modern warfare 2. imported=banned

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031758&page=6

read post no. 79

in short, if you bought your mw2 from a cd key shop. you'll probably have your game removed. because it's not for use in your region.
valve tolerates these instances, but it seems activition is determined to get their money.

 

Lol, at this response:


Ok, so tell me why some friends of mine are playing tf2 with SteamPowered keys right now.


Cuz Valve is fine. Looks like IW wants more money.

 

Yup the game is so butchered up its not even funny. IW/activision dont really care as long they are making their money. IWNET is a joke, they said its fighting piracy but its really not its only making it easier. People that pirated the game can now play on multiplayer very easily and they also cheat and send trojans to other players and IW is not even making a effort to stop them also the IW forums keeps being down and i think someone is attacking it as well

Im glad that i didnt buy this game i been using my friend copy and i got a month left with this game until i give it back to him when he get back from college. Imma just play single player and co-ops since that the only thing that are fun about the game and occisionally play COD4 multiplayer its still a lot of fun. But i dont see the point of using cheats in MW2 just to get a message to IW across its really making us PC gamers look bad I really hope dedicated servers will be added in MW2 very soon.

 

I have a feeling that Treyarch will be the one that really delivers what all gamers want(In online, offline, content, etc.). IT'll be interesting to see what they are cooking up. I honestly felt they did a great job with world at war and the DLC that came out as well.

 

i hate ww2 games in general, but yeah W@W was pretty good regardless.
and what do you mean by them delivering the content? I thought IW was responsible for the development for this game? Can treyarch just add a patch if they wanted to?

 

IW.net is not a joke, it works really well most of the time. Cut the crap about IW.net already.

 

So far it says asia keys are the targeted ones.

 

I hate Activision

 

Well... To be fair... Those cd key sites are totally illigitimate. they are basically committing software piracy and (sadly) you basically got scammed by them when you bought your key.

IW cracking down on piracy sucks for those who bought non-legit keys. But, despite the heavyness of it all, this actually bothers me less than the other controversial decisions IW made concerning their game.

 

well.. actually they were legit keys.. just not in the correct region they were being activated in. The keys from asia are sold for the asian consumers at a much lower price b/c of economy etc there. Well the sites buy up all those games and then resell the keys to be activated by americans europeans and whoever else. IW then goes around, and if those keys probably started with a certain 5 characters, then it was for asian region and whoever is out of that region (steam finds IP) and then will remove those games from your list.

I've only heard of this happening one other time with TheOrange Box removing keys if bought from overseas..but I have online key for Dawn of War II that's been fine, and many people with TF2 keys are fine too.. It's just a matter of the dev or publisher to go out and make sure the region locking punishment gets done or not. Valve does not seem to care as I don't hear this happening much at all and I know online keys are bought all the time. On the other hand..IW/Activision has banned a bunch of keys there were legitimately bought, maybe just not sold. I don't see why the sellers aren't punished rather than the buyers.

 

They're such greedy pigs, they make record millions in sales and they're still not happy :L

 

Didn't really like the newer game , just because IW never change their play style , don't know why now days everyone loves urban warfare....miss the days of Delta Force with long open sniper maps and yet there is trenches for clost combat and sneaking ..... I guess this is CS fault? lol (And while playing I don't understand how a guy in normal health mode get shot with 2 .50 Cal still lived , normally 1 shot will be able to kill anything on this earth.

 

I totally understand this. This is why those keys and that whole business is not legitimate. It sucks for the people who bought the keys, and IW should probably find a way to punish those businesses, but I believe it is also within their right to do what they did. Even though it sucks. In the end, those key sellers are the scammers. Either IW or the customers are the victims, and IW gets to pick.

 

This!

Sorry you got scammed

 

as previous poster said, they are legitimate keys. but they are released by valve in less prosperous regions for a lower price(it's called price discrimination) to maximise profit. key shops buy up games in asia then sell keys in NA EU to make a profit.
some people in the uk buy cars in germany, then drives it back to the uk. legal, and economic in some cases. can't do that with cod mw2 though lol.

the thing is, although it's not unusual that a software's license to restrict where you use the software. NO ONE tried to enforce it, knowing it would invoke serious shi*storm. i mean if i bought a physical copy of a game on holiday in a foreign country, i can't use it anywhere else? this is probably the first time, and probably not the last.

now i see why activision are using steam. no resale, total control over pricing, over all regional markets. the deal about VAC being better than PB is just BS. i don't blame them for trying to make money, but this is just uncalled for.

edit: keys are legit, but only legit to use in wherever it was bought originally. this is of course is defined by IW/activision.

 

Lesson from this story : Buy games only from proper game stores or online stores like amazon... and not from some cd key shop...

 

actually..lesson..just pirate it and be able to play online like people that went through "proper" methods above.. sad. And this is coming from someone who did buy it retail.. I'd rather be playing with people with asian keys than pirates..it's why I paid for it in the first place.. to get the steam support..blah

 

What a shame, I suppose I won't be able to buy many cheap games while I am in India. If I'm going all the way over there, I should be able to buy just one copy of a game right? I'm not going to buy a ton and then try to resell them back here in the U.S. I'm hoping that I can activate them in India and they will work back home.

 

They are banning people who bought keys in other regions and yet there is a hack to play online with a false key. Ridiculous

 

if you go to india, that should be fine. keep the box as proof of purchase, and if you ever run into trouble, you should be able to call support and sort it out, because you purchased a license for the game.

those who purchased *just keys* (unfortunately) merely bought a tool to bypass the 1st tier copy protection (the cd key prompt).

it sucks, but it is the truth. definitely seek your money back from the key seller if you purchased just a key and it was sold to you as a license.

 

I would also look at ebay. There are many people from Asia selling sealed, boxed copy of the games (just be sure to get a seller with good standing). I ordered Dragon Age $35 shipping included.

 

I don't agree with your point of view. This is akin the Universal going after you for buying a chinese copy of Star Trek when for a $5 because of the exchange rate. When you buy the game with a box, What you are paying is just for the license and the "key" is considered your proof that you have a license.Owning a physical copy doesn't mean anything as it's just the physical version of the code you paid a license to run.

 

i'm really not sure.

if you live in the west and buy a copy of MW2 intended for emerging markets in that emerging market, you are in gray territory.

if you live in the west and buy a copy of MW2 from a reseller selling EM copies in the west, you are in gray-er territory.

that is all

 

i dont know what the key really mean in legal terms, but i do agree that owning a physical copy doesn't really mean anything. in the end you pay for a license, an agreement between you and the publisher.

 

right, or at least this is what you should be paying for.

i am not sure if the cd key represents that or not...

 

From what I understand, it won't matter if you buy the hard copy, you will still have your game taken away from you once you start playing it in your country.

These CD key stores are selling completely legitimate keys. They BOUGHT the game, and IW is STILL receiving money. Just not as much as they want. This can also be seen through the difference in pricing. Europeans have to pay like 50% more, for no apparent reason that I know of. It's just pure greed. I personally think IW are being idiots, they already make enough money. If I can find a cheaper service, then I will go for it. That cheaper service would not exist unless IW was still making a profit. They just want more.

For an analogy, let's say I really want a cheeseburger, and I happen to have the option of going to one of two different McDonald's. The cheeseburgers at one of the Mcdonald's are cheaper due to whatever reasons. Then I will go to the cheaper Mcdonald's and be a happy customer. Mcdonald's will still make their huge profit. No one can stop me because there is no way of "banning" my cheeseburger. IW has the power to ban these accounts which use CD-keys from supposedly "dodgy" stores, even though they are completely legitimate. They are doing everything they can to make more money, regardless of what customers will think. No dedicated servers for PC users is another example of this.

 

Disturbing situation. I'm not a COD player since I am much more into RPGs and MMOs, but this thread served as a warning for me to not buy from places like OnlineKeyShop. I had considered buying something from them previously, but I think I'll stick with ImpulseDriven (got DA:O from them recently), and Steam.

For what it's worth, I think that Activision/IW should re-enable the accounts, but state that in the future they will not be lenient about it. That would be a gesture of goodwill, but also serve as a warning to people to not buy from those places. I know I won't buy from one of those shops, now, but it seems extremely greedy to kill accounts that people have already been using.

Ever since Kotick took over as CEO of Activision, they have been doing more and more greed-driven shady things. I canceled my WoW account a couple of months ago simply because I do not like the direction the game is headed in - i.e. dumbed down to the point of pointless. With that dumbing down came an influx of players that has really destroyed the community. I don't doubt for a second that soon their will be advertising in their games, either. Kotick is, as another journalist put more aptly, a carpetbagger.

 

Pirated games always fare much better for popularity than games with strict copyright rules. Microsoft figured this out during the XP WGA days when their operating system share plummeted. Notice how Lenovo's OEM key for Windows 7 was leaked in August? Half way through Vista's lifecycle, they started to make it easy to pirate Vista but it was too late. Revenue is generated from businesses, but businesses buy what their employees know how to use. No one was using Vista, business didn't upgrade. Now you see the usage rate doing well with Win 7 and you will see businesses switch.

Same concept with video games. When you create a "popular" game, the developer stands a greater chance to create revenue off the next title. People that know how to pirate games, will always pirate games.

 

well, he will be the death of the company in the long run, but they will coast on their IP for a little while longer, which would have been highly successful with or without him...