08-07-2010, 06:09 PM
(08-07-2010, 04:50 AM)Frag Wrote: I like the idea of software returnables, but I'm not quite sure how it's possible with CD-keys in their current form...
In exactly their current form, it may not be possible. However, the current architecture whereby the vendor can remotely revoke the game resolves the single biggest stumbling block to allowing software returnables. The remaining component would be the ability to revoke a CD-key and issue a new CD-key to the second legitimate purchaser of a given instance of the media. Blizzard may already have some mechanism that can do this or could be extended to do this, to deal with cases where a customer is burned by theft of a CD-key. CD-keys can be stolen through spyware, user error (posting it on a forum due to ignorance that it ought to remain secret), or by individuals who enter a store, open the cardboard, examine and record the key, and then leave without purchasing the jewel case on which the key was written. In that final case, the first legitimate purchaser of the box will obtain a CD-key that is already "in use" by an unauthorized party, and so the customer needs some mechanism to revoke that key and receive a replacement. This is functionally identical to the software returnable scenario, with the difference that even the retail store is unaware they are selling a CD-key that is in use.