Well, a store in my country was about to move to a bigger place so they had some extra prices on stuff, and in a big box that said: 4 dollars each, i found M&G <3

Have any of you seen AL's price on amazon for a new copy? It's almost $80.00. That is pure theft IMO.

I wouldn't pay that much myself (edit: not with decent used copies available), but if someone is willing to buy it for that price, it's not theft. Just supply and demand in action.

Fortunately, there are several very reasonable used options that look perfectly fine.

If someone would actually be willing to pay $80 for it, they need the nice guys in white coats to come take them to a quiet place...

Meh. Value is relative. Probably wouldn't be wise, financially, but if I didn't already have the full game, and the $80 copy was the only available option, I'd consider it.

Hmm, I might just put my copy on the market!

I have been lucky enough to find Sims 2 games at a Thrift Store and Goodwill. I let my niece borrow my Sims 2 sets all except for Fun with Pets that has M&G because I use that CD to start my game. I found the same game at the Ohio Valley Thrift Store for like 4.99 along with others like OFB, Seasons, and Freetime. I bought them all so I'd have spare copies considering my love for losing things.

Since you're revealing this on a public forum that has a strict anti-piracy policy, I assume you're not aware that it's illegal? Unless you uninstall the game from your own computer first, loaning it to someone else is a form of piracy. I don't personally care, either way, but one needs to know these things.

Had no idea that it was illegal, but it was sort of a Christmas gift when I gave it her, and I have multiple Sims 2 CDs ex: 2 Double Deluxe, 2 FreeTimes etc. So I did buy every one of them.

On the Origin NZ site M&G is $15 so I think I'll get that and Glamour Life after I get Nightlife.

It's illegal in the case of one disk being used by two people, which is the impression you gave. Of course you can gift a second copy away. Nothing illegal about that. You can gift away your only copy if you want to as well, but only if you no longer have it installed yourself.

i dont think any type of video game is worth $80.00 unless it makes me breakfast in bed every morning and cleans my house. Origin sells it for $20.00 (all though i dont like digital copies at all, but the used copy i wanted sold out literally the second i logged in to ebay so i decided screw it). Its not the same as a physical copy but i think anyone who is an average human being would compromise and get a used copy or (i'd only recommend this if you have M&G as a physical copy) a digital copy. I don't think i would buy a video game for 80 bucks if i hit the lottery.

Like I said, value is relative. One could easily spend $80 taking a family of four to a movie. Comparing maybe eight combined hours of entertainment and munchies to the amount of time I've enjoyed playing Sims 2, it's a no brainer which is the better bargain.

Not saying I'd pay that much for an EP without a pang, and if I needed it now, I'd be jumping on one of those much-cheaper used copies, but again, if that $80 copy were the only option I had, I'd probably go for it.

I'd definitely go for it over the download version, which I object to for several reasons AND can't be sure will continue to be available to those who need to reinstall.

it did suck to have to download it but like i said, the copy that was cheap enough for my budget had sold within the 2 minutes it took me to log on to ebay so i was considerably angry (it had been there for a week, it was "buy now" and it sold out EXACTLY when i was about to buy it, very frustrating) So I just got digital. I can survive without AL so if the *ahem* a-holes at EA decide to pull all access to their games, its not really a huge deal to me.

If it were like the base game or something i use often like NL it would be an issue but i went without AL until now and survived. I'm also wary about getting used copies because of all the stories about people who open up a box with a rock in it or something. It could be better to spend $80 for a hard copy in the long run, but i literally never have that much money to throw around at a hobby i (sadly( probably wont be able to do much when i go to college in a couple years and get a job and things like that. plus i wont be able to sell it for much by then because unfortunately TS2 community will probably be quite dwindled down by the time i must stop playing.

Make sure you nuke the securom.

can you possibly give me a link or some instruction on how to do that? I've never done that before, and i barely know what it is :P

Please keep in mind that discs and manuals can also get scratched, lost, stolen, or otherwise rendered unusable. There is no evidence to suggest that EA is taking Sims 2 off of Origin anytime soon because they closed down the Sims 2 website. I doubt the website was making them any money, Sims 2 being an old and now somewhat hard to find game. They switched it to an advertisement for the Sims 3 which you can walk down to Target and pick up a copy of whenever you want. Keeping Sims 2 up on Origin DOES make them money, at likely negligible costs to them. EA likes to make money. Sure this is conjecture, but saying EA will take the games down is also conjecture.

I won't to go into what Origin does to your computer. As far as I know, Securom comes with the hard copy games as well. I'd also be interested in knowing how to get rid of it, since I did try to a few months back and was slogging through old dead links on MATY from a thread several years old.

If yo scratch or lose your disk, that's your responsibility. The owner of a digital download can take it down, change the terms of service, wantonly alter it, or whatever they like, whenever they like.

Hard copy is the only way to retain control of a property.

Is it also your responsibility if you are robbed and your disc gets stolen? If you have a house fire? A natural disaster in your area? However unlikely any of that may be. In those events, when I obtained access to a computer, I would still be able to re-download the game without having to re-buy it. Though I doubt that would be my highest priority. I won't go into the legality of EA being able to take down games I paid and have receipts for. I am aware that companies do fishy things and word and change TOS in fishy ways and EA is is the fishiest. If that day comes, I'm sure there will be other ways to obtain the games I may have lost.

In those situations (house fires and natural disasters), being able to re-download the game would be handy, yes, but I prefer those slight risks to my physical disks to the downsides of digital downloads, namely SecuRom, the fact that they're not compatible with some hacks (I'm a huge hack user), and the fact that some of the DD EPs don't play nice with EPs installed in different formats.

As for my disks getting lost or scratched, Peni's dead on. The easiest way to avoid those issues are to not leave them lying around, willy nilly. Mine are all in a CD case that stays in my computer desk hutch, safe from extreme temps, dust, and even thieves, I imagine. I have been robbed before, and among other things, the thief took my computer (yay for having important files, including my game, backed up on a flash drive!) and my son's X-Box, but left a stack of X-Box games behind. I don't think most thieves are interested in games, and with mine in a CD wallet in the hutch, they'd be unlikely to spot them in the first place.



There are lots of Ebay fans here, but that story you relate is one reason I prefer Amazon. Try there, next time you need something. It's far more user-friendly! The key to having a good experience with a private seller is to choose one with a very high average rating, and a lot of ratings (several hundred or up, if possible). I buy from private sellers a few to several times a year and have for years with no bad experiences yet.

If my house burns down, I think the loss of my sims disks will be down near the bottom of things I'll be crying about.

Oh, I don't know... I think once my basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing were well met again (and assuming no one was harmed), my computer and my Sims 2 game would be near the top of the non-critical items I'd want back as soon as possible.

Thank you, Peni. I am only trying to slightly reassure TheSlothPrincess that maybe she hasn't made a terrible decision by choosing to download an SP. This is coming from someone who has actually downloaded EP/SPs off of Origin in circumstances similar to her's and without knowing the risks at the time. Yes, I try to buy hard copies of SP/EPs now and I encourage her to do the same. Darby, am I wrong that Securom was included in the hard copies of the game since Bon Voyage?

The nasty kind of SecuROM is included with all versions of Sims 2 since The Sims 2: Deluxe, including H&M Fashion Stuff and Sims Pet Stories. You're right in that Bon Voyage is the first standalone EP which included SecuROM, but EA was shipping it before BV.

As I understand it, the Origin versions of the game do not include the nasty kind of SecuROM, Instead, you must agree to the nasty form of Origin to download from EA. There are other download options which avoid Origin.

In the future, EA may force people to use the nasty form of Origin. For example, even though you can download the new version of SimCity from other sites, you'll have to logon to Origin to play the game.

Quick question. If I used Origin to download an SP, but have AL on a physical disc, do I still need to keep Origin on my computer?