There are a couple of issues at play here.

1. You're paying for access to these games, you're not buying them outright. You don't own the files or content of the game in the same way that you used to be able to with a physical copy. I take particular issue with this, but also understand that:
2. You are also paying for the ongoing maintenance of games now. You're paying for patches, you're paying for updates, something you're even paying for servers. At the end of the day, you're supporting people's livelihoods by deferring an ongoing cost for a game that might peak in popularity several years later versus WOW-type subscription fees that may or may not include patches/content over the lifetime of the subscription.
3. In the end, the one-time fee permits you access to something that is being maintained, not the actual product itself; but whether or not the maintenance of that game is up to scratch is another matter entirely.
4. I agree, you should be able to sell your access to the game like a ticket. But there's no profit in it for the devs, so why would they allow that?