Ok, I knew when I bought The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for my PC last year that it was supposed to need some sort of authentication cycle with the online company called STEAM.  I had hoped (in vain, as it turns out) that I could at least install the game on the PC, even without some features.  Nope, it wouldn’t even complete the installation without me signing into a STEAM account that I didn’t have.  So, I took the disc out of my PC and put it on a shelf.

Now, boredom has overtaken me to a huge degree, and so I thought I’d give it another shot.  I was fully prepared to have to create a STEAM account just for the one action of authenticating my disc – that is how bored I am lately.  I even have Skyrim on my PS3 – I’m wanting it on the PC so I can use some mods that friends have shared with me.  Sony won’t allow you to install mods on PS3 games.

So, I put the disc into my NEW PC, and ………. nothing.  The computer treats it like a bad disc.  Just to make sure it wasn’t the drive, I installed The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion from another disc I had on the shelf.  It installed perfectly on the first try.  The only guess I have is that when I aborted the install on the old computer – somehow Bethesda had a kill-switch built into the software that ruined the disc so it can’t be used ever again.  I don’t even know how they would do that, but I haven’t any other ideas as to why that game won’t install on a brand new computer.

Now I’m so upset with Bethesda I am willing to boycott them.  I love the games they made in the past that I’ve played – but I will never play another of their games if they don’t trash the protectionist attitude BS.  They can afford to lose money on 2% of the games in circulation – I don’t enjoy wasting $65 on a game that I bought from a legal retail outlet.