Sounds like Sign and Meta could use a few extra VRC improvements on their homeworlds.   

IMHO this guy is a jerk... the developers for this game make themselves more open to issues and concerns then ANYOTHER COMPANY!!!!!

They directly update the game based on OUR FEEDBACK!!!!

But in reguards to second hand sales.. yes they are perfectly legal.. stardock wont support them though and wont help you get updates......
Just like piracy is (as far as i can see) legal?(or at least thought of on the same level, they wont stop it, but they wont support it)

They only offer support to legal users!!!


I tell you i first played Galciv I on a "pirated" copy i found on the internet.... What did I do... I bought the first game.. and its expansion. (so it is legal)
and when version II came out i bought it, and its expansion..... (never needed to pirate that)

So IMHO Stardock owes you nothing if you come in whining and complaining... (which you have)

Yeah, it really DOESN"T get any better than Stardock customer service. Short of Brad showing up at his house and clicking the link for him, I really don't see how this could have been better handled.

ANd yet it still doesn't explain the large oversight that is not putting this information on the packaging. That just shows contempt for retailers and customers as it is NOT illegal to sell games second hand. If you take that argument then the single mother struggling to make ends meet whouses hand me downs, maybe even from her own, older, children, instead of buying new clothes is just as 'guilty'. What a fundamentally ludicrous position to take.

Oh, please.

No one puts licensing info on the outside packaging. It is inside.

Someone that resells the game should read and follow it.
And if you buy a used game, then you should read it before you buy it.

The fault is not with Stardock. It is with you and the store/person you bought it from.

And the fact remains, if you were able to register and activate the game you can also get the updates for the game - either through the Downloads section of this site or through Stardock Central.

You may not like how it is done, and that is your own personal problem.
Deal with it.
Live with it.

Or, simply stop playing the game. None of us care one way or the other.

Quit your belly aching.
This whole thing about selling games second hand being illegal is a moot point.
You were able to register the game, right?

What is the problem? Is it just your own stupidity at not being able to identify what you think should be a proper 'patch' filename?

This is a flawed comparision.  Clothes can only be worn by one person at a time and once resold, do not continue to benefit the original owner.  There is nothing to stop someone from buying our game, installing it on their computer, registering it, and then selling the game to someone else.  We get nothing from the sale except additional support for the second buyer trying to update the game with a game that is already registered to someone else.   

Only if you assume that the original user intends to keep playing the game. Not everyone is a theif and a pirate thanks very much and i most certainly am not.

YOu keep avoiding the issue as regard the lack of information on your packaging. For that, you only have yourselves to blame.

Signoftheserpent, you act as if this is an uncommon occurrence. Why don't you name a few games for us that DO have this on their exterior packaging.

You're lucky that this is the internet. You can spew your vitriol from the safety of your room. If this were the real world, and you (a total stranger) came up to me spouting accusations in that tone, you'd wake up with a crowd around you.

You're fighting a losing battle. Stardock is quite simply the most helpful and responsive company and group of people- bar none. It's not too late to change. Apologize, and you will, in time, be welcomed here. If you can't find this in yourself, then please just leave us in peace. Then you can stay home and play with your blizzard to your heart's content.

Not really the point what OTHER games do, i would think. THis is your business model and your responsibility to inform customers, surely.

However WoW and warcraft 3 mention it.

I second Mistralok's thoughts.

Stardock's one of the most sincere, if not the most sincere, software development company. You can hardly get the developers and CEO to participate in forums and they really do listen to our feedback.

Keep up the good work Stardock!

If you buy a game second hand then you have no right to support from the game manufacturer. It's like buying a second hand car and expecting the manufacturer to fix it for you if it breaks down.

If you don't like that, then buy new.

Actually, my copies of both those games say that, and I quote, "The use of this software product is subject to the terms of the enclosed End User License Agreement. You must accept the End User License Agreement before you can use this product..." and so on and so forth about how the license restrictions are contained inside the product and that you must accept them before using said product. Which, as far as I can understand written English, just means that it's letting you know that there's a rule that you'll find out about later that applies to the game. I'd like to state for the record that Blizzard is a wonderful company and I've always had great support from them. But, the amount of help I see SD giving others (who've usually asked my questions first), and the amount of free improvements they give us that most other companies would charge for (read: "inexpensive" console down-loadable content craze wave of the future trend) is outstanding to say the least.


This shouldn't be a bashing thread. This poor guy (poor as in unfortunate) is just frustrated. A link was miss-labeled, and you've been helped. The argument against the license agreement is ridiculous, because no one does it, and it's (thankfully) starting to take root that online registrations are better than CD checks. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to not switch between the different disks. It means I play the game more, and don't have to worry about the disk breaking. And if it did break, I could just download it for free, and make a backup on a new CD. When I lost my warcraft III CD, I had no other choice than to buy a new one. If you haven't looked, they still sell for $30 new.

Just play the game, actually, play it unpatched and upgraded, then upgrade it and play it again to fully appreciate the amount of work and number of features that were added post-release. Then read around the forums, learn to mod a little, customize the game to your liking, (Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, or be like me and have a bastardized universe full of custom races with multiple sci-fi IP infringements battling each other.   ), and I think you'll find this is a great community and a well supported game. I know I'll be ecstatic when the memory bug is finally fixed, and I don't care to know how many hours have been wasted just looking for the source.... it would just make me feel guilty that I bought the collector's edition at a discount and didn't pay more for the sequel...er expansion.

Again, everyone here loves the game and the company, and picking fights over pointless issues isn't going to get you anywhere but just left of nowhere. It will however get you flamed, so if you like being ganged up on by defensive fans, then whatever floats your boat, but I think it'd be easier to just enjoy the game, enjoy the free content and upgrades, enjoy the forums and user mods, and everyone who understands the value of such things thanks you for not being a pirate.