so i bought the game on sale and trying it out... BUT THERE IS SOMETHING!

[smutsig]

this activation thing people keep talking about , im totally lost here. does this mean i cant play the game like whenever i want or what? can i like play it 3 times and then have to wait 45 days again or whats going on?

[TheOD]

Uh, you can play anytime you want, it activates once and then it's all fine.

It will only have to reactivate if you format your hd/reinstall Windows or install it on another computer.

[Sly_Squash]

I wonder if uninstall restores an activation.

[jeffreydean1]

I wonder if uninstall restores an activation.

It does not.

[Zephon]

It does not.

it does not. but every 45 days you get another activation.

[TheOD]

Note also that uninstall and reinstalling won't cost you an activation unless you reformated or completely changed your PC around. There's no chance of it costing you 2 activations if you need to/want to reinstall the game on the same Windows installation with the same hardware. Anyhow, like Zephon mentioned, every 45 days, you get 1 activation revoked to you.