Doesn't affect me as I would never buy from GOG

Their prices are way too high and there just something snarky about them.
Besides abandonware sites (yes I know how copyright laws work so don't bother with the lecture),
I can often find disk copies of the same games for about the same -- or sometimes even a little less
on eBay or even at the thrift store 😉

$6 for theme hospital?

$10 for leisure suit larry?? From 1987!

I would buy a disk copy of a game to make sure I have it if it is going to cost me the same. Besides if I buy it on an original disk,
it isn't packaged with any kind of junk so I can set it up as I please.

It also appears they are starting to pick up newer games that I would buy those from steam rather than GOG.

smeezekitty wrote:

I can often find disk copies of the same games for about the same -- or sometimes even a little less
on eBay or even at the thrift store 😉

Agreed but I only recently discovered this. There are eBay sellers selling games from Sold Out Software or Revival labels. Brand new, sealed, everything. Especially the early 3D accelerator games for Windows 98 SE are best purchased that way.

With GOG.com, Steam, Origin there is one golden rule: Never, ever buy unless there it's on sale 😀

smeezekitty wrote:

$10 for leisure suit larry?? From 1987!

For some reason they hide this in the expanded description:
"Includes Leisure Suit Larry 1-6 (LSL 6 is in VGA and SVGA), the VGA remake of Leisure Suit Larry 1, and Softporn Adventure."
This also explains the download size of 504 MB.
It's indeed confusing that they give a release date of 1987.

idspispopd wrote:

For some reason they hide this in the expanded description: "Includes Leisure Suit Larry 1-6 (LSL 6 is in VGA and SVGA), the VGA […]
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smeezekitty wrote:

$10 for leisure suit larry?? From 1987!

For some reason they hide this in the expanded description:
"Includes Leisure Suit Larry 1-6 (LSL 6 is in VGA and SVGA), the VGA remake of Leisure Suit Larry 1, and Softporn Adventure."
This also explains the download size of 504 MB.
It's indeed confusing that they give a release date of 1987.

I've sent an eMail to GOG about this just now suggesting they re-title the product name to have "1-6" in it or some way to know it's more than just the first game without having to actually open the product details. :B

All of the games on GoG eventually end up on the torrent services. Some kind of protection is needed to make the files useless to anyone who hasn't paid for a license. I would expect further steps to be taken to make sure the files are secure and can't be used by anyone who hasn't paid. Maybe a Steam or Origin model where you can't play without at least periodic check ins with the service to make sure your copy is legit. There are already too many 'abandonware' sites out there giving the games away for free that GoG has to compete with. GoG copies of games available for torrent download with their installers and loaders included only makes matters worse and will end up scaring rights holders away from them as a distribution channel and to the more secure services.

sliderider wrote:

All of the games on GoG eventually end up on the torrent services. Some kind of protection is needed to make the files useless to anyone who hasn't paid for a license. I would expect further steps to be taken to make sure the files are secure and can't be used by anyone who hasn't paid. Maybe a Steam or Origin model where you can't play without at least periodic check ins with the service to make sure your copy is legit. There are already too many 'abandonware' sites out there giving the games away for free that GoG has to compete with. GoG copies of games available for torrent download with their installers and loaders included only makes matters worse and will end up scaring rights holders away from them as a distribution channel and to the more secure services.

Time and again though, too much DRM proves to just drive consumers towards illegit downloads, especially when the DRM starts interfering with the ability to actually play a legitimate copy of something, or when the DRM messes up how a person's computer works.

Yeah, with no DRM it's incredibly easy to torrent something or use other means of file sharing, but people who would resort to that method of getting software FIRST are incredibly unlikely to want to buy software legitimately anyways, so it's not like adding DRM to try and stop them is going to make your sales better. In fact, it's just gonna scare away the legit purchasers who would choose torrents and such as their SECOND method. :/

If DRM-free didn't work, GOG wouldn't make enough money to survive and they wouldn't still exist after all these years. :P

I would not buy old games from GOG with DRM if that makes it harder for me to get the games going on my offline retro systems with DOS or Windows 98.
I have no interest in playing these games using my main system, for me using an old system to play is an important part of the retro gaming experience.

The existence of GoG titles on abandonware/torrent sites seems like it would be a moot point now. I would hazard that nearly 100% of titles they carry not only have been pirated, but have been pirated for so long that they'd be old enough to drink now if they were people. Authors/owners who work with GoG already are aware of that, so for them it's likely more about providing a legitimate source for their titles and perhaps pulling in some income from something they had long ceased seeing income from.

The advantage GoG provides over the pirate copies is that GoG provides support for them. which seemed to be be main reason they had attempted to lock down things a bit (i.e. to prevent non-standard installs of their products that lead to support problems for them).

Gemini000 wrote:

Time and again though, too much DRM proves to just drive consumers towards illegit downloads, especially when the DRM starts int […]
Show full quote

sliderider wrote:

All of the games on GoG eventually end up on the torrent services. Some kind of protection is needed to make the files useless to anyone who hasn't paid for a license. I would expect further steps to be taken to make sure the files are secure and can't be used by anyone who hasn't paid. Maybe a Steam or Origin model where you can't play without at least periodic check ins with the service to make sure your copy is legit. There are already too many 'abandonware' sites out there giving the games away for free that GoG has to compete with. GoG copies of games available for torrent download with their installers and loaders included only makes matters worse and will end up scaring rights holders away from them as a distribution channel and to the more secure services.

Time and again though, too much DRM proves to just drive consumers towards illegit downloads, especially when the DRM starts interfering with the ability to actually play a legitimate copy of something, or when the DRM messes up how a person's computer works.

Yeah, with no DRM it's incredibly easy to torrent something or use other means of file sharing, but people who would resort to that method of getting software FIRST are incredibly unlikely to want to buy software legitimately anyways, so it's not like adding DRM to try and stop them is going to make your sales better. In fact, it's just gonna scare away the legit purchasers who would choose torrents and such as their SECOND method. 😒

If DRM-free didn't work, GOG wouldn't make enough money to survive and they wouldn't still exist after all these years. 😜

+1

The staunch anti-piracy crowd never gets this.

Basically license restrictions and DRM drives some people to piracy. And on the other hand some people will be pirates regardless
and obviously those games are on the pirate sites long before GOG. I don't see anything good coming out of DRM

DRM almost always hurts legal purchasers more than any pirate.

I would use GOG a whole lot more if the offered the ability to download untouched Isos and Disk images from games you purchased, some one els here mentioned compatibility but there is also the problem with GOG using 3d party fixes from authors without there permission or giving them credit.

Having a good Iso image would also mean in most cases that you do not need to rely on cracks to get the game to work (as most cd based copy protection can be emulated) and this will open the doors to game updates that might not have a good crack available for it.

It is however unlikely that this will ever come to pass , and as a result I am highly skeptical when buying there games, even there dos games for example have been modified and I have found some that has had there setup files completely removed from the installation , rendering them hard to use on the real system.

I think the best way to go about collecting is to rely on more conventional means like thrifting or hunting in the wild 😉

As for price, I stay in a country where most games just dont come up for sale, and when they do hit auction sites their orders of magnitude more expensive than whats available in the UK or US, and shipping isnt a option due to cost and import taxes, so having at least one place online where I can source my games legally is great, but having to struggle to make them work on a system they were intended to is not, lets face it Piracy is easier, and GOG needs to step up there game to combat it, especially in countries were piracy is the norm like here.

leileilol wrote:

You'd think people would get the hint of what's coming next after "Galaxy"?

Exactly.