Newbie gamer needs some help

Some things before starting :

1. I use Linux


2. I have never paid for games and am completely unaware of how online payments work

3. It is very difficult to transfer money through Paypal/Google Wallet, etc in India because of the frustrating RBI (Reserve Bank Of India) guidelines. 

 

I bought an AMD A8 6600K APU for a new build (http://pcpartpicker.com/b/MtX) and it came with a origin key of Simcity. But I am a Linux user so it is of no value to me. Hence I thought if it is possible to exchange the key and get a Half Life 2 key instead which is supported on Linux.


I am a newbie gamer and have never played games before. But I want to get into gaming and I thought Half Life 2 would be the best way to enter into gaming.


But the problem is that, in India paying online is such a mess. I have an access to a debit card but with the awful guidelines of RBI (Reserve Bank Of India), it is very difficult to pay for stuff online on anything that is outside of India. So Paypal is very limited and it is really difficult to buy stuff online from here.


So, I was wondering that if it is possible that I exchange the Simcity key (which is useless for me) with someone online and get a Half Life 2 key instead.


Note : I have zero access to any online money transfer service. It is just the way it is in India. 


Also if I can find any Indian gamer who can tell me the ways in which he pays for games, then that would be really helpful. 

I do not think it is possible to get the Sim City key exchanged to an Half-Life 2 key.

As far as I know they are developed by 2 different companies.

I do not know which Linux distribution you are using, but Steam is working for Ubuntu.

I user PayPal for purchases via Steam, but Visa should also be possible.

Well.. is that possible that if someone wants Simcity, then I give him the key that I have and in return he buys Half Life 2 for me? Half-Life 2 costs a lot less than Simcity, so it is a good deal too.

Also you can read it fully that why it is not possible to pay to steam and other international sites using debit cards in India. It is a serious issue in India. http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/internet-www/161111-must-read-information-regarding-indian-debit-cards.html

I am a tin foil hat wearer so I smell some kind of scam that I can't point out.  If i was not as paranoid I would just buy the game off Steam for I think $8 and gift it to you.  Sorry

This made no sense to me but may make sense to you and may help http://jetpack.in/2013/07/03/indians-can-now-buy-steam-games-using-debit-card-heres-how/

Not sure  of Jetpack dot com just googled some stuff

I remember Sangeet over from Tom's. Jetpack looks dubious.Although i'm sure Sangeet appreciates the help.

Sorry mate,but those RBI guidelines seem harsh.

Okay, if I there is no way of an exchange, then let it be. I will just give the key to someone for free as it is of no use to me. 

Just asking, anyone in mood to play simcity? I don't mind giving stuff away.

I left Toms, it is not my kind of place anymore. I know when I joined that community, then I was a stupid idiot too, fighting over small things. but now I have changed, hence joined this community instead.

Anyways if you want Simcity then let me know. 

Only if you were in India then you would understand how much of a pain in the umm.. backside it is to make online International payments.

Just a few Google searches will tell you that there are a lot of guys having payments with International online payments in India. I am not the only one. 

Being called a scammer hurts, when I am the kind of guy who is totally against scams and anything like that. I am giving away the key for free now to anyone interested in playing Simcity.

sure hook me up. plz!

Why don't you just pirate games until you find a way to pay?

Sangeet is a long time (and useful) member of Tom's Hardware. I really don't think he came here to scam.

Thanks, It is good to see many people remembering me from Toms. I often find a lot of people at YouTube and sometimes on PcPartPicker too. 

Of course I am not scamming, I never do. It was just I wanted to start gaming and I didn't had really any games to start with so I thought why not ask someone for help. Anyways now I am giving away the game for free.

As for payments, I am unable to even buy the humble bundle, I tried everything they had to offer. Tried Google Wallet, Amazon Payments and Paypal as well. They don't work well with Indian debit cards. Seriously India is being the new China. Anyways, time to get a debit card from an International Company which does not fall under the RBI's stupid guidelines.

Because pirating is Shameful and Illegal. That is not an option for me at all. I use Linux just because I don't want to spend $100 on Windows. But I don't pirate it.

Also I believe that recommending Piracy is not allowed on this site. So better take that post down before you get into trouble or some Mod bans you.
 

Hi sangeet im sorry about the situation in India. Im just looking through my piles of crap and accounts because im pretty sure i had some space cd keys for game i could give you. If i find them and they work on linix theyre yours.

 

Thanks, that is really supportive of you.

Update : I exchanged the Simcity with someone on Reddit for the Humble Bundle. I am happy since I got FEZ which I really wanted to play. I also get 8 more games which will keep  me busy for quite a while. I am really happy with the humble bundle. Will download the games as soon as I get a monitor for my  build.

Being a Linux user is a little tough when it comes to gaming.  The majority of games out there are strictly for windows.  Still, if you're the experimental type, you could try to get some windows games running on your setup using WINE, or PlayOnLinux.

Well.. I prefer playing Native games. Wine is either a hit or a miss, I have tried playing some old games from Childhoood using Wine and none of them worked. So, Wine is not the ideal solution.

Anyways as a new gamer I don't mind the games available on Linux, there still are a plenty of games available especially for someone like me who is a beginner. Though I miss not be able to run GTA without problem, but it is fine for me. 

Gaming on Linux is easy steam works on almost all distros look at stuff like humble bundle etc, its a nice way to get Linux and DRM free games.

Can you not get a VPN and do transactions that way Idk if it will bypass your countries internet settings, should do and they can't see what your doing. Also don't torrent If your internet is that tight they will find you, also its bad for the gaming scene 

If need be just use your bank card with https enabled its encrypted and steam should cover you well