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Online passes are becoming more and more ubiquitous in the games industry. For those who aren’t familiar with the terminology, an online pass is essentially a form of digital rights management designed to discourage and devalue used game sales by tying some game content to unique, one-use codes packaged with new copies of games. Online passes are a contentious issue. Some feel that they’re a perfectly legitimate way for developers and publishers to ensure that they get their cut of each sale, and to reward those who purchase games new. Others see them as a violation of consumer rights or contend that they inconvenience customers who do buy new (by requiring them to type in long access codes on game controllers) while being of only dubious value to publishers and developers.

Most recently, there’s been a bit of an uproar over the inclusion of an online pass in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a single-player RPG with no online component. The pass confers seven extra quests on those who purchase the game new, or deprives those who purchased used of them, depending on your perspective. (more…)