Beyond convenience and honesty, my thinking about pirated software is that in a world where malware and viruses are prevalent, the last thing I would do on earth is to execute some dodgy cracking utility or game from some random torrent website, unless it is in an airtight and up to date VM.
I've downloaded and played dozen of pirated games, but I've been lucky enough to never have a problem. Or at least I never realized I had malware on my PC :-|
For my part, it was not a lack of money, but rather ease of getting the game (when I was directly given an ISO) or because I don't want to wait for a sale, but the game still seems too expensive. I ended up buying two of them (KotOR on a sale and transistor full-price). But now I have a big enough library and I have less time to play, so it's not as appealing as before (and I also have more to lose on my computer).
