Has anyone ever bought Europa Universalis 3 ? If so, how many times did you buy it ? How many times was it actually released ? Every time a new expansion came out ? Pahahahahah ! These companies would make me lol if only so many people didn't fall for their TRANSPARENT sales policies. It's SO obvious and SO pathetic.

4/5 for Pharaoh!.

mostly now though its double - either goty version, dual platform, or bundle pack.

Umm........
Tomb Raider 1 x4 disk, disk, disk, GOG
Tomb Raider 2, 3 x3 disk, disk+expansion, GOG
Tomb Raider 4, 5, AD x2 disk, GOG
Time Commando x4 disk, disk, GOG, GOG gift
Diablo 2 x3 disk, disk+expansion, Diablo 3
Disponia, Whispered Word, Book of Unwritten Tales, ToMI, x2 disk, GOG
NWN, ToEE, BG1+2 x3 disk, GOG, GOG gift
Primordia x3 GOG, IR, Groupees

I have now bought all but around 30 of my disk games on GOG, and I am happy to do so. The thing is with all the bundles going around these days I often end up with duplicate games, yet there are a few I have bought more then twice.

Pirates!
C-64, Amiga, PC (several times), Mega Drive, Nes, PSP
not counting the Gold version

I've got four copies of Warcraft III.

Two words: LAN party (one that can actually log in and play online)

What is the proper way? That if I bought a retail copy, I have access to the online copy as well? That if I bought a copy in one store, I have access to another store as well?

1st copy was the only copy that was available to me at that time. Retail one.
2nd copy was a digital backup that removed the need to install starforce and created a peace of mind for the state of the cd.
3rd copy was an extra in a bundle. I bought the bundle, got a copy of the game as well.

Which of the 3 is the problematic one?

Buying a game ought to be like buying a book : it wears out when it wears out, probably long after you are dead. And it ought to still be "readable" to those who you pass it on to. The computer industry in general and the games industry in particular (this wonderful haven of creativity and escapism) is so THROWAWAY and temporary.

What kind of books do you buy that last 70+ years? The books I read all the time wear and tear too easily, maybe exactly because I read them all the time. Then again, I do have multiple copies of books as well, including some Discworld novels in both Hardcover and Paperback.
And let's not talk about asimov, I think I have 4 copies of the Foundation Trilogy...

But then again it's the memories that remain with us all our life after reading a book or playing a game.

Hrm, I've bought Realms of Chaos... 36 times. First a physical copy, then a digital backup from 3D Realms, then (just a few months later) GOG released it. Then I gifted 33 codes. Although I expect if and when Flashback, Strife, and perhaps a few other certain games come here, they will most certainly beat that number. And there's still a few other titles on GOG that I'd love to gift more copies to others to enjoy, but all in good time. :)

I agree actually ! It's just a shame that it is so hard to retain a "hard copy" of those memories now.
36 times my arse ha ha ha ha ! Please tell me you're joking.

Digital versions was the normal? Or a digital copy if you bought a retail one?
Again, in the cases of buying it multiple times, at no point was it because my license ran out or because I had trouble playing.
UFO:AL installs Starforce, latest official patch removes the disk check, so all that remains is to uninstall the drivers. I can do those things myself, but I bought a GOG copy to remove the hassle. The steam copy was bundled with other stuff, like the old CD compilations companies used to do.
So again, what part of what I did you find weird? What would the industry of your dreams have done differently from what the current industry does?

Only thrice. Among them are Torchlight, Riven and Tales of the Sword Coast (though not Baldur's Gate).

See, my first copy of Baldur's Gate was pirated, but I bought the expansion. Then I bought the game with expansion a couple months before it arrived on GOG, then I bought it again on GOG on release day (I think, unless there was a release promo, then I waited for that to end).

I bought Torchlight on Steam in a promo, then on disc to have a DRM-free version, then again on GOG.

I was really looking forward to Riven, but didn't buy it on release as I didn't have a computer powerful enough to run it (it required a PowerPC CPU, and thus wouldn't run at all on my 68LC040-powered machine), the first copy I bought is (not "was", I still have it) in French, and thus quite unplayable for me, I later found (and bought) a copy in English (on 5 CD's!) (this is a dual-system version, so it's my first copy for Mac), then later bought it again on GOG.

I do have four copies of Myst, but only bought two of them; I acquired two copies for the Mac when I was given a load of random CD's from an acquaintance (all of them had been bundled with computers and he had little use for them), then bought the Masterpiece Edition on CD for Windows, then again on GOG.

Not joking. :) All those codes (and then some) were just for RoC, mostly for one big giveaway. It sounds bad, but even at full price it only came out to less than 3 days salary.