From the melting pot called Slashdot (I’m too cool to write it as “/.”, I mean, how pretentious is that?), comes a tale of woe from egburr:

I just purchased a used retail box of World of Warcraft. After reading the EULA in the manual and the Terms of Use, I expected to be up and playing quickly. I soon ran into a problem. I haven’t even installed the software yet, since the first thing I have to do is go online and create a user account and then subscribe to play. Simple enough? I thought so too, until I tried entering the Authentication Key found on the CD case. This produced an error that my key had already been used. Note that it says ‘already been used,’ not ‘currently in use.’

This must be egburr’s first MMOG. Everybody knows you can’t reuse a MMOG key code, GOSH! Flipping idiot. Sometimes the keycode in a brand new box has been used already too, by the store dudes, which means you, the buyer, are SOL.

I don’t know if locking up keycodes like that is legal or not. I just know that’s the way it’s done.

As an aside, you better hold onto that keycode like Grim Death because if you get divorced some day, you’ll need that code to keep your virtual wealth. It’s really never too early to hide assets.