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Geek Culture / Help with Pre-Owned Half Life 2

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CoffeeGrunt
17
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Joined: 5th Oct 2007
Location: England
Posted: 3rd Oct 2009 22:35
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Like the title says, I bought Half Life 2 at a gaming shop near where I live, and everything worked lovely. It installed, but when I tried to play it, Steam requested the Serial Key I already put in, I did it again, and it came up, Error Duplicate Code already entered...

I looked inside the case, and found a preowned sticker on the front of the manual. I didn't see it at first because the manual was put in backwards. What I think's happened is that someone bought it, installed on Steam, then sold it. If so, have I just wasted £12 of my very valuable money, or is there a way to use the disk to play it. It's unfair that I waste £12 on this, and if it is useless, it's unfair that gaming shops sell items they know could be useless...

I have a shot of the case, to prove I'm not trying to get serials to pirate it or something, I'm really hoping for some advice on this please:

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...

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Omega gamer 89
17
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Joined: 10th Sep 2007
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posted: 3rd Oct 2009 22:39
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Call the game shop and ask them. They'll probably be able to help you a lot better than anyone here. If they can't fix it, demand a refund.

I have a devious mind.
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Insanity Complex
19
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Joined: 16th Sep 2005
Location: Home
Posted: 3rd Oct 2009 22:43 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2009 22:44
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Alternatively, you could try contacting steam, by taking another photo of the case, front and back, and inside, including the disk, showing that you have physical ownership, and seeing what they can do.

Edit: Also, in the photos, take something to indicate the time, date, and who you are, so that they know you didn't do something stupid like google image search for the pictures...


OMG! Insanity Complex has a new signature! No wai!
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Silvester
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Location: Netherlands
Posted: 3rd Oct 2009 23:10
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This is exactly why around here you can't return games you can only activate once.


EDP Map Editor[2D]
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CoffeeGrunt
17
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Location: England
Posted: 3rd Oct 2009 23:21
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@Insanity Complex

Yeh, I considered that, it's worth a shot, hopefully Valve'll realise it's legit...

The Gaming shop said that they weren't liable for a refund, as they said it was possible to play it without Steam, I said it wasn't, an argument happened, they couldn't say how to use it offline, so I gave up on them...

I'll try contacting Valve though, hopefully it'll work out. I was looking forward to getting GMod and all that...

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...
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Thraxas
Retired Moderator
19
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Location: The Avenging Axe, Turai
Posted: 3rd Oct 2009 23:38
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The Gaming shop are talking rubbish. You won't be able to play without using Steam. Demand your refund.

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2009 23:47
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Nah, I've sent an E-Mail to Valve through the Steam Contact and Support. With pictures of Serial Keys and such...

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...
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Thraxas
Retired Moderator
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:08
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I didn't think Steam support allowed the transfer of keys between accounts. I always thought once it was tied to a steam account that was it.

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lazerus
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:16
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I would call it dubious at best what that game shop are even suggesting. I would find it very innaproprate for a legal, licensed shop to even hint at things like that.

Congrats on your new paper weight may you enjoy it.

"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes, That way, i wouldn't have your problems"
http://lazerus-reborn.deviantart.com/
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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:19
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Quote: "I didn't think Steam support allowed the transfer of keys between accounts. I always thought once it was tied to a steam account that was it."


Yeh, neither do I. Guess all I can do is cross my fingers and start believing that god doesn't just hate me...

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...
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Syncaidius
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:21 Edited at: 4th Oct 2009 00:22
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You could have got Orange Box for £17 off steam, which would have got you:

Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Portal
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Team Fortress 2

All in the same deal.

You only need any one of those to be able to play Garrys Mod but having all the models from all of them to play around with in Gmod is nice.


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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:27
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Yeh, but I don't have a credit card and my parents don't trust online merchants that aren't EBay...

I have Orange Box on PC, which is sweet, especially TF2...

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...
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Insert Name Here
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Location: Worcester, England
Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:29
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If you have the orange box why did you buy half life?

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:37
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It's for 360...

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...
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Insert Name Here
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 00:39
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Oh, I see.

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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 01:57
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Quote: "Yeh, but I don't have a credit card and my parents don't trust online merchants that aren't EBay..."


That's pretty ironic, seeing as how it was the game store that did you in
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 4th Oct 2009 02:27
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Adults, when it comes to technology, are controlling imbeciles. If you vote for me as world president, I'll force them to take a six-month test to get their computer licence so they are no longer idiots.

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 12:06
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Uhh, what's your stance on the Afghan war though?

Quote: "That's pretty ironic, seeing as how it was the game store that did you in"


Yeh, but their thinking is that online stores don't sell you anything real. I tried telling them that I could lose the disc, but Steam would always have my games on it's server, they wouldn't have it and somehow made it my fault...

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...
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Toasty Fresh
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Location: In my office, making poly-eating models.
Posted: 4th Oct 2009 12:47
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Go there and refuse to leave until they give you a refund or whatever it is you're after
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Trowbee
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Oct 2009 13:19
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If you have access to a laptop, take that with you, and get them to show you how to play it without steam .
Then laugh when they can't.
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Aertic
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Oct 2009 13:56
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Quote: "I didn't think Steam support allowed the transfer of keys between accounts. I always thought once it was tied to a steam account that was it."

They in-fact do allow key transferring, you can even claim keys that have been VAC-Banned! Just say that the key(s) being used and you bought them just now and they're not working.

Sometimes it'll get through and you'll have that key active on your new account, but I believe Steam may be catching onto this type of thing.

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jeffhuys
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 14:03
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For all your information: The orange box is not only for the 360, it is for the PC as well.

You're the 'th to view this signature!
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Aertic
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 14:18
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That statement was just mentally challenged.

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puppyofkosh
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 14:39
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@Matuka: I see your back to your old ways. I have to agree with your statement though.

And coffeegrunt, just go to the store and make a fuss about it, they'll give it back.
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Aertic
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 4th Oct 2009 14:59
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Quote: "@Matuka: I see your back to your old ways. I have to agree with your statement though."

Yay!

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 4th Oct 2009 19:59
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Quote: "And coffeegrunt, just go to the store and make a fuss about it, they'll give it back."


I'm gonna wait for the Steam Support guy-peoples to reply, then decide what to do. The guy at the store was, shall we say, impolite to say the least, and a word against the AUP to be accurate...

Violence isn't the answer, it's the question...
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El Goorf
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Location: Uni: Manchester, Home: Dunstable
Posted: 6th Oct 2009 02:09
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i thought shops werent allowed to resell HL2 and other once-only-activation games. when i bought it i was told i wouldbt be able to take it back, same with a lot of other games ive bought recently..

http://notmybase.com
All my base are not belong to anyone.
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djmaster
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Posted: 6th Oct 2009 09:40
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I bought original CS Anthology brand new,someone stole my account,emailed them and got a new password back.

[href]http://sites.google.com/site/chargedstudios/home[href]
"Im British you muppet!"-Psycho
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Darth Vader
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Location: Adelaide SA, I am the only DB user here!
Posted: 7th Oct 2009 05:45
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I have read that if you can prove to Steam that you own the game, they'll give you a key. Also the gaming shop sounds very suss. Don't you have some sort of government department that can step in on your behalf? In Australia we have the Office of Consumer Affairs. If you have something similar take your case to them and make sure you let them know the guy was rude, which is a big no-no for retail.

If that fails go back to the store demand a refund, if he argues ask him to show you, and continually quote "The customer is always right."


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