Buying used pc games off e-bay. Do any require activation?

[mellondust]

I have bought older used games off e-bay and not had any problems installing and playing them. I am looking at a used command a conquer 3 or something else new like that. With some of the newer ones as long at it has the serial number I should be fine playing it right. I would be interested in picking up a used(becuase they are cheaper) orang box if I ever see one, but I think those have to be activated on steam so they couldn't transfer to another player. Does anyone know if that is correct?

 

[KaOTiK]

With Orange Box they would have to give you the steam account that the box was activated on too to be able to use it. As for CnC3, no clue, always wanted to pick this one up but never had the time

 

[Scrimmy]

I'd be real leery of buying any game used that required an activation. I was really interested in picking up Bioshock but not a big fan of paying full price for it. I checked around on Ebay and saw quite a few copies for sale used at around $15-20.

I emailed maybe 5 or 6 people to ask them whether or not it had been activated online, explaining that if it's tied to their Steam account that unless they turned over their whole Steam account, Bioshock wouldn't work. Out of that 5 or 6 people I emailed, not a single one of them got back to me.

Just doesn't seem worth the risk of dropping the cash for an opened game on Ebay, then when you get hosed they can either plead ignorance or say they were only sold as backup copies for the game you currently own. It's also a relatively small savings in the long run, so they're probably just banking on people sucking it up and not complaining.

Edit: Just to clarify how Steam works ... basically, if you want to sell a used Steam game, you need to sell every single game you've ever bought that used Steam to play. That Steam account is the only thing that lets you play it, so if you've got Bioshock, the Orange Box, and Titan Quest, you only have access to them because of your Steam account. As soon as you give someone your account info, they get access to all your Steam games in your name, and when they change the password you lose that access.

 

[CP5670]

C&C3 is okay I think. It just asks for the CD key during the install like most games do.

 

[jjj807]

Problem with EA games, like CnC3 and BFME2 is that each player needs a unique cd key for LAN and online. If you just want single player it is fine, but you may not be able to LAN or ever register and make an EA account to play online.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: jjj807
Problem with EA games, like CnC3 and BFME2 is that each player needs a unique cd key for LAN and online. If you just want single player it is fine, but you may not be able to LAN or ever register and make an EA account to play online.

Well, maybe if the original owner gave you the account name and password you would be able to play online.

 

[mellondust]

Originally posted by: jjj807
Problem with EA games, like CnC3 and BFME2 is that each player needs a unique cd key for LAN and online. If you just want single player it is fine, but you may not be able to LAN or ever register and make an EA account to play online.

I don't play much online, but would you really not be able to play on a LAN even if you have two copies one or both being used? I guess an easier way to answer my original question would be to find out if game requires internet connection. If you don't have to connect to the internet you wouldn't need to worry if the game has been activated and cannot be trasfered to another person.

 

[jjj807]

for EA games even if you are not connected online, each player must have their own copy of the game, ie different cd key

 

[tigersty1e]

Yes, I never understood buying used pc games.

It doesn't work.

If you buy the game, the original owner could use the cd key years later and potentially kick you out of your game.