Things to Aware of Before Buying Used PC Video Games

Half-Life 2 as seen on Goodwill auction case

Hello everyone!

So for today's blog post, I'm going to tell you a little bit of my personal experience on buying used games. Usually when I buy games, I buy them digitally because they're so much easier to buy. All you need to do is go to your browser and visit your favorite online game marketplace. After that, you can complete the purchase right in your home and download the game right away. But sometimes, there are some advantages of buying retail copies of PC games rather than buying them digitally. For one, obviously, there is no download times, which means you only have to install the game and then you can play it right away. Two, you have something else to store on your shelf besides books so you can keep track of your game collection. And I think those two are the advantages of buying games physically. But, what if you buy them second-handed?

Now here's a story. I went to my local Goodwill store. Usually I don't find anything interesting, that is until I approached the auction case since most games are stored in there. Then, I found this game: Half-Life 2, which is a game developed by Valve Corporation (see my previous post about Steam). Since it is developed by Valve, I already knew that the key requires a special key to install, and most probably the key has been already used anyway. But what the heck am I thinking? I bought the game anyway since nobody else was bidding. I bid ten bucks, I thought it was a good deal. God, I was so stupid. When I got home and tried to install the game, well, you guessed it, the special key that comes with the game is already used, so I can't install the game anyway.

Ten bucks well spent, huh?

Worse, when I was thinking to refund the game back to Goodwill, I just remembered that I can't because usually every time I buy things, I throw the purchase receipt straight away, so I can't refund the game back to Goodwill anyway. God, I wish I can go back in time. On the bright side though, I had two good things; One, I learned that I have to be more careful about buying used games. Two, the game copy that I own could be used as a perfect backup, in case when I want to buy the game digitally, in which, I will explain how digital content backup works on my next article. But for today, I want to tell you all what should you do when you are about to buy second-handed PC games. Without further ado, let's start!

1. DO NOT BUY SECOND-HANDED VALVE GAMES OR ANY USED GAMES THAT REQUIRES ONLINE AUTHENTICATION TO INSTALL

This is a serious red flag for second-handed buyers out there. You should never, ever buy a used game that requires online authentication. Because, most of the time, the authentication key is already used, so you can't install the game anyway. Sure, most games requires a special key to enter prior installing, but sometimes the process requires the computer to be connected to the internet for key verifying. If the key is known to be already used, the installer will stop the install process.

The easiest way to know whether a game requires an active internet connection to install or not is to look at the back of the game packaging.

If it says something like "Requires internet connection for key verification" or something like that, then obviously stay away from the purchase. This can be an exception IF the game is still tightly sealed. What that means is probably the previous owner didn't open up the game, so most probably the key that comes with the game is still working.

2. CHECK ON WHAT YOU'RE GETTING BEFORE PURCHASE

Before making a purchase, make sure you know what you're getting. Make sure the game packaging comes with the game itself with the registration key,

the manuals, and some other collectibles (in this case, I got a keyboard overlay for in-game reference).

And, if you're a type of person who likes Collector's Edition type of thing, make sure the packaging also comes with the additional content and the activation key.

While for some people the collectibles and the manual aren't important, they might've contain some essential info about the game. If the seller doesn't want you to open up the box before payment, then just walk away, because the seller probably has something that doesn't want you to see.

3. DETERMINE THE VALUE OF THE GAME

If you're about to make a one-on-one purchase with the seller, you may want to negotiate with the seller about the value of the game. To determine the value of the game that you're about to buy, there are some things to consider. One, check the original retail pricing of your game. You can get around this by browsing the internet, with websites like mobygames.com to find how much the game costs during the first time it was released. The same thing you do when you buy other used things such as a used car. Two, consider things that comes with the game. If the game packaging comes with everything essential, then it's always worth something. Three, determine how rare the game that you're about to buy, once again, the internet may help you on this one. Also, don't forget to know when was the game released. If the game is really old, like more than ten years old and it's very common to see at retailers, then it'll be always worth less than an old game that is very rare to find, like collector's edition or something.

Now, with all those three things to consider when you're about to buy a used game, I hope nobody would have the same experience as I do, where some greedy people sells a non-working product for a quick cash.

Okay, that's all for now. Don't forget to subscribe to my blog to see more posts!

~McValimoMadness, your beloved geek.