Well, it's more like going into a chocolate factory, taking the chocolate, and saying to TOOK it. And giving it to your friend. Ripping is the same way. If ripping is stealing, then those using the rips are supporting the theft. It's like your friend asking you to go into that chocolate factory and steal some chocolate for him. He thanks you for giving him the chocolate, not making it, since you saved him from having to go to the trouble himself. He doesn't just take it and say get out, and he knew that it was wrong. Of course, this also depends on your perspective of stealing. Digital theft is a bit ambiguous, since the entity you "stole" from doesn't lose the item in any way, nor do they lose any profit unless you are distributing the item for profit (which is when Nintendo steps in), or you obtain the item when it is available for sale and so you yourself don't buy it (which is how ROMS work). Nintendo still has every single sprite and image from their games at their disposal, since they didn't pass hands. No one hacked Nintendo's servers or whatever and moved the files off of them onto their own device. It's a copy, not the original item.
