The original “online pass”

The original "online pass", from way back in the day...

[rankftw]

I still have my Quake 3 case with the cd key on the front also ;>.

[segamon]

some of the best gaming days ever.

[Farsendor1]

not sure why you got a disagree that is your opinion it was a few years of great gaming.

[segamon]

some younger gamers i'm guessing, to whom those days means nothing or even hate.

[CalvinKlein]

A CD-key is something that PC games used to all have, even before quake 3. Usually you could install a game using the same cd key on multiple PCs, but only one person could use the CD key at a time when online in games. Not sure how it was on quake 3 tho, but PC games had CD keys way before quake 3, and they are the original reason why there is no used PC game market(now PC sales are mostly digital and those are not sold used either)