But doesn't that fact show a bit about the demand? Of course a lot of computer related demand is caused by people having no idea what they need ("what do you mean i can write a letter without a dual core?") But not all of it. If there was still enough demand to justifiy a rack of 56k modems taking up valuable space, from an ISP POV, you would be able to buy that kind of service.
Oh I think there's plenty of demand, the problem is how would you price such a service? Proportionately? If a 10Mb line costs, say, $20 a month, a 1Mb would have to be mere $2, but it would still incur the same installation, maintenance, and support costs as the 10Mb line. And if you priced it closer to the 10Mb line, people would just get that, because then they'd have more bang per buck.
there is literally NO justification to pirating a game, in my view
How about if you know you wouldn't buy the game? I think that's what most pirates do most of the time. If I can have it for free, hey, that's great! If I have to pay actual money for it... naaaah, I'll pass. The company loses nothing in such a case, since if you couldn't pirate it, you simply wouldn't play it at all.
I dunno.. it's sort of the problem when you have something really cheap to manufacture, but expensive to produce. I think they just have to go for an unpiratable business model. Fighting pirates is just way too expensive and too difficult.
Moreover, they're going about it in completely the wrong way. DRM and copy protection schemes? Pirate groups
compete for rep and prestige with each other in cracking them! Making a better copy protection only spurs them into even greater effort to pirate your game!