Buying used games---> do we OWN them?

[Majestic]

I picked up Call Of Duty 4 for the GXL Lanparty. I bought it used off Amazon.com for 25 bucks. The fact it was used didn't bother me until I started to install it.

Would it work? Would someone else be using the serial number? Could ACTIVISION throw a monkey wrench into the used game market?

I know you can but used versions of Xbox and PS3 games easily because they don't seem to be tied to an online account. But I can't play my BF2: Armored Fury expansion without one. I know someone who hasn't been able to play an expansion pack because it's tied to a gamespy account that he can't seem to recover. If I can buy a game shouldn't I be able to sell it like a book or a CD? If I can sell my Xbox games, shouldn't I be able to sell my Steam games?

So do we own these games?

[Murdock]

That's a great question...do we own these games. Nope...we don't. Usually when you buy the game, you are buying a license to use the game, but you don't actually own anything besides what came in the box. It sucks...it really does, but that is the way things are going. It all started when someone noticed that EB and other game stores were making serious money re-selling their games. This totally pissed them off. This is a stream of revenue that the game publishers were not able to touch. Should they? I don't think so. If they want recover some of that money, then they should build that into the cost, but then that would only push more people toward piracy. Its like what they say on the PC Gamer Podcast...copy protection only hurts the people who legitimately purchase the game anyway, the people who pirate will find a way around the copy protection...so why bother. Instead, make people want to pay for your games.

That said...have you tried contacting Activision? I purchased BF2 for a friend and was able to get the registration reset so he could register it by calling them. Some other companies, like Steam, will allow the transfer of a license key for a price. I think Steam wants $5 to move once copy of a game to another copy of the game. What this means is, if I want to sell a copy of a Steam game on eBay, and I want to get $10, I better ask $15 to make sure I build in the expense of transferring the game. I admit, it sucks...but its better than nothing.

Murdock

[Digger[NJLP]]

I am gonna comment I just need some time to collect my thoughts, there are a lot of them!