How do I sell my copy of Half Life 2?

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Odysseus

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Hello,
I bought a copy of Half Life 2 three days ago, finished it last night, and now I want to get rid of it. Usually I would just sell a game on ebay or amazon.com, but since this game had to be registered online in order to be playable, I am not sure if the buyer will be able to play the game (since the serial number is, according to Steam, permanently linked to my e-mail account), and I don't want to sell an unusuable product.

Does this mean I cannot sell the game? Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
Well you would have to sell the account too, but selling steam accounts is illegal. But if you don't sell the account with the game, the person has a useless copy.
 
You can't sell it, if you do Valve will catch you and disable the account leaving the other person, screwed. Just keep it and wait for the mods to roll out.
 
You probably can't sell the game, just because of the whole authorization/key thing. But why do you WANT to sell it? Low on money?
 
Swift, take your own advice. Your not helping.

Disturbed is correct. You can always risk selling your account.
 
Dude if you sold it then you would have bought it almost for no reason. HL2 Singleplayer was just a the first small drop. The mods are what will pour down on you and really get you wet. So if I were you, I'd keep it for the mods.
 
Well you would have to sell the account too, but selling steam accounts is illegal. But if you don't sell the account with the game, the person has a useless copy.

Why is it illegal?
 
Minerel is very correct. MODs are the real meat-and-potatoes of VALVe's games.

By buying Half-Life 2, you've opened a gate to hundreds of possible, free, games.
 
You're all being a little harsh here...plenty of people sell games after completing them. What would the world be like without second hand game shops?? Nearly all of my games are second hand.

I was thinking about this the other day actually. It is practically impossible to sell Half Life 2 because of the Steam registration, because you would need to sell the account too....which you can't. I'm really surprised Valve didn't think of this. Someone ought to inform them that they're effectively destroying the second hand market for HL2, which is very important. Lame.
 
You can't sell it, if you do Valve will catch you and disable the account leaving the other person, screwed.


Not only is that something I had never heard of, but it also makes me wonder whether disabling someone's account, just because the game was sold in a free market society, is legal.

Am I the only one who finds these actions incorrect?
 
In fact people could be complete bastards and do this:

1. Read the dvd to an image file using CloneCd.
2. Get emulation software like Daemon Tools.
3. Register the game on Steam.
4. Run HL2 using the dvd emulation software and the image file.
5. Sell the dvd and box to a second hand games shop.
6. Continue to play HL2 on their PC using daemon tools and their Steam account, thereby stopping the person buying the game from the second hand shop from playing their game (the serial key is already registered)

So they now have a nice cheap copy of HL2 (the original cost - the amount the second hand shop gives them) and some poor bugger buys it and cant play it.
 
Stores should know not to resell returned copies of hl2 (or accept copies of hl2 as used games).. in fact, the stores should be able to send them back to VALVe and have VALVe disable the accounts....
 
Like mineral said, when you buy Half life 2, mods are going to be pouring through the roof. A handful of single player mods, multiplayer mods. Just wait, its going to get fun :)
 
I don't see why valve don't put a system in where someone can release/detach a CD key/serial from their steam account. If the steam account or serial was banned (for whatever reason) then the account and serial should locked so it can't be released. Simple solution in my opinion.
 
Speedkills said:
You're all being a little harsh here...plenty of people sell games after completing them. What would the world be like without second hand game shops?? Nearly all of my games are second hand.

I was thinking about this the other day actually. It is practically impossible to sell Half Life 2 because of the Steam registration, because you would need to sell the account too....which you can't. I'm really surprised Valve didn't think of this. Someone ought to inform them that they're effectively destroying the second hand market for HL2, which is very important. Lame.
Click to expand...

Actually I think the fact that you can't sell the game on is one of the reasons Valve have actually introduced this new way of registering their products....if you can't buy it second hand then you're forced to buy it from the shops...

Very greedy :angry:
 
The premise of my question is how to sell a playable copy of the game =)

I was thinking my best bet was to sell the game with all its original contents, and then write in a piece of paper the e-mail address (free yahoo account), the Steam account name, along with their passwords to whoever ends up buying the game.

But since this constitutes a crime in Steam's world, is there a smoother, less "illegal" way to do this?
 
Odysseus said:
You can't sell it, if you do Valve will catch you and disable the account leaving the other person, screwed.


Not only is that something I had never heard of, but it also makes me wonder whether disabling someone's account, just because the game was sold in a free market society, is legal.

Am I the only one who finds these actions incorrect?
Click to expand...

just stop talking
 
i saw in the support page that u have to pay 10 bux to remove the key from ur account
 
Valve don't allow selling of accounts as a disclaimer, IMO. As long as it's a legit account and you include the CD if it came on retail I don't see any problems.
 
The reason why it is "illegal" to sell games and accounts is because you do not OWN the game, you just own a license to USE the game/software. You have no right to sell that license to other people.
 
Ahh we all know what the deal is here. You buy a legal copy of the game install it, make an image of the DVD, crack it so you don't need the disk or internet connection to play it and then sell it on and get your money back (or most of it).

It can be be installed from scratch and played without an internet connection being active at any time. I know coz I'm living with a guy who did this
 
hmmm

ya well i dont think there is a support page where u
can remove ur key but if u do find some1 that u know
and sell it to them then i dont think that with all the people playing u will be caught. but dont listen to me im a n00bie
 
You really should hang on to your copy. You can play CS:S for a week until the 'surprise' comes out next week. The surprise may be a reason to hang on to the game in itself, depending on what it is, I suppose.
 
porl said:
Ahh we all know what the deal is here. You buy a legal copy of the game install it, make an image of the DVD, crack it so you don't need the disk or internet connection to play it and then sell it on and get your money back (or most of it).
Click to expand...
You don't need a copy of the game to do that.
 
porl said:
Ahh we all know what the deal is here. You buy a legal copy of the game install it, make an image of the DVD, crack it so you don't need the disk or internet connection to play it and then sell it on and get your money back (or most of it).

It can be be installed from scratch and played without an internet connection being active at any time. I know coz I'm living with a guy who did this
Click to expand...


Well, think about it. Go through all that trouble, or just burn the Steam-free HL2 for yourself after you download it, as a backup...

Dunno bout you, but running without any Steam interference is alot more appealing to me. ;)
 
Are you sure that you dont have the right to legally sell HL2 because you dont "own the game"? Using that logic you wouldnt be allowed to sell anything after you purchase it due to not owning the copyrights. Hence selling some one elses product without their permission. I've never heard of that with any non-digital product.

Whats more accurate in this case is your selling your own right to play the game, which is yours to sell. Youre not selling anything which is not yours. Which would be the case if you burnt copies of HL2 and sold them at a car boot sale.
 
I manage an EB Games ... a directive came down from corporate the day HL2 came out... it read something like this.

"due to the steam internet authentication process, we will be associating a trade-in value of $0.00 to Half Life 2. If a solution can be reached, we will update you, if not, we will add Half Life 2 to the banned for trade list."

so yeah, maybe a pawn shop or someone ignorant to the process would take it back, but most places with a clue probably won't.
 
Speedkills said:
I'm really surprised Valve didn't think of this. Someone ought to inform them that they're effectively destroying the second hand market for HL2, which is very important. Lame.
Click to expand...

I think they thought of it. The following thought was probably something along the lines of, "so no one can make money off this thing except us! Oh and maybe VU games, but that's hard to get as excited about."


Sorry for the Futurama theft.
 
Hmmm just shows ya that it gets to a point whereby putting too much anti piracy measures in becomes a hinderance to the legit owners of the game.
Lets face it, even with all it's anti piracy measures HL2 is still a game that can be copied....two of my friends have fully working, fully running installs of HL2 and they had less hassle and time spent installing and getting it set up to play than I did, and I brought a legal retail copy.
Not that I begrudge paying 35 squids for a copy, for the wonderful experience HL2 gives, it's well worth the money, but I can't help but be left with a bitter taste in my mouth with regards to treatment to myself as regards me being a paying customer...the pirates seem to be getting better deal than people who have brought the game. They get the game they can play off line, I can't, they can install quicker and with less hassle than me, they don't have to put up with corperate software (Steam) spying on my PC remotely over the net....seems like the pirates are getting the better deal than the paying customers....like I say shows that there is a point where too much anti-piracy measures actaully benifits the pirate.
 
Its illegal to sell copies of second hand PC games due to the fact you never actualy own it. Rather its licenced to you. Well this is the case in the UK and may differ else where. Go in to game and try and sell it.
 
i really dont understand those who want to sell hl2, if they did the same for hl1 then they have missed 5 years of excellent mods and the best online play ever.
 
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