what, therefore is the big deal if you can still go to a major supported retailer and trade in your stuff?
you forgot the bolded part, and THAT is the big deal.
My buddy wants to buy my copy for $35 because I frickin hated it? Nope.
I want to sell my copy on Amazon Marketplace? Nope.
Want to lend it to my friend after I've beaten it? Nope.
Like the fact that there are 40 copies of varying quality listed as used on Amazon and ebay? Nope.
The problem with this system is that the only WINNERS from it are the publishers and partnered retailers. And at what expense? At the expense of the fucking user.
And here's the thing. If it were DRM, if it were to curb piracy? I mean those things suck, and sometimes user rights might be sacrificed slightly to help fight those things.
But this has NOTHING TO DO with piracy! This is fighting the used game market, which is a market that even under the STRICTEST copyright laws has EVERY RIGHT to exist!
So yeah, that's the big deal. It's greatly limiting the experience of the user to fight a problem that is, well... only a problem for the publishers, and frankly only a problem because games cost $60 and they need to sell 3M copies just to break even on their ridiculous budgets these days.
So would a game bought at a garage sale even usable by an individual? If it is, would they be charging me whatever the price for a new copy would be?
Given the information we have as of now... a) they can sell you the game for whatever they want, b) you are still going to have to pay the activation fee to play it.. aka full price.