Legit place to buy CD keys?

4p · 15 Jul 2009 at 01:32

brb starting a business

snowdog · 15 Jul 2009 at 01:35

Strife212 said:
Buying dirt cheap copies of the game from china etc and chucking the actual game away

That will teach them publishers ripping us europeans off. :mad:

m0r94n · 15 Jul 2009 at 01:38

Thorpy said:
BIG LETTERS

Iirc they take the keys from versions of games that become damaged in the production line. Obviously they can't sell a faulty copy however the key bundled with said copy will still work. Selling the keys on to these sites means its not money wasted.

In my eyes purchasing the cd key should allow you to download the game from wherever you want. As the publishers are outsourcing these keys they can't expect much else.

Conscept · 15 Jul 2009 at 01:45

So if I get a LFD steam key. Could I DL LFd through steam?

rypt · 15 Jul 2009 at 01:53

Ascendancy said:
Utter tosh.

It is not, under the law you are perfectly within your rights to download software which you already legally own - and since you own the cd key you own the software.

m0r94n · 15 Jul 2009 at 01:53

Conscept said:
So if I get a LFD steam key. Could I DL LFd through steam?

If you buy it from Steam, yes. I know some games (i.e. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic) do allow you to buy retail and register with Steam, however some games do not.

Left4Dead i'm hazy with, however as its a Valve developed game it is likely you will be able to register it with Steam and download the client through the service.

Edit:

This should answer your question.

Ascendancy · 15 Jul 2009 at 02:12

snowdog said:
If it's utter tosh then UK law SUCKS tbh.

The whole point with software is that you pay for a license/key, and not for the data.

Unfortunately, it's true. You're no more legally allowed to do this as you are allowed to download an album if you own the CD and it gets scratched.

rypt said:
It is not, under the law you are perfectly within your rights to download software which you already legally own - and since you own the cd key you own the software.

I presume you've got a link to back up this statement, and you're not just pulling laws from your arse?

Case in point, all the people that have been sued for downloading music. Why didn't they just go out and buy the CD once they'd been caught and play this defense?

Also, you never 'own' software, you merely purchase a license to use said software, hence why you're not allowed to make copies.

m0r94n · 15 Jul 2009 at 02:19

Ascendancy said:
Case in point, all the people that have been sued for downloading music. Why didn't they just go out and buy the CD once they'd been caught and play this defense?

If this example were to be used, you would have to ask why somebody with that amount of money did not just buy the cd's in the first place. If they could afford to go out and buy them once the law got involved they would have likely been able to afford them beforehand.

Ascendancy · 15 Jul 2009 at 02:23

m0r94n said:
If this example were to be used, you would have to ask why somebody with that amount of money did not just buy the cd's in the first place. If they could afford to go out and buy them once the law got involved they would have likely been able to afford them beforehand.

Buy them, scratch them, claim they were unreadable hence the need to download?

uv · 15 Jul 2009 at 07:57

Conscept said:
So if I get a LFD steam key. Could I DL LFd through steam?

Yes you can. All valve game keys from G2Play are to be registered with Steam.

I've bought Mirror's Edge from there (for EADM), and it worked a treat. Seems like a decent enough place for cheap games

Tripnologist · 15 Jul 2009 at 08:09

Ascendancy said:
Case in point, all the people that have been sued for downloading music. Why didn't they just go out and buy the CD once they'd been caught and play this defense?

They were sued for sharing the music, not the actual downloading IIRC. Downloading one or two games to which you can show receipts of purchase may or may not be legal but is considerably different from downloading tons of music and sharing it with others.

barmyllama · 15 Jul 2009 at 08:54

You could be in a situation were one person in your house owns a retail copy of the game and you just buy the CD key and use their media to install the game on another PC.

Surely that is a legitimate way to buy and install the game. And if it is, then surely it makes no difference where the data comes from as long as the CD key is valid.

Conscept · 15 Jul 2009 at 10:34

m0r94n said:
If you buy it from Steam, yes. I know some games (i.e. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic) do allow you to buy retail and register with Steam, however some games do not.

Left4Dead i'm hazy with, however as its a Valve developed game it is likely you will be able to register it with Steam and download the client through the service.

Edit:

This should answer your question.

Cheers!
Now just need to find a Serial selling site that actually has it in stock lol.

Raumarik · 15 Jul 2009 at 12:59

You're legally permitted to keep copies of original software media that you've purchased, so as long as your downloading that same product and not sharing it, I don't see the problem. Of course you still have to be able to prove that you've purchased it in the past and have a license for it.

Ascendancy · 15 Jul 2009 at 13:01

Kami said:
You're legally permitted to keep copies of original software media that you've purchased

Got a source as proof for this? I was under the impression that this was a myth.

Bear in mind that most games and movies these days have some form of DRM, which is illegal to circumvent.

Kenai · 15 Jul 2009 at 13:03

Kami said:
You're legally permitted to keep copies of original software media that you've purchased, so as long as your downloading that same product and not sharing it, I don't see the problem. Of course you still have to be able to prove that you've purchased it in the past and have a license for it.

You may allowed to make your own copy for backup (though I was under the impression this isn't so if it requires bypassing copy protection), you can't download one.

No sane body would ever try and prosecute you for it but you can't legally just go around downloading stuff from wherever you please just because you already bought it somewhere or somehow else.

Sin_Chase · 15 Jul 2009 at 13:05

Ascendancy said:
Got a source as proof for this? I was under the impression that this was a myth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

Copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication. In the United States, the fair use doctrine, codified by the Copyright Act of 1976 as 17 U.S.C. § 107, permits some copying and distribution without permission of the copyright holder or payment to same. The statute does not clearly define fair use, but instead gives four non-exclusive factors to consider in a fair use analysis. Those factors are:

the purpose and character of the use;
the nature of the copyrighted work;
the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.[22]

In the United Kingdom and many other Commonwealth countries, a similar notion of fair dealing was established by the courts or through legislation.

I download Microsoft media as and when I need it for use with Legitimate Keys. Who gives a crap what the EXACT letter of the law is, nobody is going to take you to court for downloading media for use with a legit key.

TommyV · 15 Jul 2009 at 13:07

Afaik - as long as you have purchased your license, i.e. bought a key, then you can download the game from whereever/however many times you wish, it's not as if you haven't paid for your LICENSE.

Ascendancy · 15 Jul 2009 at 13:07

But since 99% of games and DVDs have DRM, this is a moot point surely, since it's illegal to circumvent copy protection.

TommyV said:
Afaik - as long as you have purchased your license, i.e. bought a key, then you can download the game from whereever/however many times you wish, it's not as if you haven't paid for your LICENSE.

Good luck finding a copy that doesn't need an illegal crack.

Sin_Chase · 15 Jul 2009 at 13:08

Ascendancy said:
But since 99% of games and DVDs have DRM, this is a moot point surely, since it's illegal to circumvent copy protection.

Circumvent copy protection?

The files exist on the media and are extractable to any location without any circumvention.

Since the dawn of protection I have been using modified game executables to load my games for convenience and not having to dig out CDs all the time. I do not think a single person has been prosecuted for doing this?