GOG.com - WTF???

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

not a very good pr stunt

 

[simonizor]

Wow, glad I never bought anything from them. I hope they'll be sending an actual copy of the game or something to the people that purchased from them. It'd be pretty shady if they just closed up and said "too bad we got your money, now go fuck off."

 

[Mike Gayner]

They sound like douchebags TBH. Happy I've never bought anything from them.

 

[styrafoam]

Glad i bought what i did from them, glad i downloaded them and backed them up when i bought them. There were a few games i was waiting on a good sale to buy, but i picked up most of the must haves last christmas or when they came out. If the business model changes in a major way, bummer. I'm really hoping that it is just the out of beta stuff. As far as digital distribution goes, they were the best.

 

[Pia]

Wow, glad I never bought anything from them. I hope they'll be sending an actual copy of the game or something to the people that purchased from them. It'd be pretty shady if they just closed up and said "too bad we got your money, now go fuck off."

Which part of "a solution will be in place this week for customers to re-download games they have bought" do you not understand?
For that matter, GoG is the least shady store. Steam, etc. claim their clients won't lose any of their purchases even if the store goes down, and expect you to trust those statements, whereas GoG doesn't ask you to trust anybody. You know the games are in your possession and can be reused forever, moved between computers etc.

 

[Rifter]

For that matter, GoG is the least shady store. Steam, etc. claim their clients won't lose any of their purchases even if the store goes down, and expect you to trust those statements, whereas GoG doesn't ask you to trust anybody. You know the games are in your possession and can be reused forever, moved between computers etc.

With steam all the game data is on your computer and you can make backups with the built in backup program if you wish although it is not needed, you just need the steam folder. There are hacked steam clients out there so even if steam does go down/bankrupt you will still be able to play all your games, i tested this with a few titles before heavily investing into steam as i wanted to make sure i had a way out if steam did go down for the count. So you dont have to trust them. You can also install your steam folder onto any computer you want, i backup my steam folder monthly onto a external drive and all you have to do to set it up on a new comp is transfer the folder onto it and install the client and it will pick up all the games automatically you will not need to re-download/install anything. You can also play in offline mode indefinatly, my laptop almost never see's a internet connection with steam open, im sure steam has not been online with my laptop in months and i can still play all my games just fine.

 

[Bateluer]

I wish they'd released a number more titles, gonna miss them if they go down for the count.

 

[Pia]

With steam all the game data is on your computer and you can make backups with the built in backup program if you wish although it is not needed, you just need the steam folder.

Unless I'm mistaken, the "backups" will not play without permission from Steam servers. If so, regardless of what Valve chooses to call them, they are not backups but a cache to speed up future installs and/or to cut down internet usage. A GoG install package backed up into another location is a backup.

There are hacked steam clients out there so even if steam does go down/bankrupt you will still be able to play all your games, i tested this with a few titles before heavily investing into steam as i wanted to make sure i had a way out if steam did go down for the count. So you dont have to trust them.

There is a significant difference between officially supported and unsupported solutions. Having to crack games you have bought to actually play them is unacceptable. First of all, it's illegal in some jurisdictions. Second, when I'm buying a software product, the company is staking their reputation on the product not doing anything malicious; that is a significant part of the value of the product at least for me. If I know I'll have to expose my system to warez anyway, why shouldn't I go straight to the pirates and cut out the middleman?
On the practical side of things, any network-based DRM system can be upgraded. To trust cracks, it's not enough to verify they work now - you have to trust that they will work on the Steam of the future right before it goes down. (Which, admittedly, seems likely.)

You can also install your steam folder onto any computer you want, i backup my steam folder monthly onto a external drive and all you have to do to set it up on a new comp is transfer the folder onto it and install the client and it will pick up all the games automatically you will not need to re-download/install anything.

Don't you need a connection to functional Steam servers to begin playing on the new machine?

You can also play in offline mode indefinatly, my laptop almost never see's a internet connection with steam open, im sure steam has not been online with my laptop in months and i can still play all my games just fine.

And what happens after Steam has gone down and you switch computers for the first time?

 

[skace]

GOG was everything Steam should have been.

So wrong, so short sighted. GoG can't survive, Steam is unstoppable. I put my money in the stable product that I know can survive. GoG is a walking "if it's too good to be true" scenario. As people grow up and mature they learn to understand what a necessary evil is and what compromises are. Steam is the best kind of compromise possible and while GoG was trying to bring old games back, Steam has given old developers and genres entirely new beginnings.

I never wanted GoG to fail, but don't color me surprised when it does.

 

[Kev]

they're not really closing down

 

[PingSpike]

Hopefully this is just an extremely bad PR stunt for the first non-beta release. But that seems doubtful.

I honestly don't know how they're losing money though. Unless they way over pay for the game licenses they resell or something? To the companies that own the IP, these games are basically throw aways that useless so you'd think they wouldn't charge that much for them. But I don't know much about the business end of things for this.

 

[BladeVenom]

So wrong, so short sighted. GoG can't survive, Steam is unstoppable. I put my money in the stable product that I know can survive.

GoG is the most stable product since you don't need GoG for your games to survive.

Steam may be unstoppable now, but early on all it would have taken would have been one or more poorly received games from Valve, and Steam would likely have failed. Steam succeeded because of the popularity of the Half-life series. So Steam seemed like the far bigger risk.

 

[BoberFett]

As people grow up and mature they learn to understand what a necessary evil is and what compromises are.

What does abuse of copyright by those in power have to do with maturity?

 

[mundane]

..

 

[skace]

GoG is the most stable product since you don't need GoG for your games to survive.

Steam may be unstoppable now, but early on all it would have taken would have been one or more poorly received games from Valve, and Steam would likely have failed. Steam succeeded because of the popularity of the Half-life series. So Steam seemed like the far bigger risk.

You don't understand what I mean by "stable". Picture a see-saw, on 1 side you have the consumer and all their demands, on the other side you have the developer and all their demands. Steam balances both sides, something like Starforce puts it all in the developers favor and something like GoG puts it all in the consumers favor. Things like Starforce and GoG will never survive because when they pander only to 1 side they piss off the other and it requires both a developer and a consumer to survive.

And Steam may have been a bigger risk, but it also had a more uphill struggle, stuff like GoG is just riding on it's coat tails now.

 

[simonizor]

It sounds like whoever posted that they'll be re-opening their service without the DRM may have been correct.

At the same time we guarantee that every user who bought any game on GOG.com will be able to download all their games with bonus materials, DRM-free and as many times as they need starting this Thursday.

 

[PingSpike]

Without their DRM? The selling point for them all along was they had no DRM.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Yes - and there were fears that it had been closed down, and previously purchased games would be fitted with DRM or simply gone. Thus they are re-opening their service without the drm - as opposed to re-opening it with DRM, which was feared.

 

[Rifter]

Unless I'm mistaken, the "backups" will not play without permission from Steam servers. If so, regardless of what Valve chooses to call them, they are not backups but a cache to speed up future installs and/or to cut down internet usage. A GoG install package backed up into another location is a backup.

Cant comment on the backups requiring intenert connection to re-install, i just copy the whole steam folder when moving to a new comp.

There is a significant difference between officially supported and unsupported solutions. Having to crack games you have bought to actually play them is unacceptable. First of all, it's illegal in some jurisdictions. Second, when I'm buying a software product, the company is staking their reputation on the product not doing anything malicious; that is a significant part of the value of the product at least for me. If I know I'll have to expose my system to warez anyway, why shouldn't I go straight to the pirates and cut out the middleman

Im not talking about cracking the games, im talking about a cracked steam CLIENT that will allow you to play all your steam games without any connection to the steam network or servers. And while yes that is technically illeagal the only time one would use this is if steam/valve went tits up and in that case it would be impossible to get busted for using a cracked client as the only people that could press charges against you would no longer be in business(steam/valve), so it would be hard for them to track you down and press charges if they do not exsist.

Don't you need a connection to functional Steam servers to begin playing on the new machine?

I believe the first time you install the steam client on a new machine that yes you will need a internet connection, but after that you can play in offline mode indefinatly(this is what i have done with my laptop steam is set to start in offline mode, never goes online unless i manually set it to)

And what happens after Steam has gone down and you switch computers for the first time?

Then i would copy my backed up steam folder onto my new computer and install the hacked client and continue to enjoy the games i have paid for on my new machine.

 

[Aikouka]

Oddly enough, one time I managed to launch Borderlands when my Internet was down... I never put Steam in Offline mode or anything (prior to it going out). It took forever to launch... literally 3+ minutes. I thought my PC died or something crazy when the screen went black all of a sudden .

 

[BoberFett]

Im not talking about cracking the games, im talking about a cracked steam CLIENT that will allow you to play all your steam games without any connection to the steam network or servers. And while yes that is technically illeagal the only time one would use this is if steam/valve went tits up and in that case it would be impossible to get busted for using a cracked client as the only people that could press charges against you would no longer be in business(steam/valve), so it would be hard for them to track you down and press charges if they do not exsist.

You'd like to think so, wouldn't you? But fear not, the federal government is starting to use it's clout to go after dirty pirates for what should be a civil matter.

 

[Rifter]

You'd like to think so, wouldn't you? But fear not, the federal government is starting to use it's clout to go after dirty pirates for what should be a civil matter.

They can try, but if i can provide proof of purchase i dont think there is much they can do to me, and i have every single e-mail from every purchase saved electronically as well as printed out in hardcopy form. And if valve/steam is not around to help them with their case i dont think they would be able to come up with enough evidence anyways.

 

[JujuFish]

They can try, but if i can provide proof of purchase i dont think there is much they can do to me, and i have every single e-mail from every purchase saved electronically as well as printed out in hardcopy form. And if valve/steam is not around to help them with their case i dont think they would be able to come up with enough evidence anyways.

I'm guessing you've never actually read the Steam subscriber agreement you have to check off every time you make a purchase on Steam.

 

[gonvik]

Wow... Definitely did not see this coming.

I just purchased Outcast (from 1999) over the weekend, and I probably never would have if it wasn't for GOG.com. And what a great game it is! There were so many others that I wanted to buy eventually as well..

 

[Martimus]

Glad i bought what i did from them, glad i downloaded them and backed them up when i bought them. There were a few games i was waiting on a good sale to buy, but i picked up most of the must haves last christmas or when they came out. If the business model changes in a major way, bummer. I'm really hoping that it is just the out of beta stuff. As far as digital distribution goes, they were the best.

Me too. I wish I bought more from them while they were still around. I guess I took them for granted. Best online application buying experience I ever had was from GoG. I am immensely sad to see them go.

I am beginning to like Steam less and less. If they can steamroll such a great company like this, I can't imagine any small company with good support like GoG surviving.