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General discussionHerzlich Willkommen! GOG.com goes German(641 posts)(641 posts)
(641 posts)
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Posted February 26, 2015
Herzlich Willkommen!




GOG.com goes German. Not completely, mind you, but starting today we'll be spreading our DRM-free love in one more language. Whether you're here because of the news, or you've been with us for a while, here is what we're doing to make our German speaking friends feel a little more welcome on GOG.com:




-A German version of our website. You can change your language using the drop-down menu towards the bottom of every page.
-A German corner of our forums. Your home away from home.
-German customer support. If you're more comfortable talking to us in your native language.
-More games in German. We're rolling out 25+ German localisations for our games today, bringing the total up to 350+.




No big announcement would be complete without a huge sale! This weekend we're holding the German-riffic <span class="bold">Herzlich Willkommen!</span> promo. The highlight is a ridiculous 97% off Deponia, but there are over 25 other German gaming hits available as well. There is adventuring with the remaining Deponia games, the cult strategy of The Settlers, the tough and turn-based tactics in Blackguards 1 and 2, and many, many more feats of German game design.


Check out <span class="bold">the weekend promo page</span> to see the full lineup. The promo will last until Tuesday, March 3, at 4:59 AM GMT.




Update:
Two games from our catalog had to be made unavailable in Germany: Commandos Ammo Pack and Commandos 2+3. Offering or promoting these games is considered a serious criminal offence according to German law, and we have to abide by this law to avoid the risk of serious legal action taken against GOG.com and GOG.com employees. Rest assured that if you've already bought a game - nothing will retroactively disappear from your shelves.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by Chamb
Posted February 27, 2015
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MaGo72: Well the problem for me here, as a German, is certainly not someone choosing a Swastika as avatar, but more the region locking of games.
I don't get offended by seeing a swastika either, it seems that years of brainwashing in school and official media completely failed at me, too bad. I just don't think that nazis are so important that they can redefine the world up to this day.

I do care about censorship though.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by Klumpen0815
Posted February 27, 2015
low rated
I just read through the list of games that were banned in germany.
This list is much shorter than you expect.
I think people are rather overreacting when they expect a lot of GOG games being locked to german customers.
THERE ARE PRACTICALLY ONLY A FEW GAMES THAT COULD BE LOCKED.
And 90% of these games are games that...
a.) are public domain games, nobody would download
b.) rather uninteresting games that were not wishlisted
c.) particular ports of games (for example only console ports of Silent Hill Homecoming)
So, I think people shoud cool down a little.
GOG want us to be happy and buy good old games, not to lock a ton games from us.

Addendum:
I just searched for the list of "indizierte Spiele".
Don't know, if these games can be locked to.
This would be bad, because there are quite a few GOG games on it.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by TheCollector
Posted February 27, 2015
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MaGo72: Well the problem for me here, as a German, is certainly not someone choosing a Swastika as avatar, but more the region locking of games.
Well, then go complain to your amazing government then. It's not like the ban comes out of nowhere.
Posted February 27, 2015
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realkman666: *having a swastika with a rainbow background which CLEARLY is ironic and as such satire and as such legal even in germany*
I kinda hoped that one day we Germans would grow up and can make jokes about swastikas. But in recent times I came to the conclusion that the world only goes to shit much more than it was yesterday. We can thank the social warriors and the likes, who seem to can not laugh at themselves, which, in the long run, can only lead to war and hatred, and in general is in my opinion no sign of intelligence :-(
Posted February 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Look, we know it's a crap situation but we aren't going to tussle with the government of a given country. Feel free to critique, criticize etc. the current situation but it's a different ball game when a) you're trying to run a business on a worldwide scale and b) lawsuits tend to be costly.
While you're there, could you please ask your team to check their facts again? Commandos 2+3 was never banned in Germany (while Commandos 1 really was). So I really don't see any reason to put a regional lock on these games.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by PaterAlf
Posted February 27, 2015
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TheCollector: I just read through the list of games that were banned in germany.
This list is much shorter than you expect.
I think people are rather overreacting when they expect a lot of GOG games being locked to german customers.
THERE ARE PRACTICALLY ONLY A FEW GAMES THAT COULD BE LOCKED.
And 90% of these games are games that...
a.) are public domain games, nobody would download
b.) rather uninteresting games that were not wishlisted
c.) particular ports of games (for example only console ports of Silent Hill Homecoming)
So, I think people shoud cool down a little.
GOG want us to be happy and buy good old games, not to lock a ton games from us.
It is not about the German catalogue of indexed games, it is about introducing region locking of games, as you are aware HM2 is locked for Australians as well.
Posted February 27, 2015
jeah that really sucks...and i bet a lot of games will follow...at least every version with nazis and swastikas or a big amount of blood and gore... like soldiers of fortune, dead rising, dead island, condenmed etc (if they ever come to gog

wasnt bloodrayne confiscated too?

the german index list is that short because extra violent games wont even be released and some are even untested...guess dead island was such a case
Post edited February 27, 2015 by ZombieIX
Posted February 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: I am not privy to all the legal details regarding the particular situation of some games being regionally blocked and, thus, that's why I am not answering too many questions related to anything of a possibly legal nature.
I was aware of German laws against things that are deemed to glorify Nazi Germany, and I've never played either of those games, but from their descriptions I can't figure out why those two would be banned with that. Could you pass up the chain the request from the peanut gallery for a quick reference link to the law/reason/proclamation or whatnot which gives the reason the German government banned the games? Just seems weird and inexplicable and I'm curious. I certainly wouldn't suggest that GOG should try to ignore the law, but posting the reasons that the games are deemed illegal shouldn't be illegal.

I understood the Austrailian one as I've seen what various other things they've blocked game-wise, and that fit the pattern.
Posted February 27, 2015
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PaterAlf: While you're there, could you please ask your team to check their facts again? Commandos 2+3 was never banned in Germany (while Commandos 1 really was). So I really don't see any reason to put a regional lock on these games.
True, but the international versions of that game contain NS symbols. Even if they're not explicitly banned, they're still in violation of German law.
Posted February 27, 2015
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PaladinWay: I was aware of German laws against things that are deemed to glorify Nazi Germany,
The thing totally bonkers about is: In Commandos, you KILL NAZIS. In most games you do. So where does this glorify them? Banning of games is totally out of line in Germany and I do not understand it AT ALL, ESPECIALLY in the context that movies in which Hitler is made fun of are perfectly fine.

Yes, it has actually come down to this. You open more German localizations, we have to talk about Hitler. :-( Whatever, at least I'm not living in Saudi Arabia I guess?
Post edited February 27, 2015 by AlienMind
Posted February 27, 2015
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PaladinWay: [...]
The context in video games is irrelevant to German jurisdiction. The depiction of swastikas is allowed in art and documentaries. Movies and novels are considered art by the law. Video games are not, thus they have to be censored.

See also this post I made earlier.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by InfraSuperman
Posted February 27, 2015
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PaterAlf: While you're there, could you please ask your team to check their facts again? Commandos 2+3 was never banned in Germany (while Commandos 1 really was). So I really don't see any reason to put a regional lock on these games.
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InfraSuperman: True, but the international versions of that game contain NS symbols. Even if they're not explicitly banned, they're still in violation of German law.
What he said, commandos 2 and 3 got a sanitized version in germany the same as with the new wolfenstein game.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by j0ekerr
Posted February 27, 2015
*pulls out the popcorn*

Money > principles every time. I'm just surprised it took the rest of you so long to realize it. GOG's not some great advocate for consumer rights-they're a business.
Posted February 27, 2015
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PaterAlf: While you're there, could you please ask your team to check their facts again? Commandos 2+3 was never banned in Germany (while Commandos 1 really was). So I really don't see any reason to put a regional lock on these games.
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InfraSuperman: True, but the international versions of that game contain NS symbols. Even if they're not explicitly banned, they're still in violation of German law.
"Wo kein Kläger, da kein Richter."

Precensoring by the state is forbidden in Germany, all that could happen would be GoG having to take them down again IF some moron asks the officials to make such a request afaik, but GoG should really ask for professional legal advice before making such decisions.

And I hope that at some point devs start fending for artistic rights for video games, because it IS art indeed.
Posted February 27, 2015
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j0ekerr: What he said, commandos 2 and 3 got a sanitized version in germany the same as with the new wolfenstein game.
I suppose they were very thorough with the censorship this time.
When the Wolfenstein game from 2009 was released in Germany, it was, of course, heavily censored. Then, it turned out that they accidentally left a single swastika in and Activision had to remove all copies from stores.
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Community
General discussionHerzlich Willkommen! GOG.com goes German(641 posts)(641 posts)
(641 posts)