A while ago, I bought Asheron's Call 2. AC2 is an MMORPG created by Turbine Software and produced by Microsoft.
I played for a bit and then lost interest, so I decided to add it to the pile of stuff that I'm auctioning off.
A buyer got in touch with me and made me a great offer to end the auction early. He sent me payment and then wanted the product key, which you need to register the game. Lo and behold, the product key wouldn't work for him. It kept telling him that the key was already in use.
So, I start poking around to find out how to unregister my product key, so that my buyer could use the game. Turns out, you can't! To quote the Microsoft site
If you delete your .NET Passport account, you will lose access to .NET Passport-participating sites or services, such as Asheron's Call 2. Every .NET Passport account is unique. Even if you re-create the .NET Passport account with the same name, it will be seen by the access system as a new account. Your existing product key for Asheron's Call 2 cannot be used again for this "new" account. If you have deleted your .NET Passport account, you must purchase another copy of the game to play.
So, once you've played the game, it's impossible to even give it away to another user! Briliant lock-in scheme, but a total violation of my rights as a consumer.
Posted by pmk at September 5, 2003 10:03 AM