So, I just saw this thread and decided I could as well give my opinions.
I'll start with my records, since I pirated a couple games over the years. Six, to be precise.
Three of them were before I could actually buy things on the internet. And all the time I played them illegally, I felt very very guilty. But I had no choice (besides not playing the game, that is)
As a result, two of these three I bought near-instantly as soon as I got a shiny plastic card, and the bank account (and money) that goes with it. The third I stopped playing altogether. Although it is tempting me recently, if I play it again, it would be on a legit, paid for version, and not a crack.
More recently, I pirated two games that looked interesting, but that seemed a bit overpriced, and offered no free demo. They ended up not being worth a tenth of what they asked for, and are now slowly picking virtual dust in a remote corner of my hard drive. I will probably delete them at some point.
The last one is a famous game from a no-less famous company, and the only one downloaded with the intent of purposefully denying money to the company. But this company is a bunch of d*cks anyway, and I am protesting against their policy (especially the DRM one) by not buying the game. The game is still good, and I see no reason not to play it.
So, I think piracy is evil when you are denying money to the good guys (indie game devs etc...). If you can't possibly afford the games, fine (nobody loses money that way). But buy them as soon as you can, otherwise it's bad.
If it's game from companies deserving boycott, go ahead, robin hood.
DRM is not by itself evil. Some are truly hilarious and actually useful (they work and are educational). Examples are linked in this thread. But some are just a**holery. Always online DRM falls in that category. I regularly have long train trips, and I typically play video games during these long hours. Some of my games don't work because I don't have internet, and this truly piss me off.