Posted March 22, 2021
mrkgnao: Instead of talking in general, let's take two examples:
- In Absolver, you cannot replay boss battles in single player mode unless you go online. This is singleplayer content that you have no access to unless you submit to the "DRM".
- In CP2077, you cannot use the "rewards" items in the single-player campaign unless you log in and authenticate via galaxy. This is singleplayer content that you have no access to unless you submit to the "DRM".
I believe that calling this anything other than singleplayer content, or stating that one has "full" access to singleplayer content, would be a "logical fallacy".
wolfsite: In my personal opinion I don't see the Cyberpunk stuff as "Rewards", I see them more as Advertising as it is mostly stuff promoting The Witcher and Galaxy, and honestly why would someone who doesn't want anything to do with Galaxy want a shirt that supports Galaxy?. It is an honest question not an attack or anything. - In Absolver, you cannot replay boss battles in single player mode unless you go online. This is singleplayer content that you have no access to unless you submit to the "DRM".
- In CP2077, you cannot use the "rewards" items in the single-player campaign unless you log in and authenticate via galaxy. This is singleplayer content that you have no access to unless you submit to the "DRM".
I believe that calling this anything other than singleplayer content, or stating that one has "full" access to singleplayer content, would be a "logical fallacy".
Two points though:
First, even if not DRM, providing cosmetic bonuses for pre-ordering is still anti-consumer and something the gaming community should be pushing back against anyway. So, the argument as to whether or not it is DRM is a bit pedantic.
Secondly, it strikes me as a bit of a red herring/straw man, because there are several games on the single-player DRM list that have more substantial content locked than just cosmetic. Those are absolutely DRMed games on GOG.com, which need to be fixed or removed. I haven't seen any persuasive arguments as to why those are not DRM (Absolver, Dying Light). So, I feel in a way that focusing the debate on the 'cosmetic' stuff is distracting from the more serious offenders and the fact that GOG is listing DRMed games.