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General discussionHerzlich Willkommen! GOG.com goes German(641 posts)(641 posts)
(641 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
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
Just logged in the express my disappoint
Posted February 27, 2015
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mobutu: The first downside of the galaxy client will be the "patched rythm" of a particular game. Those using galaxy will get updates fast, as released by the game's developer while those not using galaxy but the classic browser or downloader manager will not get fast updates (and this will culminate in getting no updates whatsover for the latter because some developers will choose only to support galaxy, not classic system of delivering updates).
Could you cite your source for this (especially the emphasised bold part) statement? Please do also provide a link to where you read that. Thank you.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by patthefatrat
Posted February 27, 2015
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JudasIscariot: Look, I'll say this straight:

We already have the officially censored German versions of games (System Shock 2, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Shadow Man) alongside their uncensored English counterparts so if you see a game for sale and it has an English and German version, you have the choice of playing the English version without fear of ONLY getting the cut German version.
A genuine question, because I am trying to understand the full scope. Are German users allowed to download the non-censored versions? If so, is it because the version is not in their native language? Or because the game is not banned at the "indexed" level?

Not trying to stir shit with this question, just surprised that German users could access any uncensored content, given the apparent penalties for provided indexed materials.
Posted February 27, 2015
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johnnygoging: a big wtf at all the coolguys talking about leaving when galaxy shows up. gog has repeatedly stated that nothing would change for how they do things with galaxy. and until it does, you can't call out galaxy for anything bad.
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mobutu: The first downside of the galaxy client will be the "patched rythm" of a particular game. Those using galaxy will get updates fast, as released by the game's developer while those not using galaxy but the classic browser or downloader manager will not get fast updates (and this will culminate in getting no updates whatsover for the latter because some developers will choose only to support galaxy, not classic system of delivering updates).
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mobutu: The first downside of the galaxy client will be the "patched rythm" of a particular game. Those using galaxy will get updates fast, as released by the game's developer while those not using galaxy but the classic browser or downloader manager will not get fast updates (and this will culminate in getting no updates whatsover for the latter because some developers will choose only to support galaxy, not classic system of delivering updates).
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patthefatrat: Could you cite your source for this (especially the emphasised bold part) statement? Please do also provide a link to where you read that. Thank you.
If he can provide a source I'll eat my hat, this is Galaxy paranoia at it's finest. GOG packs the patches themselves for use on GOG.com, so this is highly unlikely. A developer can't just decide to support Galaxy because they have to send the patch files to GOG and GOG has to either a) place the on the Galaxy server or b) pack them into a standalone installer. Both are which are done by GOG, so why would this change because of developers?

Only way this would change is IF GOG, like steam offered a system for the developers to manually add their patches to Galaxy's servers. But this is again unlikely because GOG checks the patches before the user can download them, and even if they did do that... there is nothing stopping GOG from grabbing the modified files via Galaxy servers and packing them themselves into a standalone installer.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet...
Posted February 27, 2015
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IAmSinistar: A genuine question, because I am trying to understand the full scope. Are German users allowed to download the non-censored versions? If so, is it because the version is not in their native language? Or because the game is not banned at the "indexed" level?

Not trying to stir shit with this question, just surprised that German users could access any uncensored content, given the apparent penalties for provided indexed materials.
Up to now German could download all versions available. Censored or not. If this changes, to be honest, I'm out of here.
There are several groups of games that are problematic:

"Confiscated" - Games supposed to contain illegal material like extreme violence (Manhunt, Condemned) or forbidden symbols (Commandos, Wolfenstein 3D). Those games are illegal to "pass on" or "make them available".
"Indexed" - Those games may not made accessible to minors, not advertised in public. There a quite a few games on GOG falling into this category.
"Would-Be-Banned" - Games that contain elements like Nazi symbols, but never officially appeared in Germany (at least in this version). This is a grey area. An example would be Medal of Honor - Allied Assault. The German version was censored, all Nazi symbols removed. However GOG has the uncensored version available for Germans, even the screenshots on the game card show some (tiny) swastikas.

A competitor wanting to put a spoke in GOG's wheel could use all of the above to bring the site to the attention of German authorities.
Posted February 27, 2015
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IAmSinistar: A genuine question, because I am trying to understand the full scope. Are German users allowed to download the non-censored versions? If so, is it because the version is not in their native language? Or because the game is not banned at the "indexed" level?

Not trying to stir shit with this question, just surprised that German users could access any uncensored content, given the apparent penalties for provided indexed materials.
So far, no "indexed" game was affected at all, probably because the sale of those to adults is generally perfectly legal. The German versions of those are only censored because those are the only releases that ever existed in that language.
The "not in their native language" thing usually would not have any effect, either, because there are many, many games where international versions (such as US, UK, or general EU releases) were indexed/blacklisted, while the heavily censored German one was freely available. Incidentally, the titles JudasIscariot mentioned were never blacklisted at all, even in their original versions. They are even available on the very restrictive Steam store.
Posted February 27, 2015
So.... no "Hatred" for ze Djermans...
Posted February 27, 2015
Glad to hear that GOG.com is going Deutsch, but too bad you had to add some regional restrictions.
Posted February 27, 2015
How can I change the language back to English?
I really don't like being forced to use my German...
Give me a choice what language I want to use, GoG!
Posted February 27, 2015
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Nympheros: How can I change the language back to English?
I really don't like being forced to use my German...
Give me a choice what language I want to use, GoG!
Go to the main page, scroll down and on the right side you can choose your language. Mine is still english and didn`t change automatically to german, so you must have changed it by yourself!
Post edited February 27, 2015 by Maxvorstadt
Posted February 27, 2015
Postal 2 is gonna stay right? RIGHT!?
Posted February 27, 2015
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Nympheros: How can I change the language back to English?
I really don't like being forced to use my German...
Give me a choice what language I want to use, GoG!
Go to main page, scroll all the way down and look right.
Posted February 27, 2015
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toxicTom: snip
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InfraSuperman: snip
Thanks for the info. Seems like it's still a bit of a sticky wicket, and things could come down on the wrong side yet.
Posted February 27, 2015
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I strongly suggest GOG to reconsider abiding to German law in this matter.
Multiple stores on the web don't care about it including shops happily sending retail copies to Germany of banned / indexed games / movies. See Gameware.at as example situated in Austria.
In fact when German watchdogs wanted to force them to abide to German Youth protection laws (only displaying censored content at night times) they flat out told them to go f... off as it's not Germany where they do their business from and that German legislation doesn't apply to them.

I own over 700 games on GOG.com and so far I nearly bought every new release in the sub $6 bracket the moment it came out but I will stop doing that if GOG doesn't reconsider.
I will resort to only buying games here during promotions / sales like I do with Steam unless I absolutely want a classic release which will hardly happen.

To me GOG lost it's unique appeal now and I consider it like any other website selling games. I will buy them cheap as I can wait (huge backlog as you can imagine) and Sales will come.

I see no reason whatsoever in GOG having to abide to this insane and old-fashioned German ideas of what Germans can consume and what not. I'd rather would expect GOG pulling Germany in front of the European court and help force it to put its laws in line with the rest of Europe.

Oh and while you are at it why not censor my avatar as well that I proudly use since I bought the Commandos series the moment it came out at GOG.
Posted February 27, 2015
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MarkoH01: It is new to me that internet blockig in Germany meanwhile is allowed - especially if it is not authorized by the government itself.
It is not only authorized but directly ordered by the federal government itself:

https://neocities.org/blog/german-censorship

is part of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Ministry_of_Family_Affairs%2C_Senior_Citizens%2C_Women_and_Youth]BMFSFJ and that is part of Bundesregierung, so its literally the federal goverment itself censoring here.

(My explanations in this thread are mainly intended to make people not from Germany aware of your situation.)
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionHerzlich Willkommen! GOG.com goes German(641 posts)(641 posts)
(641 posts)