The games are not lost though, they exist in his Steam account and are not going anywhere anytime soon.
A sinking ship is a lost cause, a ship that's moored right next to you is not.

What really really bugs me about Steam is the need to be authenticated in order to play or install games. Just days ago I couldn't play some games and I couldn't install the new ones I bought, because the client wouldn't connect from Windows. The Linux client ran just fine, so I contacted the Steam support and told them I completely ruled out network interference and the client still refuses to connect.

I had to wait for 3-4 days for an answer. They told me to manually delete most of the client's files, except the executable itself, userdata and another folder and that was it. But you can imagine how frustrating it is to buy a new game, your client bails out on you and the support is nowhere to be found. And on top of that, your installed games also don't work. F*ing annoying.

I don't have a problem with Steam WHEN it works - most of the time you can have fun with it. Problems can occur with any game provider. But this kind of problems never happened with GOG and hopefully never will. So I appreciate GOG a lot more than Steam, although I still buy games from Steam when there's a really good offer. Also, if my Steam games show up on GOG there are big chances I also buy them here specifically because I like the freedom GOG provides. That's how I got games both on Steam and GOG.

But... not all the games from Steam can be found on GOG.

That is something you do not want to admit. :P

I really don't understand the "us vs them" mentality. I buy games wherever they're available and have the least restrictive DRM. I just bought Dragon Age Inquisition GOTY (Because it would be more expensive to buy the DRM separately) and I never really use Origin besides a few games. GoG is my number 1 go to, and now I have more GoG games than any other platform (I do have 300+ Steam games but many of those aren't available here). I buy on Steam when it is the best option. I buy on Origin when it is the best option. Luckily most of UBi's recent games have been the drizzling shits so I don't have to look at U-Play (By far my least favorite client; anything that launches the full client from a game shortcut to make you launch the game from within the client is useless).

But I stand by that when my disposable income goes to games, it goes to availability, the best deals and least restrictive DRM in that order.

Whenever I have the choice I pick GOG. Regardless of a rarely occurring price difference.
Sometimes I buy a game a second time on GOG, if it's on sale, because I like the easy .exe installers.

But I still use Steam for games not available on GOG. Also the steam client is great for chatting, FPS, Screenshots and stuff.
However I have not bought a single game from EA or Ubisift since the times their proprietary platforms were introduced.

I'm one of the lucky saps who had DRM software physically impact their computer, back when SecuROM and StarForce were still around to menace people. I don't buy games with DRM. Life is too short to spend more hours reinstalling my OS and trying to resurrect dead hardware.

There's always been games I could play without DRM, so I just play those. That I can now buy reasonably new releases DRM-free means that I now play reasonably new releases. If that changes, I'll shrug and find something else to do with my time and $$.

Online activation is a company saying that I need to prove that I have a right to use their software. Forget that noise! As a consumer, I have countless alternatives for hobbies. If a company wants me to buy their products, they have to market themselves to me, and DRM is about as anti-marketing-to-me as they can get.

Books, TV, movies, games, cooking, household repairs, 3D printing, yarn work...there's so much out there to do. Game companies need to convince me to spend my money with them, I don't need to convince them I'm 'worthy' of being a customer.

I was planning too, but apparently the prepaid debit card issuers caught up with the Paypal loophole I was using and they've blocked all transactions to GOG now. I usually try to buy games DRM-free on the Humble Store when I can.

That's fine. You asked how it can happen, and I described one way. Whether or not you choose to "go along to get along" is up to you. I would argue that one is a moron for acquiescing to some arbitrary demand made post-purchase that the customer may disagree with, to retain access to games that have been in their library for months or years prior to the new EULA. Essentially, they can do whatever the hell they want with it because they know that customers will lose access to those games - and the money they spent on them - by not going along. And so nearly everyone will simply click Agree rather than flush those games - and that money - down the toilet.

I don't have a problem with it any more: I know from first-hand experience that this is how it works, so I simply choose to avoid that problem by not using their service. Fortunately, it was but a single Steam-linked title (my first purchase, from a brick-and-mortar store and not from steampowered.com) so I wasn't in a situation where 200+ games were being held hostage behind the Agree button. Glad the lesson was learned early. No hard feelings for them now, and I do my best to fairly show the other differences between the two stores; post 22 should reflect that.

If someone is okay with that retroactive lockout, then more power to 'em. But people ought to be aware of the possibility and then decide if it matters to her / him. Clearly, you don't care, and that's your decision to make. But that doesn't mean we should ignore the possibility of games bought in 2010 being cut off from you because policy changed - maybe years later - for the mandatory client behind which much of their catalog is locked. Note that the EULA for the games themselves didn't change, and yet it's the games that one would no longer be able to play.

If it weren't for this one thing, I would likely be a Steam customer for at least a few titles. But, knowing that they can cut off my access to the games via the client? Thanks, but no thanks.

I donno, and ask steam for a week and get the usual forum answer, even though I tired them, the support know zith beyond the template answer. But that is in the past where you must go online to enable offline mode, and you cannot stay offline indefinably.

.

Very good post, +1
This is all what it is about: companies should get in line or bend-over for getting our money not the customers getting in line or bend-over to get some products.

I have mine tattooed onto my skin in binary code. far more reliable than an HD.

Well, fair enough. If the only games you're interested in are on GOG then that's fair enough. Steam can be more hassle than it's worth on occasions (although it does seem to be a lot better about automatically going into offline mode in such circumstances lately), so if all your games are here then it's pointless.

Google Macro-tattoo (not sure how many result you will get - to see it is mind-boggling though!).