Most people don't pirate valve/steamworks games because they can't play them online without a valid steam account with the game on it. Ipso facto other developers are idiots for trying to stay independent as possible from eachother.
People say that a monopoly is bad because it allows price gouging due to there being no competition, however Valve had a stranglehold on digital distribution for a while and did their prices go up? no, we get $#@! like this summer camp sale! Imo, I love the way valve is uniting things, we need an absolute service out there so things stay consistent and in control.
I used to have a pirated copy of Left 4 Dead. I got it from a friend, but we both got sick of it, because we could only play it at Lan Parties or in Single Player. And no one wants to play single player.