Steam sales are what convinced me to stop pirating games. I'm perfectly happy picking up 1+ year old games on sale for under $15 (and usually much less). Doing this I usually buy about 6 - 10 games a year, and that's about all I have time to play. Heck, I've actually gone overboard the last couple of sales and I currently have 9 games waiting to be played (4 of which are indie titles).

I see where you're coming from though. It sucks when you put your heart and soul into something, and then you gently release it out into the world like a smiling parent only to then watch it be mauled by a cruel and unforgiving world.

The fact of the matter is there are so many great indie games out there, and only so many gaming hours in a day and so little money in my wallet.