No, it would not help at all - this is a very different culture. This is not about censoring, as with Germany or Australia, which do not care as long as it is not sold within their borders. If gOg was only region blocking it, they would still be selling it, which would be seen as approving of / endorsing the game / the publisher. And as it is the game itsef and the publisher which is the problem, this would not change oppinion an iota, but rather make it look sneaky and seen as trying to cheat / trick the Chineese market. This is about loosng face, and how to regain it in that market. Same reason why it is not region blocked on for example Steam. Like this outlook or not, but if you touch the offending product in any shape or form, then you are contaminated. If gOg wanted to keep the Chineese market, this was the best (and possibly only) option they had - to distance themselves from the product completely.

i mostly agree with you and thanks for learning me about zoom. only i cant to find any their (of zoom) promise to focus to be drm free store

Which basically means China gets a global (!) veto on the selling of games deemed "offensive" to China's one-party system.
I just don't agree that this should in any way be considered acceptable. To me it's somewhat similar to Islamic fanatics trying to prevent Mohammed caricatures. It's a sign of weakness to submit to such intimidation and only invites future demands.

Thanks, that's pretty insightful. I also thought along those lines, but I couldn't put it in words properly.

Also while China is important for GOG, GOG is as important to China as a fleck of dust on the carpet. And they love to make an example of a "Western" company on occasion. True to Stalin: "Punish one, educate a hundred".

Thought I'd prepare a list or two, since that's what I often do.

So, reading through this thread, here are my impressions.

People who are boycotting, to whatever degree they're comfortable with:
1) Time4Tea
2) Lifthrasil
3) mrkgnao
4) joppo
5) kdgog
6) Ancient-Red-Dragon
7) ReynardFox
8) Seceroth
9) TencentInvestor
10) pearnon
11) Leevi
12) gloombandit
13) fronzelneekburm
14) MajicMan
15) Chaossaturn
16) john_hatcher
17) Grahor
18) Orkhepaj
19) rjbuffchix
20) B1tF1ghter

People who are sympathetic to the concept:
1) Breja
2) TerriblePurpose
3) morolf
4) DukeNukemForever
5) McMicroDonalds
6) WinterSnowfall
7) flanner
8) Dogmaus

If I have made a mistake, by commission or omission or misrepresentation, please let me know, and I will fix it forthwith.

Updated through post #154.

EDIT: Continued by Time4Tea in https://www.gog.com/forum/general/boycotting_gog_2021/post1

Fixed.
Done.

not quite, as there is not really any enforcement here. gOg would not risk getting a car bomb, the staff getting kidnped and decapitated, beaten up on the street or similar if they released the game. They would just risk losing the Chinese market. And that was, and still is, an option for gOg. It is still their choice, they can sell the game any day they want.

But as said before - gOg is a buisness, not a moral endavor

Well, I'm certainly not going to buy anything on GOG in 2021, likely at all.

Imo, that sort of mindset is what has led to the problems GOG is facing now (and often does for large corporations): not listening to their customers. Although, it would seem consistent with GOG's recent shift towards China, i.e. not tolerating dissent.

So, by that logic, you are perfectly ok with other DRMed games being sold on GOG, as long as they aren't 'being shoved down your throat'?

In what sense is it a 'forced boycott'? All I have done is said I am boycotting for this year; stated my reasons; and asked if anyone else is doing the same.

same
yep , samuraigidin and similar people not only fine with a totalitarian censoring system but looks like they demaning it

forced :D
natural boycotts ... omg this clearly doesnt make sense at all
these clearly cant when stand some people have morals and actually acting on those

I respect who is doing the boycott. I'm not doing it as I got me some games that I wanted for about 1,50 € each and also accepting giveways offered by other users I am incentivating money being spent in the store. I don't see the boycott as a successful thing as it is tied up with the vision of GOG that the old users base has, while the company has attracted many new customers ready for CP2077 and in game purchases and online exclusive content and such. The Devotion thing is an embarassment but I don't see neather Itch.io, Humble or Steam selling it. GOG mistake was carelessy announcing it. Let's put it this way: I'm vegan but i'm not boycotting any store selling eggs and milk and meat. I'll just go in and take my veggies. The supermarket could lose all vegan customers and don't mind, because we are not so many. GOG customers who care for what we believed were core values are few compared to all the new users. Years ago they were seducing us announcing new Linux releases, and now Linux is so out of the plans that there's not even Galaxy for it yet. It's a different GOG...by the way, yesterday after almost 2 years of waiting I bought a game on Steam and it was DRM free, it was not even written anywhere.

I see your point. However, I think where the 'grocery store' analogy breaks down is that there is not such a clear inherent distinction between DRMed and DRM-free games, in the way that there is with veggies and meat/eggs. Veggies are veggies and meat is meat and that is that. The distinction is unavoidable and will always be there. However, a video game can be released either with our without DRM, at the choice of the developer.

What occurs to me is that, if GOG start allowing more DRMed games onto the store (which the Epic deal seems to be effectively doing), then developers will have less incentive to release games DRM-free, because they can access GOG and still keep the DRM. They can have their cake and eat it.

I think the vegetarian might be less willing to buy their veggies from a store that sells both meat and veggies, if the fact that the store sells meat is likely to make it less easy to buy veggies in the future. I don't agree that the presence of DRMed games on GOG, as long as they are clearly labelled, would have no negative impact for those that value DRM-free games.

Thanks very much for posting that list. I saw your earlier message about it, but was a bit busy yesterday evening. Do you mind if I copy it to the first post?

... yet I was talking from a purely economical/apolitical standpoint. Unless you think you can have any sway over GOG by leveraging direct democracy. In which case, good luck with that :).

I haven't really followed this topic in its entirety but please add me to whichever list you believe is appropriate. I have been engaging in a sort of soft boycott ever since the news that GOG would be/is(?) selling DRMed games via the new app in GOG Galaxy. The issues with No Man's Sky, Cyberpunk My Rewards, etc have reinforced this too. Basically, I had cut down any buying and will only go out on a limb to buy something I feel is a must-have. For example, Silent Hill 4 was a must-have. If GOG got stuff like old Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, GTA, etc, with OFFLINE INSTALLERS, of course, I would buy them too.