User Controls
Making money by stealing CD keys
-
2024-06-24 at 9:53 PM UTCPC games are packaged with a CD and a CD key. The CD key is used in some cases to activate the game when you run the installer on the disk, but in a lot of cases you can just redeem the CD key on an online store somewhere and add the game to your digital library. And you don't have to buy the game to activate the key like you do with a gift card, it's already prepped in the box.
Walk into Wal-Mart and grab two or three of these games. The Sims series and World of Warcraft expansions are always good for this. Then, take them to a remote part of the store where there aren't cameras on you and start "looking at something" on a shelf. Usually pet aisles are good for this. Unwrap the game, open the box, and grab the CD key. Take out your phone and take a picture of the CD key. Then stuff the box somewhere, like under a shelf or something. Somewhere it won't be found for a while. Do this for all of the games. Don't feel like you have to do them all in one spot or something, the main thing is just don't be seen.
Then once you've taken pictures of all the CD keys and disposed of the boxes, you can just leave the store. If you want to buy something to look less suspicious, pay with cash obviously. Then you can sell digital copies online on like G2A or eBay or something, and undercut the official store price by a couple of dollars. That's part of the reason I suggested WoW or The Sims, it's better if it's a greedy ass company that doesn't like to do sales, rarely reduces the price, and is dated enough that the store doesn't feel the need to put it behind glass or put a security seal on it.
The nice thing about doing something like this is that you could do it without actually removing anything from the store. -
2024-06-25 at 12:22 AM UTCthat's wrong. don't do that. it's a baddy.. not a goody
-
2024-06-25 at 12:26 AM UTCCould you just buy and return or do they not allow returning opened software?
They'd likely be able to charge you with theft even if you not leaving with the merchandise. -
2024-06-25 at 12:57 AM UTC
Originally posted by Mighest Could you just buy and return or do they not allow returning opened software?
They'd likely be able to charge you with theft even if you not leaving with the merchandise.
You probably could, but the last thing I'd want to do when I'm stealing from a store is have to talk to a store employee.
The theft of digital goods is already a huge legal gray area, and it is legal to take pictures of merchandise. Even if they realize what you're doing, when they don't have a clear path to pursue action against you are they going to bother, especially over a few games? Seems like there's less legal precedent there than for something like refund fraud.
Originally posted by Lanny Lanny that's wrong. don't do that. it's a baddy.. not a goody
Sorry, I won't post things like this on Good Ideas anymore. -
2024-06-25 at 1:08 AM UTCOp will love to CD nuts in his mouth
-
2024-06-25 at 1:14 AM UTCHow much are the Sims ones?
-
2024-06-25 at 1:41 AM UTC
-
2024-07-03 at 1:34 PM UTCThe following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
-
2024-07-03 at 1:47 PM UTCYer mum like cd keys
She likes to cd keys up her ass -
2024-07-03 at 1:51 PM UTCwow
-
2024-07-03 at 2:52 PM UTC
-
2024-07-03 at 2:55 PM UTCThe following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
-
2024-07-03 at 3:01 PM UTCCan I torrent the CD key tho
-
2024-07-03 at 3:03 PM UTCI came up with this really good strategy called ask my friend on telegram and it's got me a lot of good games that I'm really enjoying.
It's difficult when you're like a lonely guy sitting inside your (mom's) house and you ain't got no video games but making a couple friends even online can change your life.
My advice is to make strategic alliance with the smart ones and then try to learn from them so you can graduate from your meager position. My friend online loves rubbing one off on me and I really enjoy it. -
2024-07-03 at 3:06 PM UTC
-
2024-07-03 at 3:08 PM UTC
Originally posted by Jiggaboo_Johnson You can…the same retards who buy CD keys in 2024 and don't know they can just download a cracked version, stick it on a usb stick and sell it to said retards
Stay in school kid.
Do you really think the same person dumb enough to pay for that is smart enough to understand their file system well enough to know where to put those files so their existing install recognizes the expack and flags it as entitled? If they were smart enough to do that they'd just be torrenting it themselves. -
2024-07-03 at 3:10 PM UTC
Originally posted by harriettubman20 Do you really think the same person dumb enough to pay for that is smart enough to understand their file system well enough to know where to put those files so their existing install recognizes the expack and flags it as entitled? If they were smart enough to do that they'd just be torrenting it themselves.
Um the cracked games 9/10 come with installers... -
2024-07-03 at 3:11 PM UTCSo tell us how much you've made out of selling CD keys stolen from retail stores in the last 6 months..
-
2024-07-03 at 3:24 PM UTC
Originally posted by Jiggaboo_Johnson Um the cracked games 9/10 come with installers…
My guy you have literally no idea what you're talking about lmaoooooooo
Running an installer for an expansion that is designed to use different DRM from the base game you already have installed introduces compatibility issues, the game forums are already full of people bitching because they tried mixing DRM that isn't compatible on completely legitimate copies of the game. Getting it working this way involves workarounds like putting the EA app into offline mode or renaming files, not just running an installer and their shit works fine. Then the game updates and the crack breaks anyway.
Or you can just get a free, functional CD key and sell that for a ~$28 profit, instead of finding someone dumb and willing to jump through all these other weird ass hoops but still smart enough to do it for the same amount. That's without even getting into how you got the USB stick that you either paid for and ate into your own profits or shoplifted and defeated the whole point of the original post which was making money off of merchandise without physically removing it from the store. -
2024-07-03 at 4:10 PM UTC
Originally posted by Enigma Can I torrent the CD key tho
I know it's a meme question but keygens like the ones that used to be popular fell out of favor because most digital software that needs to be verified connects to an online system to check if the key is legitimate and not reproduced. Most pirates just used cracked/patched software that blocks those checks from even happening.
The appeal of the CD keys is that it's a legitimate copy of the game regardless of what happens later on down the road. In the case of something like The Sims 4 specifically, that meant that you could always install Origin and re-download your game if something happened to your hard drive or your you got a new system, when they moved from Origin to EA App the games came with them and their entitlement process changed those game copies were still legitimate and the process to run the game didn't change beyond which storefront would boot up before the game launched, and if the devs push an update you don't have to worry about your crack no longer working.
The Sims 4 is still being supported by devs so acquiring a CD key is preferable to torrenting from a sustainability perspective. Something like The Sims 3 would actually be a great candidate to torrent, since it no longer gets updates and the transition to EA App incorrectly flagged the base game entitlement for people who had already purchased the game so they could no longer run it. The people who had pirated the game didn't have to worry about that, and they already saved hundreds of dollars by not paying.
