Sins Forums
Is it really true that when you buy SoaSE and link your CD-key to an account, they stay together forever and thus screw over anyone unfortunate enough to buy a used copy containing that CD-key?
I've been totaly screwed over by this as well I think but for different reason I think/hope.
Thing is I bought this copy from PC World(uk) still enclosed in factory cellaphane et all,as far as I know they don't sell pre-owned games.
Fantastic game out the box but I wanted to update it so I Went to register game and update it I got serial number error,contacted Support eventually got"appologies but it must be is pre owned game I bought".
but it's ok by Stardock...they say I can always purchase another key for only £20...ontop of the £30 I just spent on this "new" fecking game!!
God knows what is going to happen as it is deffinatly a new bought game.
make a copy of you reciet and mail it to stardok, that should prove owernership of the serial
That sucks but what do you expect a company to do? It's the company you purchased the game from, not Stardock, that is at fault here.
You are providing a serial number that has already been used. All you have is your word that you bought it legitimately through a 3rd party retailer, which they have no way of verifying.
I hope it gets resolved in your favor, but you really should be barking up PC World's tree, they're the ones who sold you a used copy as new.
If my serial number has already been used there must be away for stardock to check where in the world that number was registered from and wheather it was retail version or downloaded version.
If it was downloaded version the problem/fault is all theirs.
If it was issued for a retail version here in uk it is indeed PC Worlds problem,both moraly and legaly as they have both advertised this game as new and repackaged in factory cellaphane as like I said they do not sell or buy pre owned games.
So they say, but someone already has your serial number registered to them. That leads to a few possibilities:
1. The planets aligned, dogs and cats got along, and the sky rained popsicles on the day some bloke randomly guessed a serial number correctly and registered his copy of Sins
Or...
2. In a nefarious scheme, not content with his paltry collection of thirty-four custom tailored moneyhats, Brad Wardell invalidates your serial number in hopes that you'll buy another copy of Sins so he can afford to hire a taxidermist to stuff his beloved poodle Sally with hundred dollar bills
Or...
3. PC World accepted a return of a product that had the serial pilfered and resold it as "New". I've seen MANY game stores do that in the past.
Alternatively, you could have just bought the game used off of Ebay only to find you can't register the game - again, something I've seen many times before - but I'll definitely give you the benefit of the doubt!
Hope your issue gets resolved, but again I'd be going to PC World and complaining that the serial was already used and in fact you did not recieve a "new" product.
It is deffinatly not bought from ebay,lol.
The only doubt with your returned and resold option is the game was still sealed in factory cellaphane/wrapper and as the serial is inside case on manual etc there is now way as far asI can tell to get into it without removing the seal/wrapper.
I hear you, but they can re-wrap the packages. Here's a true story.
One day I go into a software store to purchase a game. I go and put in into my CDROM drive, but the dang disc is deformed and it won't read. I end up taking it back to the store and returning it, explaining that the media is defective. They give me a new copy.
The next day, my friend goes to the store to pick up the game. We set up a LAN, he goes to install it and... guess what? A warped disc. Not only that, but the CD-Key matched. Now, I was honest enough not to register the product when I returned it, but I have a habit of keeping all my CD Keys in a spreadsheet so I don't lose them. It was still there, and sure enough, he had my previously purchased copy of the game - rewrapped in celophane and looking brand-spankin' new.
Anyway, best of luck to you on the serial issue. One thing I will say is in all my dealings with Ironclad / Stardock, their customer support has been top notch. If they can't help you, I'd really suggest yelling at your retailer.
"The SOFTWARE is not sold, it is licensed."
"This license is effective from your date of purchase and shall remain in force until terminated. You may terminate the license and this
agreement at any time by destroying the SOFTWARE and its documentation, together with all copies in any form."
https://www.stardock.com/products/iconpackager/help/eula.htm
I had a simular issue with a different game, end result I was able to get my money back from the retailer after showing him the License agreement, it took a fight. Or you could pay for a new serial number (might as well buy the game new). Or you could, 
, get the original owner to write a email to Stardock explaining the transfer of all software and media related items regarding this game to you, and that he/she has no copies of such items anywhere.
So basically when you buy this game you are buying the seial number and not the software, for Stardock/Ironclad owns the software.
As for Stardock customer support, I too have had nothing but top notch support, notably when I tried to re-register this game after a change in service providers, I had a new email.
You know, I have a suggestion for SD, to make sure such second hand stuff doesn't happen again..
a) In Impulse (thereby requiring an Impulse login), allow the user to "transfer" a Serial No to another Impulse account. The recipient must then login to Impulse and "accept" the transfer. This should be quite secure since Impulse logins are required, and it is the current owner that must initiate it.
- This helps two cases, those people who "give the game to their best friend" (re-selling a game is prohibited under the EULA) and secondly, those who somehow ended up with two Impulse accounts and just need to move from one Impulse account to another.
b) Print clearly on the outside of the box retail set "This game cannot be re-sold after being pre-owned. bla bla bla.." E-bay ppl can't be helped since they can't see the box, but at least, the moment someone sees the box without opening it, it is clearly noted that this item is not for re-sale. This will greatly reduce the "misunderstandings".
I have not said or implied anything that could be interpreted as favoring or supporting communism.
The packaging does not say one word about any of that. The publisher is knowingly misleading people by withholding important information.
I just got a used copy of Crysis Warhead. It works perfectly and is functionally identical to a new copy. If and when EA releases a patch for it, they'll just provide an executable that I can download and install from any number of websites.
The ability to patch a singleplayer game is not some grand "service" that justifies intentionally blocking second hand sales and misleading customers. Are you completely new to PC gaming or something?
You did not cite arguments, you cited phrases that contain swearing. Swearing or the lack of it has no effect on anything, and you did not even attempt to argue otherwise. Try again.
Who is this friend that are you referring to? I bought the game from a store. I have no idea who previously owned it.
Jesus cunting Christ, this is the worst forum software I have ever used in my entire life. It's not showing me all the tags so I can't fix this shit. It's even blocking CTRL+F!
I had this problem here in the UK at a shop called GameStation they sold me a second hand Copy of GalCiv dreadlords when i went to update i had to do the normal stuff register ect and it said key in use. I went back to the store and asked them why they selling games that use Keys they ranted at me so i emailed Stardock and they Sorted me out with a new key Gamestation themself stop selling Preowned games that require DRM. i took Gamestation to Trading standards and got some money off them aswell for the mess they put themselfs into
lol then pay them, insted of think you can get a free ride, i'm did not pay full price so you can update
name one copy prection that works, there is a reason it funtions as it does.
no, you are being ...., name one reason they should offer suport to you( a fool who havent put 1 cant into the company)
lol you are just too funny keep it comeing
Often you get what you pay for. I have brought used (console) games in the past that had scratches which not long after that the game would stop loading up. Now any game I want to keep I go ahead and buy a new copy. There is usually always a down side for buying anything used.
Your being confusing here. If Stardock/Iron clad are expected to be able to make a profit then they are expected to receive a cut of the money every single time a copy Sins of a Solar Empire is cought.
When you purchase the game you purchase a non transferable CD key. You AGREE to this. Even if they dont print it on the box if you have a computer and are in the habbit of purchasing computer games you SHOULD KNOW THIS.
Of COURSE Stardock/Ironclad dont want rampant secondhand sales. Why WOULD they? They only receive ONE purchass's contributation while ten or more copies of the game might be floating around somwhere on any number of random computers.
Why SHOULD Stardock etc support these games? THEY don't get anything out of them and theres the possibility of hours upon hours of support they would need to give. That costs them MONEY rather than gaining it like they would if all these people bougth a legit copy of Sins via digital download or retail.
Really you can plya the game perfectly fine. There is nothing stopping you there. You can try single player etc. However if you expect a SECOND account to be opened up on what is the same cd key then your dreaming.
As for your comment on why Crysis works as a second hand.... it DOES? I've not purchased a second hand PC game in years thanks to the CD keys. Most likely its the fact that Crysis warhead does NOT have a digitial download availible and so once somebody sells their copy of the game they loose access to the media ... though even then I would be surprised if it worked what with al EA games (which you imply Crysis warhead as, i have no idea really and cant be bothered checking) link the cd keys of your games to your 'EA account'.
*shrug* In the end really its your friends fault and nobody elses. The greedy bastard KNEW of the non transferable nature of Sins CD key, KNEW you could only update it past 1.05 with a valid cd key/account and still sold it to you. Take iup with him, since he just cheated you out of your money since in a very real sense he still 'owns' this copy of Sins of a Solar Empire. He can at a moments notice re-download the game, update it to 1.12, and play it. You just bought a 'burned cd' at a huge markup.
I honestly don't see what the problem is. I've always supported games that have literally no DRM whatsoever, I do however also support the fact that the online services should be behind lock and key, the reason for this is if people pirate the game then they need a genuine serial to play the game online.
The only aspect I don't like is that you're forced to have an account with Stardock to update the game, that's the only thing I don't like, but as it's a centralised service (like Steam) then I really don't have a problem with it, but I do feel that they should make patches freely available.
For online gaming though yes, good on Stardock and Ironclad for making sure that you have to purchase the game first hand itself, though there is a way that could work for transfering serials across to new owners. I had to ask Stardock to transfer my copy of SOASE to my other account as it weirdly registered under my Paypal address instead, it got transferred fine, when I purchased something else for some reason it got transferred back to my paypal account so I had to register this name for an account with the Paypal email...
Anyway the moral of the story is that if someone wants to sell their game second hand, then they can sell the copy but notify Stardock that they have sold the game and you can transfer the serial at a cost to the seller, this way they get something, you get something, and the receiver is happy.
why?
what does stardok get out of this?
Read it again, I said that when the reseller sells the game, they contact SD and they have to pay them a fee for reselling the game to the new owner.
Not everyone has internet access, my friend currently has no internet access as she isn't at home enough to warrant one, but she has no way of updating the game herself. A legitimate user being hampered for having no net connection. It's just little things like this that can become frustrating for consumers.
ahh mybad, anyway 'you' can alraeaddy buy a serial at reduced price
Instead of fancy smancy boxes for games they should give you a sticker with the EULA on, most PC games you buy you lose your rights to return long before you ever install it, namely when you undo the wrapper or the tape on the box. Not a fair way to do business.
If I buy a pair of pants I tried them on first, and if I don't like them, I can say no before I even paid. If said pants break, I can return it within the guarantee period. If I sell these pants to a friend along with the receipt and they break, he can exchange the pants for new ones with no problem.
If I buy a PC game, I was unable to try it out first, and if I don't like it I'm screwed because I already opened the box. If said game breaks, I can return it within guarantee period. If I sell this game to a friend along with receipt and CD-key, he is screwed because he will need the account the serial is tied to of which i may have multiple games tied to already and giving him this account would enable him to abuse the DRM, and play for free.
Hereby not saying that you should be able to resell your game over and over again, but at least be able to release your CD-key from your account to pass it on, either by selling or as a gift, and thus you would be unable to play it and receive customer support.
EULA's are bullshit. I never read them because I know I'm screwed either way.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
Stardock Forums