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General discussionGOG 2022 update #2: our commitment to DRM-free gaming(543 posts)(543 posts)
(543 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 17, 2022
Thanks for all the feedback you gave us after the previous update. You’re awesome and it shows the GOG insights piques your interest. Today’s article is about a topic that we know is very important to you – our commitment to DRM-free gaming and what it exactly means.

GOG was built on trust, which is at the very core of our identity. It is evidenced by our 30-day refund policy or releasing games DRM-free, among other things. At the same time, we understand DRM-free might mean different things to different people, especially when modern games blend offline and online experiences.

When GOG first launched, the gaming market looked very different from what it is now – retail was the main place to buy games, and digital distribution was just taking baby steps. DRM, the copy protection software created to protect licenses against unauthorized disc copying, was a huge source of annoyance for gamers often restricting how they can access their content. From the beginning, part of GOG’s mission was to provide gamers with a simple way to access and play games, without the need to fiddle with files or deal with any DRM. Making sure you can play games purchased on GOG offline, make backup copies, and install them as many times as you need is even more relevant now, as things like game preservation become an important topic for the whole industry.

Today, while some of the most infamous DRMs of the past are thankfully long gone, it doesn’t mean the constraints are fully gone. They just have a different, more complex face.

Games are evolving and many titles offer features beyond single-player offline gameplay, like multiplayer, achievements, vanities, rewards. Many such games are already on GOG and will continue to join our catalog. But it also raises the question: is this a new frontier for DRM?

And this is the crux of the matter. Some think it is, some don’t. Some hate it, some don’t mind it. And to be fair, we didn’t comment on it ourselves for quite some time and feel this is the time to do so:

We believe you should have freedom of choice and the right to decide how you use, enjoy, and keep the games you bought. It manifests in three points:
1. The single-player mode has to be accessible offline.

2. Games you bought and downloaded can never be taken from you or altered against your will.

3. The GOG GALAXY client is and will remain optional for accessing single-player offline mode.


We fully commit to all those points. Aside from this, we reaffirm our continuous effort to make games compatible with future OSs and available for you for years to come.

As for multiplayer, achievements, and all that jazz – games with those features belong on GOG. Having said that, we believe that you have the right to make an informed choice about the content that you choose to enjoy and we won’t tell you how and where you can access or store your games. To make it easier to discover titles that include features like multiplayer, unlockable cosmetics, timed events, or user-generated content, we’re adding information about such functionalities on product pages. In short, you’ll always know.

We always took a lot of pride in the freedom we provide gamers. While we know DRM-free may have a different meaning to everyone, we believe you have the right to decide how you use, enjoy, and keep the titles you get on GOG. With games evolving towards adding more online features, we want you to understand our DRM-free approach and what it means to us. It is an important topic – let us know what you think.
Posted March 18, 2022
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Time4Tea: DRM is a mechanism, it is not a form of content.
For even a single piece of cosmetic armour that comprises 0.001% of a game to be restricted requires the exact same DRM mechanism that would be needed to lock 30% of the SP content.
And this is what the self-harming"it's OK" allowers fail to get.
Post edited March 18, 2022 by mqstout
Posted March 18, 2022
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Not sure how anyone can complain about this. They are reaffirming things which have always been in place.
The thing about "sharing"?. Support usually turns a blind eye to that sort of stuff ;)
Posted March 18, 2022
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chandra: I’ve seen an avid discussion about what DRM and DRM-free really stands for and, as we’ve mentioned in the article, it may have a different meaning to everyone. Some spoke up that it may not entirely fit into what we emphasised ourselves. We understand and respect your right to have your own opinion on the matter or that you may not agree with our definition, but we do stand by it. Games with features like multiplayer, achievements, vanities, rewards, timed events, etc. belong on GOG.

That being said, we’re adding notices about such functionalities on product pages so you can make an informed choice whether to purchase such a title or not. To answer one of your inquiries on the matter - these will show up in the form of boxed notices, such as this one.
I'd like to point to a question I had in this thread earlier which might have been lost in the shuffle:

What happens, if a game in my library has functionality along those lines added in an update, especially given that changelogs are handled by the developers and often enough don't exist? Are there any plans to handle that eventuality aside from Galaxy's rollback feature?

Sorry to pester, but I think this is a fairly important point.
Posted March 18, 2022
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I myself some times wonder what others think the term "DRM free" means,
but then I remember that it can be universally defined in a single and clear sentence.

-Activation and access of all the features of a product, without the need for authentication post purchase (in the case of a digital store, post available download).

I personally can't trust that GOG's three point commitment is genuine and directly related to the stated universal definition and being informed about it failed to "further reinforce" my absolute disbelief on how future business will now officialy take into consideration a clear notion of how the "DRM free" term is applied.

It feels like an apology letter, in advance, on what horrors we should expect to be inflicetd with in the future.

Best regards.

*Backing up of offline installers and purchase receipts intensifies frantically*
*Customisation and use of Hamachi VPN spiking*
Post edited March 18, 2022 by FateIsOneEdge
Posted March 18, 2022
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SmollestLight: The in-game items received in Cyberpunk 2077 are purely cosmetic and in no way affect the single player experience of the game. However, we’re adding information about such functionalities on product pages. Therefore, you will always know in case a game includes them.
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MacCraigus: You (GoG) continue to miss the point. If its such an inconsequential item why are you denying non-galaxy users access to it, especially when they PAY THE SAME MONEY as a galaxy user?

Or to rephrase, If galaxy is so great why do people need incentives like this to use it?

Want to drive a wedge throught your customer-base then keep at it - those of us that have been discouraged by recent GoG behaviours will only continue to lose interest in this store.

Want to impress us, gain back some of the integrity you have lost over the last few years? You can start by following Joppos (and many other gog-users) request and make the current and any future 'my rewards' available to all gog customers, whether or not they use the so-called optional client.

While you are at it, please stop offering 'try using the client' as a workaround to fix other issues that plaque several games on this site.

Thanks in advance!
One of those +1

To have the "My rewards" thing behind a Galaxy Wall is shameful.

GOG, I will never buy Cyberpunk 2077 for this matter alone. It is not that I care about the content blocked by the Galaxy Wall. But I really do care about the fact that there is content blocked by Galaxy Wall.
Posted March 18, 2022
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chandra: Games with features like multiplayer, achievements, vanities, rewards, timed events, etc. belong on GOG.
No one has said that those don't belong on GOG, but we are asking for such features to be implemented in a DRM-free fashion. None of those required DRM.

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chandra: I’ve seen an avid discussion about what DRM and DRM-free really stands for and, as we’ve mentioned in the article, it may have a different meaning to everyone. Some spoke up that it may not entirely fit into what we emphasised ourselves. We understand and respect your right to have your own opinion on the matter or that you may not agree with our definition, but we do stand by it.
DRM-free means DRM-free. If I made a salad and then added 'just a little bit' of bacon, I wouldn't claim that it's vegetarian.
I really wish you would listen to us, your customers, rather than ignoring us and writing our input off as 'opinions'

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chandra: That being said, we’re adding notices about such functionalities on product pages so you can make an informed choice whether to purchase such a title or not.
We shouldn't have to check if a game contains DRM or not, on a supposed 'DRM-free' storefront.

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chandra: We don’t want to introduce new policies
We're not asking for new policies, we just want you to actually enforce your policy of being DRM-free.

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chandra: we want to reaffirm our commitment to DRM-free games and want you to understand what it means for us.
Apparently your commitment to DRM-free games doesn't mean much, considering the constant equivocating over what GOG thinks 'DRM-free' really means.

I appreciate that GOG is trying to be more open, but please, don't just dictate your plans with no intent on listening to us, the paying customers.
A major weak point so far is that any clarification has simply been restating what was already said, without actually addressing our input.
Post edited March 18, 2022 by Blastprocessor42
Posted March 18, 2022
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Blastprocessor42: I appreciate that GOG is trying to be more open, but please, don't just dictate your plans with no intent on listening to us, the consumers.
A major weak point so far is that any clarification has simply been restating what was already said, without actually addressing our input.
If anything, I believe GOG's announcement had no intention of taking into consideration what they are not willing to commit to, or appear as anyhting more than a letter of notice.
Post edited March 18, 2022 by FateIsOneEdge
Posted March 18, 2022
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Lhun Duum: However I disagree with your last point. GOG should never allow games locking in-game offline content (both cosmetic items and gameplay features) to be released in their store, even with proper information.
It depends on particular details. Some cosmetic items might be pre-order bonuses, some might be awarded for some online or multiplayer-related activity, etc. Heck, some might be even bought through the in-game store. I don't care about any of those, as long they're cosmetic. But once this has any gameplay effect, I want them disclosed, very visibly and described in detail. I don't want such games banned from the store, because honestly if somebody wants to ruin their experience with an exclusive overpowered weapon purchased as a pre-order bonus, whatever, I still get a full and uncut game even without it. But once this starts reducing the full game (Hitman 2016), I want to know about it. The line will be often blurry and subject to personal opinions, and so a detailed and visible disclosure is a better solution here, I believe.
Post edited March 18, 2022 by kparal
Posted March 18, 2022
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Linko64: Doing so just adds to the problem!
I could not agree more.
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carwglas: Can't help but laugh!
I can understand how your comment coulld be funny, but mostly dangerous.
Posted March 18, 2022
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kparal: 4. Singleplayer is impacted in offline play or not. This doesn't mean achievements, rewards or vanities, but means impact on important gameplay features, like the ability to unlock and carry weapons from one mission to the next (yes, the Hitman 2016 fiasco).
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nightcraw1er.488: ...
The whole game being online apart from an empty landscape you can walk around then MMOs are ok.
No, because then a significant part of gameplay (e.g. fighting monsters) would be removed, i.e. this should be clearly specified on the product page.

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nightcraw1er.488: Just thought of an example, what would you think if playing as a female was online only? That’s just cosmetic and doesn’t affect the game, is that ok with your definitions?
If character customization (including changing gender, race, etc) would be stripped from offline play and only accessible through online play (for free or after buying that option), but it had zero impact on gameplay, then I personally wouldn't care and wouldn't need to have it disclosed. But as you say, this line is blurry and subjective, many other people might care, and therefore it would be in GOG's interest to over-disclose rather than under-disclose.
Posted March 18, 2022
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chandra: (quote)
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lolplatypus: I'd like to point to a question I had in this thread earlier which might have been lost in the shuffle:
What happens, if a game in my library has functionality along those lines added in an update, especially given that changelogs are handled by the developers and often enough don't exist? Are there any plans to handle that eventuality aside from Galaxy's rollback feature?
Sorry to pester, but I think this is a fairly important point.
No need to apologize, thank you for bringing this up again, it did indeed escape our attention (sorry!)
The rollback feature is available only on the GOG GALAXY client and we don't currently have any plans to develop it further. We also don't plan to have additional offline builds if features like multiplayer, rewards, etc. are added to a game that didn't have it in previous builds. That being said, we'll be sure to inform you if that changes.
As an FYI, our Team is in the process of developing automated changelogs, so hopefully that will help in the future. We still leave the decision whether to include the changelog or not to the developer.
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chandra: If you ever notice something similar, I would suggest reaching out to our Support so they can adjust it. As always, any such feedback is much appreciated!
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Hustlefan: Here's the problem. I've created support tickets which weren't answered in months and are still pending. That's why I mentioned Afterparty in this thread. If there is no chance to notice you about such issues, what else can I do to make you aware?
I also created a support ticket for a lot of games where the activity feed isn't working, but didn't get any answer. I even wrote some PMs to SmollestLight about this, but again - no answer. So please tell me, what should I do? I really want to help but you don't let me do it.
I hear you. While the official recommendation from our Product Team is to contact our Technical Support, I am well aware of the overwhelming backlog they're currently facing and, as a result, extended delays in replies.
Contacting support is still the main channel to use for this type of inquiries. However, pinging someone 'blue' like SmollestLight or our Community Moderators could result in us noticing it faster than Support. You can also try to ping me or Chandra, but I will admit our day to day focus is elsewhere and as such we may miss it. We will try our best not to, though!
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chandra: Someone has already clarified this but let me reply as an official statement as well.
Any products purchased on GOG.COM are for personal use only, meaning only you (the owner of the GOG account said product is in the library of) can use it. You can download the offline installers and play it on any device you own or put it on a pendrive or something, but it should be you that uses it. Due to the DRM-free nature of our products we cannot, of course, control what you do once you download the offline installers, but our relationship with our community is build on trust, so we can only hope you make the right decision and keep the games to yourself :)
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Djaron: so basically, if i were to install my gog game on my 3 computers at home and propose to play some lan mp game to a coiuple of friends who would spend some holidays at my place, what would be the official stance ?
In this scenario, if three people want to play a game, all three people should have their own version of it in their GOG library ;)
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phaolo: Thank you for this post about DRM-free.
But, please, keep improving the site and service, because there are still a lot of problems.
We're continuing to improve GOG and its services (I could mention here the last couple of updates about the new catalogue or the new promo pages as examples), and I can assure you there are more updates to come.
One thing I'd like to add here however, for more context, is that while some of the requests we receive might seem simple, they all require development work, while our Team is focused on delivering other features, at least equally as important.
Posted March 18, 2022
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seppelfred: I have over 700 games, and downloaded them all with my browser. It's manageable, no problem on my side.
After every purchase I download the game/the games immediately, and back them up on an external HD.
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cmclout: It is true that manually downloading 700 games is easy to do if you download a game immediately after you purchase it. However, keeping your offline installers up-to-date every time a game is updated is a much different issue.
When a game gets an update, I download and backup it immediately. I don't see the problem here.
Posted March 18, 2022
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chandra: That being said, we’re adding notices about such functionalities on product pages so you can make an informed choice whether to purchase such a title or not. To answer one of your inquiries on the matter - these will show up in the form of boxed notices, such as this one.
Do you see how having on the left a note that an online third party account will need to be activated contradicts the "DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play." to its immediate right?

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chandra: Apart from the core definition of DRM-free, many of you mention the additional cosmetics for Cyberpunk 2077, accessible after one-time login to GOG GALAXY client (or the REDlauncher for those that purchased the title on other storefronts). We’ve mentioned before in this thread but let me repeat that for good measure - we believe each developer has the right to decide whether they want to give additional incentives, like cosmetics, that do not impact the single-player gameplay. The fact CDPR and GOG are a part of the same group does not change the fact they are the creators of the game, and we are a digital storefront.
Visuals are a selling point for games. Knock it off with the attempted "just cosmetics" dismissal. It's an insult to the developers of the engine, textures, models, and all other assets when you try to do this.

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chandra: In regards to your comments around Hitman and if it comes back to GOG – the game won’t be released as a DRM-free title in the same form as offered back in September 2021. As mentioned in the post, we see that games are evolving, and this led us to write this article about our stance on DRM-free gaming. We didn’t comment on those changes and what kind of influence they may have on GOG’s DRM-free approach.
You're confirming that you're dead set on releasing an inferior version to the Steam and Epic version (still just Season 1) of a game that still hasn't even considered what to do when its servers go down. Is this re-release also gonna conveniently remove all the reviews from the first release?

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chandra: Some comments we see here, state that the article doesn’t bring anything new – and that was our intention.
Really bizarre to confirm that your article didn't or intend to say anything new. Why even make the article then?
Posted March 18, 2022
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elcook: In this scenario, if three people want to play a game, all three people should have their own version of it in their GOG library ;)
What if it is your spouse or underage children?

Also, how about games you play on the same screen with several controllers? Take Bonkies or Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. While you can play solo, those games really shine when you play with others and are not really meant to be played by yourself, yet they are sold individually.

I'll be honest, I've never let anyone install my games on their computers (at that point, I bought them their own copy when they didn't do so themselves), but I' ve certainly played my games with others on my machines at home. And in many cases, it encouraged them to buy the game separately when I didn't buy it for them. It is good for business.

I hate to put you on the spot, but this is certainly not how some of those games are marketed and it goes against common-sense concerning how family (as in, immediate we live together family) dynamics work. Bonkies is near-useless as a solo game and if you tell your kid that he can't play your game on your computer because the law says so, he'll look at you funny.
Post edited March 18, 2022 by Magnitus
Posted March 18, 2022
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lolplatypus: I'd like to point to a question I had in this thread earlier which might have been lost in the shuffle:
What happens, if a game in my library has functionality along those lines added in an update, especially given that changelogs are handled by the developers and often enough don't exist? Are there any plans to handle that eventuality aside from Galaxy's rollback feature?
Sorry to pester, but I think this is a fairly important point.
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elcook: No need to apologize, thank you for bringing this up again, it did indeed escape our attention (sorry!)
The rollback feature is available only on the GOG GALAXY client and we don't currently have any plans to develop it further. We also don't plan to have additional offline builds if features like multiplayer, rewards, etc. are added to a game that didn't have it in previous builds. That being said, we'll be sure to inform you if that changes.
As an FYI, our Team is in the process of developing automated changelogs, so hopefully that will help in the future. We still leave the decision whether to include the changelog or not to the developer.
Cool, thanks for clarifying.

So basically people who don't want to use Galaxy (or can't) should be very careful about updating their games and keeping their old offline installers archived. Not having to consider these things was a big draw, so this is a bit unfortunate. But it can be worked with.

The bit about the automated changelogs is actually very promising news. Hopefully the development goes well and the end result sees some adoption, as that would probably help a lot.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGOG 2022 update #2: our commitment to DRM-free gaming(543 posts)(543 posts)
(543 posts)