People have been defending a lot of abusive practices in a lot of fields of late, it’s not unique to gaming or even digital media.
I also think you narrow your scope too tightly, Valve is hardly the sole offender and this post is picking on them particularly, not the industry as a whole. Valve may have been first, may be the biggest, but they are not the only and frankly if it were up to the publishers I think it could be so much worse. And once you find that nuance, it’s hard to blame Valve alone, and you look to see how they may be putting the brakes on it getting worse. Do not ignore what little is good simply because it is not perfect and all. I feel you, man, but I’m not sure what to do about any of it.
I could abstain from (Steam/EA/Ubisoft) video game purchases but, frankly I already do that. Work doesn’t leave me as much time as my youth…
Back to piracy, sure, all DRM is broken eventually, hell even Denuvo for a time, but…Valve makes it too easy IMO. They could be constantly working on improving the DRM, keep the pirates on their toes having to put real work in and per-game unique hacks but, they don’t. I have it on good authority that bypassing Steam DRM is not only easy, but the same methods from years ago work today. They are certainly pulling their punches on this, probably because Gaben is willing to die on the hill that piracy is a service issue only, and will not give it any mind.
Some of your Valve supporters may actually be closeted pirates happy with the status quo, I think, because of that.