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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 28, 2015
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pbay: Uhm yes. You probably haven't understood how German criminal procedure works. An Amtsgericht won't set binding 'precedents'. EVERY court in Germany can decide differently. Btw. I didn't just guess my advice or google it but actually successfully studied law.
uhm nobody was talking about 'binding precedents'. We are talking about that single, specific incident involving Commandos. Of course another court may decide differently, but that is rather irrelevant until somebody actually brings this issue to court again. Until then the ruling stands.

but hey, what do I know, right?. Probably all german game stores are just incredibly stupid in following this court decision. They really should go to the internet and ask you for advice :p
Posted February 28, 2015
It's just bad coincidence that GOG discovers at the same time they localize the site also that they are violating the law for the whole time. This actually raises the question what they were doing before and why leaving the game in the libraries of those who bought it is okay. If it was against the law one would assume that GOG actually would be obliged to undo the transactions, remove the game and repay the customers, not just discontinue selling it.

I actually honor this law, there is a reason, so I'm fine with not buying it. What I don't like so much is that GOG does not tell me why it has to be taken down. It's as it does not exist. This looks strange like alternating realities. A big message that this game exists on GOG in general but cannot sold in countries X,Y,Z for these reasons would be better. I would like this more.

But all in all I believe they would need to take Commandos down even if they would not have a german website now. And they could try to get censored versions on board.
Post edited February 28, 2015 by Trilarion
Posted February 28, 2015
high rated
Hi.

I'm here to tell you that I'm really disappointed in this update of the site. It worked fine before, and now we have a region lock. As a German I know to well what this means (looking at you STEAM, UPLAY and what the **** not).

Disable your german site as soon as you can. Your customers had no trouble using this site in Englisch, now they have it in German and can't be sure which game is censored in the future.

The reason I'm not a customer of Steam and co. is that there were games that were censored after they were released, because Germany has a shitty rating system, or there were games that were just not available (like here at the moment). Here on GOG I could by my games without any worries, that was fantastic, a feeling I haven't known for the past 25 years. I guess this feeling has now come to an end.

Let me say it again: I am very disappointed!! Please - remove your German site and go back to how it was before. In the name of your happy customers!
Posted February 28, 2015
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pbay: ...Games like Commandos can be considered art and do not condone extremist behavior...
They could be. But then they also could just be seen as quite high fraction of pure entertainment only and partly also glorification of the Nazis. It's surely a borderline thing and discussable a lot. But as long as the game is explicitly forbidden what can GOG do about it? GOG should not break the law while doing business, should they?
Post edited February 28, 2015 by Trilarion
Posted February 28, 2015
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Screamshield: Wait... why is Tropico 3 on this list...it is not a German game...
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Matruchus: Probably cause of the german publisher --> Kalypso.
Well they should change their slogan to "Games published by German publishers" :D cus right now it is simply not accurate.
Posted February 28, 2015
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CrowTRobo: I've learned more about German law than I ever thought possible by reading this thread.

I found the "noteworthy findings" on this page quite amusing. It appears the individuals responsible for adding URLs to the "secret" block list the German government maintains are clueless about how the internet even works. That sounds about right for a government agency.
There really IS no block list. Those sites only don't show up in Google or other search machines. German laws and the censorship are stupid and extreme but (until now) they have not blocked the internet.
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Trilarion: I actually honor this law, there is a reason, ...
No, there is not. This law (no swastikas in games) is just plain stupid and does not have any real reason. It does not protect anybody and it does not prevent crimes or anything it just wants everybody to remember that the Germans ones where very baaaaad people and I am so sick of it!
Post edited February 28, 2015 by MarkoH01
Posted February 28, 2015
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gamesfreak64: just got port royale

its not the pirates! game i had on c64 /amiga but its the closest thing to it and its no 3d, the ships look 3d but i can let the computer handle the seabattles

all in all a nice pirates! clone
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MarkoH01: The game you are searching for would be "Pirates!" (without the "Gold" in it). There are several ways to get the original C64 version of it. Just google for C64 emulators).
thanks i will google for it.
Posted February 28, 2015
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Screamshield: Well they should change their slogan to "Games published by German publishers" :D cus right now it is simply not accurate.
Not all of the games in the promo are published by German publishers, you know (Settlers 2+3, for example).
Post edited February 28, 2015 by Grargar
Posted February 28, 2015
high rated
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DanTheKraut: every time someone buys a game rated 18 by the USK, buys a unrated game (which is automatically rated 18 btw. around 80% of all the games you offer count as unrated in Germany) or buys a indexed game it is a violation of the german youth protection law.
Are you sure this only applies to USK 18 and unrated games? Isn't it also a crime to sell USK 16 rated titles to persons younger than 16 years? AFAIK only USK 0 (or so called "Freigegeben ohne Altersbeschränkung") rated software can be legally sold without any form of age verification. This basically means GOG would have to lock out 99% of their catalogue from users with German IP. Otherwise they're breaking German law.

I can't express with words how angry and disappointed I am about this. Feels like being betrayed by someone you trusted. The worst part is how they tried to hide it behind another 'Good News!' announcement. Gute Miene zum bösen Spiel. Besides the DRM-free aspect many German customers were here for the freedom of choice other distributors don't offer. They might gain new mainstream audience by introducing German language for the website, but at the same time shitting on their core audience with these regional lock practices.

I always advocated and advertised GOG.com to everybody I spoke to. No more! And I seriously have to reconsider my buying habits. The only way they can make this up is to introduce an age verification system that allows users with German IP to access the uncensored store and purchase whatever they want. Until then they're just one more step away from ultimately becoming what they used to speak out against.

/wishlist deleted
Posted February 28, 2015
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MarkoH01: it just wants everybody to remember that the Germans ones where very baaaaad people and I am so sick of it!
That's really not the reason, far from it. Its intention is clearly to hide symbols that remind us of these dark times. We are not allowed to kill virtual Nazis in Germany because the Nazis were Germans.
That's the reason why courts have tried to ban the crossed-out swastika used by the Antifa movement as a way to distance themselves from the Nazi ideology.
Post edited February 28, 2015 by wittgenstein
Posted February 28, 2015
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MarkoH01: it just wants everybody to remember that the Germans ones where very baaaaad people and I am so sick of it!
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wittgenstein: That's really not the reason, far from it. Its intention is clearly to hide symbols that remind us of these dark times. We are not allowed to kill virtual Nazis in Germany because the Nazis were Germans.
That's the reason why courts have tried to ban the crossed-out swastika used by the Antifa movement as a way to distance themselves from the Nazi ideology.
If that's the reason why is it ok to show swastikas in movies that are clearly ficional (like Indiana Jones) and documentations that a broadcasted in an endless loop on Free TV? Even in school (5th or 6th grade) my class had to look at pictures of mountains of corpses at a KZ.

I think it's just mostly old people hating against a relatively new form of media (even though the first video game is from 1947). People who were born at the time Hitler became Reichskanzler are now 82 years old so I hope there will be some changes in the not so far future.

EDIT:
Nazi = German isn't right. I doubt everyone in the Wehrmacht was standing behind the ideology (hating jews wasn't just a german thing). And there where non-germans in the SS.
Post edited February 28, 2015 by Dotur
Posted February 28, 2015
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MarkoH01: it just wants everybody to remember that the Germans ones where very baaaaad people and I am so sick of it!
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wittgenstein: That's really not the reason, far from it. Its intention is clearly to hide symbols that remind us of these dark times. We are not allowed to kill virtual Nazis in Germany because the Nazis were Germans.
That's the reason why courts have tried to ban the crossed-out swastika used by the Antifa movement as a way to distance themselves from the Nazi ideology.
C'mon, as Germans both of you should know better than that to spread such misinformation. The law has nothing to do with public opinions, it was created as a means for the new republic to defend itself against actual post-war nazi groups trying to spread their anti-constitutional propaganda. And the law says nothing about videogames, since videogames were not a factor back then. The ban on videogames is just people taking their jobs too seriously, abusing their position and misinterpreting an outdated law in order to express their disdain for a culture they don't really care to understand. There is no secret conspiracy behind the law, it's just your average messed up German bureaucracy.
Post edited February 28, 2015 by Leroux
Posted February 28, 2015
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pbay: Uhm yes. You probably haven't understood how German criminal procedure works. An Amtsgericht won't set binding 'precedents'. EVERY court in Germany can decide differently. Btw. I didn't just guess my advice or google it but actually successfully studied law.
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immi101: uhm nobody was talking about 'binding precedents'. We are talking about that single, specific incident involving Commandos. Of course another court may decide differently, but that is rather irrelevant until somebody actually brings this issue to court again. Until then the ruling stands.

but hey, what do I know, right?. Probably all german game stores are just incredibly stupid in following this court decision. They really should go to the internet and ask you for advice :p
Which is not even relevant as GOG isn't placed in Germany.
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DanTheKraut: every time someone buys a game rated 18 by the USK, buys a unrated game (which is automatically rated 18 btw. around 80% of all the games you offer count as unrated in Germany) or buys a indexed game it is a violation of the german youth protection law.
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Bavarian: Are you sure this only applies to USK 18 and unrated games? Isn't it also a crime to sell USK 16 rated titles to persons younger than 16 years? AFAIK only USK 0 (or so called "Freigegeben ohne Altersbeschränkung") rated software can be legally sold without any form of age verification. This basically means GOG would have to lock out 99% of their catalogue from users with German IP. Otherwise they're breaking German law.
Yes, this is also not allowed. You can read it in § 5 JMStV and yes GOG will be forced to lock 99% of their catalogue for german users.

As I said if they want to follow the german law they will be forced to follow it completely!
Post edited February 28, 2015 by DanTheKraut
Posted February 28, 2015
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wittgenstein: That's really not the reason, far from it. Its intention is clearly to hide symbols that remind us of these dark times. We are not allowed to kill virtual Nazis in Germany because the Nazis were Germans.
That's the reason why courts have tried to ban the crossed-out swastika used by the Antifa movement as a way to distance themselves from the Nazi ideology.
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Leroux: C'mon, as Germans both of you should know better than that to spread such misinformation. The law has nothing to do with public opinions, it was created as a means for the new republic to defend itself against actual post-war nazi groups trying to spread their anti-constitutional propaganda. And the law says nothing about videogames, since videogames were not a factor back then. The ban on videogames is just people taking their jobs too seriously, abusing their position and misinterpreting an outdated law in order to express their disdain for a culture they don't really care to understand. There is no secret conspiracy behind the law, it's just your average messed up German bureaucracy.
^Dies! ("This" in german, i do NOT want him to die!)
Post edited February 28, 2015 by Soccorro
Posted February 28, 2015
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Soccorro: ^Dies! ("This" in german, i do NOT want him to die!)
"...that's German for 'The Bart The'."
Post edited February 28, 2015 by InfraSuperman
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionHerzlich Willkommen! GOG.com goes German(641 posts)(641 posts)
(641 posts)