Is it pirating to buy Skyrim used?

[Staind716]

You know, you seem like a decent person so I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt on this one. I didn't mean to come off insulting or anything, I was just a little uncomfortable after rereading your original post again. I do understand your situation and have to wonder how I would feel if it were me. I honestly don't think I would have gone the route so many others did even though I sympathize. I have never even pirated a single song. Not because I am a saint by any means but because I and a lot of my friends are musicians so that would be pretty hypocritical of me. Gotta have some boundaries to be able to sleep at night.

 

I still hope the moderators take a little pity on you because of your honesty and willingness to accept the consequences for being up front about all this. I don't know if they will ban you or not but I hope not. I do have to respect you for what you are doing. That shows some real character and if a ban is the price you pay, you should ask about being reinstated after purchasing a legitimate copy. I think that would be fair on their part if they must ban you.

 

If you survive all this or come back later feel free to get in touch. I don't think you are a bad person, just someone who was put in a bad situation and is owning up to their end of it. That deserves some respect and you have mine for that. :thumbsup:

 

Good luck and best wishes to you, (Oh, and no more used pc games! :tongue: )

 

Staind

Edited September 11, 2012 by Staind716

[budcat]

Honestly I didn't know Bethesda had that made that part of their EULA.

 

I think its draconian and completely antithetical to established video game history. It's completely out of greed. Companies look at the massive profits made by companies like EB with their resales and they want a cut. They apparently don't think $60 the first time around was enough and want a continued cut off resales in perpetuity. It's just greedy plain and simple. Reselling games is a way to make a tiny bit of your hard earned money back.

 

When I was 13 years old and my parents paid for everything a $60 game was no problem. Now I'd be lucky to find $60 a month I could honestly tell myself is best spent on a video game. At least with a resale I might be able to recoup some money on an investment.

 

And that's the difference, fundamentally. In the old days of software you paid your money and were entitled to a hard copy of the software and customer service. In modern times, post-Steam and similar services, your money pays for a license, which entitles you to periodic usage of the files, still owned by the creators of the software. All you get is an admission ticket so to speak, you know longer run the theater. That's actually a massive loss of power from the consumer end shifted back to the developer. Now you are not entitled to a hard copy of your data. If they wish to disallow you continued use of your own 'license' (remember, what you paid for is not property), they are within their rights to do so. All the while revoking your right to any sort of resale of the product.

 

People who are growing up now in the era of cloud computing and so on could not even understand the difference in software ownership from the mid-90's to modern times. How much the user is now punished to protect the publishers. A lot of sycophants and people with apparently tons of money to throw around don't mind being subjected to this sort of treatment under the assumption you are a liar and a thief. People who remember a time where one could actually purchase software and not need to download critical content or remain connected to servers in order to verify our identity before every boot consider this a massive inconvenience, an attempt to weaken the rights of consumers, a draconian security measure, and all of it done fundamentally out of mistrust and greed. It does not a healthy relationship make.

 

I'm sorry you got screwed, but welcome to the "new normal."

[wuffser]

Well I'm glad this was all cleared up. And thanks again for understanding and answering my questions.

 

I'm not guilty(not as much anyway) anymore. But know I'm worried if this may come back to haunt Bethesda in the future. I mean I will most definitely not be purchasing used PC games without more careful research(As I made a similar mistake with buying Fallout 3, Windows 7 makes it unplayable levels of unstable).

 

But what about others? I'm sure they are far less willing to cut Bethesda some slack. Especially if their issue was under more sever conditions(would they really waste more money after purchasing it new?). And not only that I'm not exactly rich here, having something that barely counts as a job doesn't really add much in the money department. And I'm sure it isn't for many, that is why bought it used to begin with.

 

Even if Bethesda were to make that ID key selling method. It still wouldn't rebuild trust with the company. Not everyone can buy games willy nillie. Many, like me, have a very small amount of money and very rarely have it in large sums. Something like this would surly ruin their trust and the key thing will only be seen as a cash grab, like the above user stated.

Edited September 11, 2012 by wuffser

[bben46]

You got ripped off. Some jerk sold you an unusable game. Your complaint is not with Bethesda or Steam, but with the guy that sold it to you, and possibly Amazon.

 

Call Amazon and explain the problem. If they won't help, if you paid with a credit card initiate a charge back for selling an unusable product. If you paid with PayPal - good luck with that.

 

You may also want to contact Bethesda and let them know Amazon is selling used copies that cannot be registered through steam.

 

In the meantime, you will be banned as we cannot allow pirates for any reason. (We do not want what happened to Megaupload to happen to the Nexus ) When you do have a legitimate copy file a ban appeal. I will be on your side.

 

Here is the link to the unban request page: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/about/unban/

 

Banned for piracy

Topic closed as we do not allow discussion of either bans or of piracy.

Bben46