em4 miniatures, who have sets of 50 minis coming out to $0.40/model, or Prince August's Warzone that have bags of 80 models costing ~$0.38 per model for a multipose model.

There's no objectively "fair" price for miniatures, unless you have a completely subjective concept of how much profit a particular company should be making fixed in your head.

Nope, there is no objective price. But when you compare it again to Mantic or even PP minis, the prices are notably higher for GW in essentially every case.

At no point does the cost of an item justify its theft. Just because you consider them to be insanely priced doesn't suddenly open up a loophole.

It doesn't. However, immoral monopolistic business practices do encourage me morally to try and right those wrongs however I can, and in my case I support artificial sources of competition.

I appreciate that you're not explicitly saying that you steal models (recast) but you are making these statements in a particular way in this particular thread.

I only haven't recasted minis because I haven't had the time to get the casting materials, although SoB for my fiance are on the top of the list. I do however purchase recast minis of some GW models when it's unavoidable for me to use actual GW models.

*Edit*: As for my objection with their business, the practice monopolistic practices such as frivolous lawsuits against companies that aren't directly infringing their IP, bait-and-switch artificial product value (Changing the artificial value of models within their game to bolster sales, simultaneously drastically reducing the artificial value of other models), and essentially forcing purchase of sub-par quality items in order to use their product (Finecast). None of these are directly illegal afaik, but it's such scuzzy business practices that I morally have no qualms depriving them of possible profit from me.

darkPrince010 wrote:It doesn't. However, immoral monopolistic business practices do encourage me morally to try and right those wrongs however I can, and in my case I support artificial sources of competition.

I only haven't recasted minis because I haven't had the time to get the casting materials, although SoB for my fiance are on the top of the list. I do however purchase recast minis of some GW models when it's unavoidable for me to use actual GW models.

So you're now literally saying that you think that the cost of GWs plastic space men is immoral and gives you free reign (morally, of course), to re cast as you see fit and you support everyone's moral right to do so.

"I want to play with these toys, but they're too expensive for me, so I'm going to steal them" doesn't strike me as an especially sound moral stance.

Ghaz wrote:
Your financial situation does not give you an exception to break the law.

Is that a bag full of finecast?

Kaldor wrote:Obviously stealing is stealing, and against the law, but is it also always wrong?

I don't think it is.

In the context of miniature gaming...I think it unequivocally is. If you don't like a companies practices (and really, as far as corporate business practices go, GW is a my little pony with a moustache on the evil scale) then buy product from a competing company. This isn't the mid 90s, there are a lot of other options that you can have delivered to your door with the click of a mouse. There's no moral quandry here. No-one is stealing a loaf of bread to feed their starving family. The worst case scenario here, the most horrifying possible outcome, is that some guy doesn't get the space marine with a slighty different hat army that he's wanted for the last fifteen minutes.

plastictrees wrote:So you're now literally saying that you think that the cost of GWs plastic space men is immoral and gives you free reign (morally, of course), to re cast as you see fit and you support everyone's moral right to do so.

Essentially, yes I view myself as helping to artifically increase the competition GW has in an effort to eventually have them revert to non-monopolistic practices. If the cost of electricity or sugar (For examples of nonessential goods) was entirely controlled by a single entity that charged 200% more than comparable commodities provided by other companies, I'd say that was damned immoral of them and would subsequently have no qualms about depriving them of my coin.

"I want to play with these toys, but they're too expensive for me, so I'm going to steal them" doesn't strike me as an especially sound moral stance.

Neither does "I expect others to spend significant portions of their income without complaint to simply play a game."

darkPrince010 wrote:

plastictrees wrote:So you're now literally saying that you think that the cost of GWs plastic space men is immoral and gives you free reign (morally, of course), to re cast as you see fit and you support everyone's moral right to do so.

Essentially, yes I view myself as helping to artifically increase the competition GW has in an effort to eventually have them revert to non-monopolistic practices. If the cost of electricity or sugar (For examples of nonessential goods) was entirely controlled by a single entity that charged 200% more than comparable commodities provided by other companies, I'd say that was damned immoral of them and would subsequently have no qualms about depriving them of my coin.

"I want to play with these toys, but they're too expensive for me, so I'm going to steal them" doesn't strike me as an especially sound moral stance.

Neither does "I expect others to spend significant portions of their income without complaint to simply play a game."

Then play a different game. There is no "moral" stance here. Just say "I want to play with GW models, but don't want to pay GW prices, so I'm going to steal them". There's no argument you've made here that can't be answered with "buy another companies miniatures instead".

nkelsch wrote:

helium42 wrote:There is nothing at all illegal about copying the work of another 'for personal use only'. The minute you try to sell or even give away something you've copied, you then cross over into illegality.

'Personal use' and 'Fair use' have very narrow legal definitions. Buying a copyrighted mini, then duplicating it because you want 20 copies is not fair use or personal use.

An example of 'fair use' is to take a mini and make 10 copies in order to test paint techniques and schemes, and once you decide what scheme you wish to use, paint the original and destroy the copies. That is personal use.

Buying FW and recasting it over and over to troopbuild is not legal and not 'personal/fair use' in any of the major countries in question. (US/Euro/Aus)

Those are your examples or definitions of 'personal' or 'fair' use. The truth of the matter is that IF you were taken to court for casting your own miniatures for personal use (ie not selling or giving them to anybody) it would be a crap shoot as to how the ruling went. I applaud you nkelsch for at least backing up why you feel that casting another's sculpt is illegal, unlike some of the other posters who just came out and told me I was wrong, without backing it up.

I feel I can make as many copies of miniatures/music/videos or anything else that I want and am capable of creating and be standing on pretty sound ground legally, but the minute I sell or give any of those copies to another I would be in definite legal trouble.

plastictrees wrote:In the context of miniature gaming...I think it unequivocally is. If you don't like a companies practices (and really, as far as corporate business practices go, GW is a my little pony with a moustache on the evil scale) then buy product from a competing company.

The issue is that thanks to it's prominence, GW is the gold standard in both many tournaments as well as personal preference of many gamers. I don't know about your local groups, but gamers at my local club are very intolerant of non-GW models for counts-as or proxy armies. Additionally, there are several non-GW events I've been to that don't allow non-GW models, even including the Rule of Cool. While it's fine and dandy if your local groups are more tolerant, don't apply that as a blanket "Oh, everyone is ok with stand-ins, everywhere, all the time. Just buy non-GW stuff and you'll be able to play without an issue."

Additionally, while GW isn't a Belgian rubber plantation, compared to other miniatures companies and even toy companies, I'd bet they're a whole lot more morally questionable than the vast majority of their contemporaries.

You've made several assumptions here that I think bear closer examination:

This isn't the mid 90s, there are a lot of other options that you can have delivered to your door with the click of a mouse.

What if someone doesn't have internet access? While it's basically a human right, that doesn't automatically mean it's present, and this accounts for a significant number of cheaper options such as eBay and other online retailers who can sell GW products at an affordable discount.

There's no moral quandry here. No-one is stealing a loaf of bread to feed their starving family. The worst case scenario here, the most horrifying possible outcome, is that some guy doesn't get the space marine with a slighty different hat army that he's wanted for the last fifteen minutes.

15 minutes? What about 5 years? What about 10? You're assuming an income level where eventually the person will be able to purchase said product at GW's retail value, and that simply is not true for everyone. Maybe you then say they don't deserve to play (Since, remember, not all places and people are as equally accepting of non-GW models as you may be) if they can't pay, but I believe that they should be able to if the cost has been artificially inflated to such a degree without another useable alternative (ie, official GW models for a lower cost without use of secondhand minis)


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plastictrees wrote:Then play a different game. There is no "moral" stance here. Just say "I want to play with GW models, but don't want to pay GW prices, so I'm going to steal them". There's no argument you've made here that can't be answered with "buy another companies miniatures instead".

Sigh. If I want to play a GW game, even using just the rules, many people in many places in many settings will not allow non-GW models. In every other scenario, then yeah, buy from another company, but there are some cases where non-GW models are not an acceptable alternative.

Doesn't bother me one bit as long as you aren't selling them. To be honest doing nice recasts isn't all that easy and still costs some money.

I come from a wargaming / model rail roading background before I started with 40k some decades ago and both of those bases recast stuff ALL the time. It is interesting to look back at some old wargaming books and see people writing about how to recast this miniature and that miniature.

So no I really don't see the big deal. In many ways it is part of the hobby. Some people recast whole miniatures and some do just parts for conversions. Whatever just don't ever sell it.

What I do find amusing though is the outrage people get over the idea of this. The speeding analogy, while a horrible analogy, illustrates my point rather well. Speeding is illegal but no one ever goes crazy if someone speeds. Yet speeding can actually land you in jail and more importantly gets people killed. Recasting for personal use does none of these things. So really???????????? Aren't there more important things to get upset about?

RiTides wrote:People feel really strongly on this...

I'm firmly of the opinion for myself that if a model/part is extremely unavailable / long since out of production and very difficult to find, then I have no problem with someone casting it. Again, that's my personal opinion.

However, I've been desperately searching for multiples of a really old model/kit before, and been lucky to find one. In that case, I personally have no problem with casting.

Now that brings up an interesting situation...OOP stuff. Recasting an OOP mini/part is still technically illegal, but many companies & people are unlikely to care if its not being distributed. Sure they would prefer you buy the new version, if one exists.

Do what you want with your life. The reality is that if you recast for yourself and aren't a total idiot, you'll never get caught.

Then you don't get to play a GW game against those guys without either buying GW models or stealing. Play someone else or play a different game. There's no scenario where stealing plastic space men suddenly becomes a moral imperative.

"Deserving" to play a game has nothing to do with this and I'm not making any assumptions about income. Even if Joe "Maximus Armour" Smith could never afford the army he specifically wants in a thousand lifetimes he still isn't striking a moral blow by stealing those models.
He's just stealing.
He probably won't be caught. It probably wouldn't matter if he was. I wouldn't look down on him if he was in my gaming group or shun him or anything ridiculous. I would consider him to be an enormous toolbox if he claimed that any combination of income levels/ model costs/ gaming environment transformed his theft in to a moral stance.

I'd just like to see somebody with a link or explanation as to how recasting for personal use is illegal.

Kaldor wrote:

plastictrees wrote:

darkPrince010 wrote:

heartserenade wrote:Just because they're overcharging does not mean it gives you the right to do something illegal, though.

Legally? Of course not.

Morally, however, I believe it allows me to create an artificial source of competition to counter their essential monopoly on this aspect of the hobby (Fantasy/Scifi tabletop wargaming).

Nope, would still be stealing. What moral objection do you have to GW other than "they make more money than I think they should!"?
If you're just saying, I'm choosing to buy other companies models, then that's great, but why are you saying that in a thread about recasting?

Obviously stealing is stealing, and against the law, but is it also always wrong?

I don't think it is.

Unless it is for survival (eg. your family and you are starving so you shoplift food from a super market) than yes.


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helium42 wrote:I'd just like to see somebody with a link or explanation as to how recasting for personal use is illegal.

Burning CDs is illegal even if you don't sell them, so is recasting minis. Not gonna go out of my way to find any actual laws, but it is.

Casting is the same as online piracy.
Essentially, there is no difference between to the two as there is no stealing of a physical product only the copying of an already bought product.

So, determine your stance on piracy. As in, have you ever downloaded a 40k codex? Ever downloaded music from a p2p website? Ever copied anything that was not given to you to copy?

If so and you are so adamant that casting is illegal and would try to make the OP feel bad for asking a question. Look at yourself first. I'm certain at least one of the anti-casting posters on here is a hypocrite.

Plastictrees, I agree entirely with what you're saying. But I also believe we have entered a new phase of economics where the customer has a much greater say over what the acceptable price for many items should be. Movies and music are the two biggest examples. I don't believe the prices set by the industry accurately represent the value of the property, and as such I feel morally justified in taking it for less than that.

If I had the option of using a cheap pay-per-download or pay-per-stream system here in Australia, then I would do that. But I think it is just as morally acceptable, in circumstances where a reasonably priced alternative is not available, to take it. This lets the industry know that their pricing is unreasonable, and drives market change. Now, I don't for one second think I'm some kind of white knight crusading against evil corporations. Far from it, I'm just a guy that likes cheap movies. And before we get too carried away, I want to make a strong distinction between theft and piracy (of which re-casting is the latter). Theft is morally acceptable in a much more narrow band of circumstances, because it actually deprives the original owner of the thing you have taken. So downloading a movie because I think the price is unreasonable is not at all the same thing as stealing a Ferrari because the price is unreasonable.

I don't think it's reasonable or realistic anymore to expect people to continue to either pay prices they feel are unreasonable, or to simply go without. Not when there are options to get that same product for free. While the market has always set the price the industry is able to charge, I feel what that price is, has changed very quickly and will never change back, and the industry (whatever industry that may be) is having a very hard time catching up. And until they do catch up, no one should be blamed for only parting with what they feel is an acceptable amount of cash.

Tl;DR - People are justified in pirating things that are unreasonably priced.