People were selling XIV registration codes?

[Laurima]

^ bingo

all the games you 'buy' on Steam etc etc, it's only access, you don't legally in the words of their T&C's actually own them, so resale is illegal.

[Khalithar]

There are certain websites where you can buy steam keys for half the price or less of a full priced game. I'm not surprised, they'd rather have someone paying full price rather than that person paying someone else half.

[Terribad]

Yes people resell for way cheaper and people also buy and sell accounts. It's all part of RMT.

[DragonFlyy]

Thing is, games aren't property you own. What you're buying is a licence to use the software, not the software itself, and said license is non-transferable.

It was fought in some EU courts and the courts ruled in favor of the licensee (IE. the consumer). In America however, it's still considered the as you said.

[Alberel]

I'm fairly sure this isn't to do with players selling keys to other players, but rather criminals getting hold of keys illegally and reselling them. This is a popular strategy used by RMT to fund their operations. Stolen credit card info is used to purchase keys and then resell them dirt cheap (since they effectively cost nothing in the first place). When the owner of the card disputes the charges the keys end up being rendered void and the associated accounts banned.

ESO went through this exact same problem at one point. SquareEnix's stance in this case is the only logical one to take; if you buy a key from a reseller you do so at your own risk in the knowledge that you may be buying a fraudulent key and your account may be banned. Judging by posts on reddit lately there was a ban wave for fraudulently obtained keys that happened alongside this announcement.

[Enkrateia]

Judging by posts on reddit lately there was a ban wave for fraudulently obtained keys that happened alongside this announcement.

Just to touch on this brief point to add some clarification. The change that was announced is related to the new registration of Steam codes that were sold by unauthourized sellers, and this change would prevent registration of those codes. Codes that were registered prior to the change would not be impacted by this change.

LGM Enkrateia

[Losstarot]

So there was like kinda bugish steam codes exploit, so people could register a fake key.
Maybe?

[Enkrateia]

So there was like kinda bugish steam codes exploit, so people could register a fake key.
Maybe?

I can understand that the reasons for this may not be clear, which is causing a bit of confusion. Registration of a fake key was not a concern that this change sought to address. One of the main points of concern that we did wish to assist with is the potential for the keys being bought from unauthourized sellers having been obtained illicitly or through fraud. This could allow a customer to register and play the game, only to lose the account when the fraud related to the code was caught. Or the customer could be sold an invalid code that would not work or had already been used. By ensuring that these codes are only being purchased through authourized sellers, this reduces the risk by our customers related to a third party neither side has any control of.

LGM Enkrateia

[Culfinrandir]

Thing is, games aren't property you own. What you're buying is a licence to use the software, not the software itself, and said license is non-transferable.

Not in the EU, like I said, most of what is contained in EULAs, like Microsoft's "we only licence you to use this etc" has been found to be unenforceable & illegal under EU Law. The USA is completely different as I understand it because they're far more "business first" orientated than the EU which tends to be "people first". That's not meant to demean the US in *any* way, it's just how the legislature works.