Ah, the place where magic happens. It wouldn't surprise me if that penguin was actually Theodore before he started pestering the QA team.

Then you wouldn't have been invited (it was clearly stated in the invite e-mail that we would have to sign an NDA). If you got over there and then refused to sign, I'm not sure how they'd have handled that, but at the very least I assume you'd have not been allowed to participate in the discussion and the tour of the facilities.

You're jaded and cynical about GOG: I get that. But you're being completely unrealistic if you think any business would discuss finances, figures, future plans, and their business plan and not have it covered by an NDA.

Well, we got it straight from the horse's mouth. I tend to believe them rather than the German support guy. You can choose to believe whom you want.

Bottom line is this, and I said it before in a previous post: we're not going to convince you of anything because it appears you don't want to be convinced. Again, that's fine. We're only relaying our experience there and what we came to learn (that we're allowed to disclose). You say seeing is believing, and I agree with that. But we saw these guys in person, face to face. We asked them some hard questions; we took them to task over some of their previous decisions. And they gave us answers and reasons for what they did and do. And they admitted they fucked up on several things. I personally didn't see any indications they were being deceptive - and I like to think I'm no fool. Believe us or don't. Believe GOG or don't, it's up to you. I'll wait to see how things roll out, too. But I, for one, believe what they told us.

Some have pointed out the thread to me and asked me privately about this so I thought I'd comment here publicly as I've chatted a bit about it on Discord.

I received an invitation via email from GOG to attend this event and was greatly looking forward to the opportunity to meet the GOG folk and community members, get a closer view into what they do there, and to be able ask them questions about various things of interest/importance to myself and the community as a whole, as well as to share some of my thoughts, perspectives and feedback on various topics in person. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was also greatly hoping to be able to have authentic pierogi directly from Poland too though as that is my favourite food in the universe. :o)

Unfortunately, due to the timing of things I was unable to obtain a Canadian passport on such short notice within the needed time frame so I was unable to attend the festivities and meet up with my fellow gaming brothers in arms. I do hope that those who were able to attend had a great time though and it sounds like it was a fun trip from what I've read in the thread so far.

Many thanks to JMich and others for the info and photographs that were posted as well as sharing your various insights.

I'd also like to thank the good folks at GOG once again for extending me an invitation to have the opportunity to attend this event as well. Hopefully we'll meet up at some other time in the future.

I'm glad they're going for an option to set which installers you use. It was something I and others suggested when they first announced the Bundling of Galaxy, but it was poo-poo-ed at the time.

I still support the default bundling of galaxy for new or inexperienced users or those that choose it (such as me) it makes sense, they just should have made the opt out a simpler option.
Have you got a passport now? Just in case there is a reunion tour?

I submitted an application for a passport so that I have one on hand should I plan any travel or some other opportunity pop up in the future suddenly like that again, should be arriving sometime soon.

So, are you using it?

I recall quite a few people, who to me appear quite pro-Steam, saying that they don't want to use Galaxy because they already have Steam (ie. they only use the stand-alone installers with GOG games). I don't recall for sure if you were one of them.

I saw at least three different dogs in the office over the course of the two days we were there.

one thing i would really like to be fixed too in the future:

games which have problematic galaxy integration...

what do i call problematic ? when the game got seemingly updated build with galaxy support BUT that game/build will produce various bugs (from minor to game breaking ones) for the poor fellow who would happen to use the classic installer/non galaxy installer of the game and get bugs that "suddenly" can be solved or worked around by installing galaxy...

i already here the horde around here calling me a paranoid, but i had already 3 support tickets for 3 games in last year for such issues; one game refusing to launch on a computer (workaround proposed by support was to install galaxy, launch the game, and keep or uninstall galaxy afterward), another who would randomly crash to desktop (solution from support was to delete a galaxy related dll in the game folder) and a third (well two in fact) who gave some error during install process.

Still paranoid ? played a game today, from my gog library, downloaded it this morning, latest patch/build available, classic installer. Played it, and was plagued by a very gamebreaking bug. Inquires a bit about such bug on gog website, and from one review, i find an interesting lead of someone who had same bug as mine, and who got advised by support to install galaxy as a workaround... Such solution wont work for me because of personal choice (in fact game was purchased here before galaxy release, it was barely beta at that time)...
But strangest thing is: i also got this game as DRM-Free build from another store (can i name it ? or i suppose that i would violate forum TOS if i were to ever mention it come from Humble Store ? so in that case, i'll refrain to confirm about it :) ); installed this build on same computer, launched it, played it, didnt get the same bug in 2 hours of play while with GOG version, i got it maybe 8 or 9 times in less of an hour

So lets be clear: you like... no sorry, you LOOOVE your GOG galaxy here, fine with me... Cool, install it, use it, love it, do whatever you want ! push it at every page of the website, embed it in every installer and patch you want, use it as a drm (as it sort of already happened in a way, for a few games)... Be my guest. But it won't make me feel like using it at all from my side. If you keep calling it an "Optional client", let it be clear:

I don't want to see it used as a DRM again here (i'm not talking about it being required for multiplayer game UNLESS it replaces completely an already available viable galaxyless MP methods previously present in earlier builds of a game)
I also don't want to have my game crash at install, at start or during play because of Galaxy Dependancies and because i don't have galaxy installed on my computer... Not for games purchased prior that. If you want to go this road, you'll have to clearly disclose and state it in a visible way on the store page of said game (also, would contradict the "optional" whole stuff, but hey;... we are beyond that already)

Do i sound unreasonable here ? to expect that on a DRM-Free games store, the home proprietary client (that is not even available on some platforms supported by many games here) claimed to be "optional" will NOT be used as an actual DRM nor will it gatekeep games from working correctly unless you consent installing it. Becuase for me, Galaxy-related game bugs for offline single player games is not acceptable !

Now, the other guys have answered a lot of concrete questions, but I would like to take a minute to simply relate some of my opinions and experiences in connection with this trip we were on.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a mindless fanboy. If you look at my post history you will see that I am not at all adverse to criticizing GOG when I think they are doing something wrong. Nor did I hold back in the Q&A sessions we had with them, as I think the other guys will happily testify. GOG did not ask me to make this post, nor did I tell them I was going to. So keep all that in mind when reading this.

Having typed quite a lot of this out by now, I can tell it's going to be a long-ass post, so I will have to split it into several parts.

WISHBONE'S TALE: PART ONE

The invitation
On Monday, September 11th, elcook wrote to me on the GOG chat, asking if I would mind responding to the email they had sent me. I don't check my email all that often, so my initial reaction was "What email?"

So I went and read it, twice, and really didn't know what to make of it. My first thought was that it might be some sort of scam. Not by GOG mind you, but by someone who had compromised their system. Generally, things that seem too good to be true usually are. So I wrote to Judas in chat to ask him about it, and he confirmed that it was legit. That's when my mind was really blown. I felt honored, flattered, giddy, concerned, and probably several more things all at once. After talking it over with my wife (she said of course I should go) and my boss (to make sure I could get the necessary time off from work), I accepted the invitation.

The trip
My flight got delayed about 2.5 hours, so I spent a lot more time just waiting at Copenhagen airport than I had anticipated. Konrad was supposed to pick me up at Warsaw airport, so I wrote him to let him know I was delayed, just so he wouldn't have to spend more time waiting for me than necessary.

The flight itself went fine. When I got out of the plane, I went out of the exit to the arrivals section. Konrad was supposed to be there with a sign with a GOG.com logo and my name on it. There were lots of people with signs, but none that looked like that. So I wandered around a bit, looking at everyone waiting there just to make sure I hadn't simply missed him in the crowd. He really wasn't there, so I called him:

"Hi Konrad, it's Wishbone. I'm right outside the arrivals exit, but I can't see you."

"Well, I'm right outside the arrivals exit, and I can't see you either. Are you, like, outside outside?"

"No, I'm still inside the airport, but outside the exit. Hang on."

I looked around at the doorway I'd just come out of. There was a sign above it with a word in Polish I assume means "exit", and then a "1".

"Konrad, I appear to be outside an "Exit 1". Is it possible you're outside an "Exit 2"?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Okay, let's each walk toward the other exit. Eventually we should both spot another guy coming towards us talking on a cell phone."

So we did, and we spotted each other. Konrad was for some reason holding a black plastic spatula. I asked him about it, and he told me he'd forgotten the sign at the office, so he figured he needed something else to grab my attention, and the first thing he could get his hands on was this cheap plastic spatula that he bought somewhere :-D

He then took me to the hotel in a taxi, and we talked all the way. He's an exceptionally nice guy, easy going, friendly, and easy to talk to. He made sure I got checked in okay, told me that fables22 were picking us up at 18:00 (6 pm) and then left.

Watch this space for the next exciting installment: Wishbone's Tale: Part Two.

A friend we made on WoW came to visit us from the netherlands. When I collected him from the airport I wore a set of Huge WoW Style Purple Sholderpads and Held a huge Question Mark over my head.


Bet you're glad He just had a spatular now!

I ABSOLUTELY testify!

WISHBONE'S TALE: PART TWO

Meeting the other guys
I unpacked my stuff in the hotel room, and just killed time until it was time to leave. I knew the other community members were in the same hotel, but I didn't know what they looked like, or which rooms they were in. I did know from Konrad who they were, though. I went down to wait in the lobby at around 17:55. I was the only one there, so I wondered if I had misunderstood the instructions. After a while, another guy showed up and took a seat in the lobby. He looked Greek to me, so I assumed it must be JMich, which proved correct when I went over to introduce myself. Shortly after, MarkoH01 and PaterAlf showed up. It turned out that we had actually seen each other earlier at the hotel, but since I didn't know who they were and vice versa, we hadn't actually spoken yet.

Fables22 arrived to pick us up, but GR00T was still missing. She took the elevator up to fetch him, but as chance would have it, he was simultaneously taking the other elevator down to the lobby. Actually, Gersen was also missing, but that was because he hadn't arrived yet.

We chatted amongst ourselves for a few minutes until fables22 rejoined us, and we took a taxi to...

The Gamer Bar
We went to the New Meta e-sports bar in Warsaw. This place was really cool. It's an actual bar, stylishly decorated, with tables and chairs in the middle of the floor, and gaming PCs along the walls. A big screen TV was showing League of Legend tournament matches. All in all, it seemed the perfect setting for our first real (if informal) meeting with the GOG guys.

We were joined by several other GOG employees. I'm not sure who all of them were, but fables22 and elcook were there of course, and Judas showed up as well. Eventually Gersen also joined us, his plane having finally arrived.

We spent a few hours eating, drinking and chatting about this and that. We saved the hard questions and criticisms for the next day, and just enjoyed ourselves. Eventually, the 6 of us took a taxi back to the hotel. Not quite ready to call it a day yet, we bought something to drink in the hotel lobby, and went outside to continue talking and getting to know each other, just us community members. Eventually though, tiredness overcame us, and we went up to our respective rooms, having arranged to meet for breakfast the next morning.

Watch this space for the next exciting installment: Wishbone's Tale: Part Three. It probably won't be until tomorrow though.

I hate cliffhangers :(

Yeah I was, but your recap is so much better than I could even imagine :D