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Breja: Yeah, the idea of a store responding to its customers is indeed ridiculous and deserves to be mocked.

It's amazing how GOGs treatment of its users managed to breed the kind of users who actually see GOG's complete and utter failure to address any complaints as not just the norm, but a status quo that needs to be defended from "haters". It's a topsy-turvy world we live in.
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XYCat: I know, how could GOG even dare to not sell a videogame? This treatment sure bred some peculiar kind of users. Or rather maybe the users were already bred elsewhere on the internet and once again just use a videogame as an excuse to vent their toxic trash and demand the website they're venting on to do stuff for them.
Yeah, none of that mumble means anything, addresses anything, or relates even remotely to what I said. And I assure you, if anyone is being "toxic" here, it's you.
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wolfsite: Considering how some companies openly delete and remove criticism about themselves as well as ban users for anything remotely negative on the Steam forums there are much worse treatments.

I am reserving judgement for a few days though as I don't know what is going on internally at GOG as they could still be returning from holiday break, could still be flooded with support tickets that they may feel take priority. So I am not supporting what is currently going on but I will give them a few more days to see.
It's not like anything brought up here is new. Most of these complaints go back months, even more. There are literally hundreds of pages of posts about them in other threads. Always with either no response from GOG, or short, meaningless PR statements that don't address anything.
Post edited January 06, 2021 by Breja
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B1tF1ghter: Steam whatever they are doing is pretty transparent about it instead of being covert like some cowards.
Ok, so you are perfectly fine with supporting a business directly supporting the Chinese government as long as they do it openly, that's not what you said originally, but at least now you clarified.
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SomeGuy8504: And from my experience, forced boycotts are so difficult that they often lead to people relapsing into a service. Doesn't mean that I am underestimating your resolve or anything, just think that the average man probably would.
Of course. But gog was (among other ways) growing on the word of mouth, so to say. In the past, I often said to people "I'd rather buy it on GOG, I kind of feel they deserve some support from my money. Check it out." Now it's just not going to happen, and I think I'm not the only one here.

Also, I think a noticeable number of people forced themselves to use GOG. No DRM policy; if the game is on gog, it can be, alternatively, just downloaded. Some people had to force themselves to pay for the game on GOG instead. Now they will relapse into not paying.
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XYCat: I know, how could GOG even dare to not sell a videogame? This treatment sure bred some peculiar kind of users. Or rather maybe the users were already bred elsewhere on the internet and once again just use a videogame as an excuse to vent their toxic trash and demand the website they're venting on to do stuff for them.
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Breja: Yeah, none of that mumble means anything, addresses anything, or relates even remotely to what I said. And I assure you, if anyone is being "toxic" here, it's you.
"Yeah, none of that mumble means anything, addresses anything" is the TLDR for the content you principled non-toxic freedom fighters post here, so no wonder GOG ignores it.
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XYCat: I know, how could GOG even dare to not sell a videogame?
You seem to be under the impression that this thread is about Devotion. It's not.

It's --- as written in the title --- about boycotting GOG in 2021, for whatever reasons. The OP lists six reasons that are relevant to him; there are maybe more that are relevant to others.

I can say that for myself, of the six reasons listed by the OP, Devotion would be #5 or #6.
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SomeGuy8504: And from my experience, forced boycotts are so difficult that they often lead to people relapsing into a service. Doesn't mean that I am underestimating your resolve or anything, just think that the average man probably would.
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Grahor: Of course. But gog was (among other ways) growing on the word of mouth, so to say. In the past, I often said to people "I'd rather buy it on GOG, I kind of feel they deserve some support from my money. Check it out." Now it's just not going to happen, and I think I'm not the only one here.

Also, I think a noticeable number of people forced themselves to use GOG. No DRM policy; if the game is on gog, it can be, alternatively, just downloaded. Some people had to force themselves to pay for the game on GOG instead. Now they will relapse into not paying.
That's actually a really good point. You are right, for many users GOG was already something they had to force themselves to use, so any problem at all is enough for them to relapse into their preferred service like Steam. In that case, a 'forced' boycott wouldn't take much force at all and in some ways even be a relief for those users.
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XYCat: I know, how could GOG even dare to not sell a videogame?
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mrkgnao: You seem to be under the impression that this thread is about Devotion. It's not.

It's --- as written in the title --- about boycotting GOG in 2021, for whatever reasons. The OP lists six reasons that are relevant to him; there are maybe more that are relevant to others.

I can say that for myself, of the six reasons listed by the OP, Devotion would be #5 or #6.
I know it's not about Devotion, not even those threads with the exact same content that actually have the name of the game in the title are really about Devotion.
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XYCat: And on top of that the demands like "GOG-senpai notice us!" while all of the hatespammers are very much happy to exploit the fact that gog forums are completely unmoderated and when someone actually does finally decide to step in and delete this nasty spam trash they're all like "ZOMG mah freeze peach!"
So "hatespammers" is your fabricated euphemism for anyone who levels legitimate criticism against GOG and their horrible anti-consumer decisions. That's not a very appropriate label that you've assigned there.

And the rest of that quoted posted is equally as bad; it's using the phrase "step in" and "moderate" as PR-friendly euphemisms for "tyrannically censor all criticism."

If GOG were to do that, then they might as well apply to become the official Polish branch of the CCP, as GOG would have become 100% identical to them at that point, as opposed to just bending the knee to them and submitting to become their willing slave, as GOG currently does.
Post edited January 06, 2021 by Ancient-Red-Dragon
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Time4Tea: I would like to announce that I have decided to boycott GOG for 2021. This is in response to several decisions the site has made over the past year that I believe have been deeply misguided:
Heh, join the club. I haven't purchased anything since 2017. Though that was far more due to wanting to cut back on unnecessary costs, couple years ago GoG gave me a very big incentive not to purchase anything.

You can add me to your list if you like, i don't see myself buying anything this year either. (doesn't count for free games)
In short? Yes, I won't be buying more games from GOG, probably even if they "redeem" themselves. My usage of their store will be limited to grabbing free games (like I do with Epic) and organize all my digital library with Galaxy for now, until I redo it in Playnite or something. If this sounds rather extreme to you, continue with the long version.

- I've never been a fan of putting old games for sell again. (This applies to all stores) Most of their dev teams are dead, the rights are probably owned by some publisher that doesn't deserve the money, and I bet some of the profits fund those remaster cashgrabs that remove the existence of the original releases, like Beamdog's. I don't get the point of "supporting" old DOS games bundled with whatever version of DOSBox GOG has put, either. I am of the opinion that all these abandoned games belong to a public library of some sort, for people to enjoy and improve as they see fit. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a company trying to release an updated version of some game..., as long as they don't believe they suddenly own the work they're fiddling with, and that the original release is completely obsolete even if they didn't bother bringing back old artists, designers and programmers as advisers.

- Fighting for DRM-Free media is commendable, but I've come to the conclusion that it isn't a fight fit for corporations. I'm pretty sure the big men and women at CD Projekt S.A. don't give a damn about DRM-free games, and neither do their investors. It started as their differentiation strategy in the past, but now it's nothing but a risk, because imposing a DRM free policy means rejecting juicy, modern releases by equally greedy publishers.
GOG hasn't been "Good Old Games" for a while. I know this kinda contradicts my previous point, but there really isn't any risk selling old games DRM free. (even some of those old games, like FEAR 1, have SecuROM leftovers they've actively refused to remove!) They played us like a damn fiddle, and deep down we knew their revolutionary stance wouldn't last forever.

- Curated stores are a joke. Following their half-assed or straight up silent excuses for not accepting certain games is comedy material. I was dumbfounded to learn that they didn't want to accept New Blood games at first for some reason (one of their employees literally said this on their Discord server), or that Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls didn't meet their "standards"... despite having all the f*cking series for sale. I can't imagine how it must feel to get your game rejected without a clear answer.
That's why, in a weird way, I respected Steam's approach of accepting literal hot garbage, instead of pretending they'll "curate" their store... Of course, this has changed in the past few years for Valve, too. Now they awkwardly reject, sometimes with no option of resubmission, whatever game the employee deems as "problematic". If you're lucky, you'll be able to cut "sensible" content of your game as a separate DLC, or just modify your work to try and please their random guidelines. This brings me to the question: has Valve rejected games for political reasons?

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B1tF1ghter: Please, enlighten me how allegedly Steam was bending for CCP at allegedly some point.
Because both as a HIGHLY technical user as well a person involved in gamedev I KNOW for a fact that Steam, if CH has some "issues" with some games, just does not release the game there while retaining international release.
I don't see how this is supporting CH.
There HAS been at least a case at the end of 2019: https://gamerant.com/hong-kong-protest-game-china-ban-steam/

I don't know if it was in the middle of their plan to build an exclusive Chinese Steam storefront, but it doesn't bode well for them.

Honestly, at this point I don't feel like spending my money on games, period. Feeling good about validating the work of an individual or a group of people only seems to be possible in music, physical series/movies, or the rare self-publishing game studio. The middlemen always manage to ruin media.
Post edited January 06, 2021 by Setilla
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Gersen: ...
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B1tF1ghter: Steam whatever they are doing is pretty transparent about it instead of being covert like some cowards.
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Gersen: Ok, so you are perfectly fine with supporting a business directly supporting the Chinese government as long as they do it openly, that's not what you said originally, but at least now you clarified.
Wrong.
JUST STOP ALREADY.
You are jumping to wrong conclusions and abusing the fact that my wording isn't 100% clear at all times and atm I lack patience to fight somebody's wrong allegations.
Also you keep stepping on me PERSONALLY for some reason...

You know what.
I was actually totally correct in my judgment imo. I just lacked patience to bring this up properly when originally writing it.
There is a HUGE fundamental different between:
1.Creating a containment platform specificly for chinese market where chinese games can get promoted, sold and so on.
Market mostly for chinese games in fact. Where some international games can also potentially be released on some "preferential" rules of chinese market.
A seperate platform created partially to retain "main" Steam platform international independence. A "lesser evil" if you will.
That's a joint venture between Steam and some chinese company which name I do not remember atm.
That is not directly supporting CH gov. It's directly supporting CH game's market. This is just doing business in china. It doesn't automatically mean supporting CH gov.

2.Bending to arbitrary censorship request just because it offends 1 person and it's supporters.
GOG Devotion case.
Instead of creating arbitrary CH region lock based on arbitrary CH feedback allegedly from CH - we can see how it went with GOG instead - GOG just refused to release game internationally.
It is hard to not see this as endorsement to CH gov requests.

This is how I see it.
You are free to have a different view.
But if you will keep stepping on me personally I will not hestitate to report you.

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XYCat: now came a "HIGHLY technical user" raging about Switzerland (CH) and some shit :D
(...)
Some HIGHLY technical users would probably blame government of Switzerland being in control of Steam and GOG together or something lol :D (pls lol CH? seriously)
There is a pretty big difference between accidentially using wrong country denomination and using self proclaimed abbreviation.
It is generally clear that I in this thread by "CH" mean "China".
I NEVER implied I mean Switzerland.
In fact it never crossed my head until now when I reminded myself that CH is a domain code for Switzerland.
I want to make clear once and for all that I indeed meant China everywhere I used CH in this thread.
Are you happy now?
So stop stepping on me personally people!

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XYCat: GOG never really had Devotion in the catalogue, never sold the game,
GOG made an announcement that they will distribute the game.
You can only legally make such announcement after having already singed contract with developer / publisher for a product distribution.
There was a GOG product page live briefly.
So get your facts stright before you attack someone personally.

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XYCat: Steam sold it for a bit and then pulled it from the store
Do your own research before posting.
Devotion got pulled from Seam BY IT'S DEVELOPERS. Developers. NOT Steam platform.
Here is the official statement by the developers:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1006510/discussions/0/1796278072845376475/

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XYCat: without anyone of you giving a fuck, loooong before GOG and long before you even knew the game existed
Speak for yourself.

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XYCat: And on top of that the demands like "GOG-senpai notice us!" while all of the hatespammers are very much happy to exploit the fact that gog forums are completely unmoderated
I wonder what will happen when you MAYBE someday see your own behavior.
What you are saying is hypocrisy. No hard feelings.

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XYCat: and when someone actually does finally decide to step in and delete this nasty spam trash they're all like "ZOMG mah freeze peach!"
I for one am not writing anything breaking forum code of conduct in this thread.
So certainly if my posts would get removed all of the sudden then I would pursue support to give me a reason.
If they would get deleted because of GOG platform constructive criticism then that very well would be reducing my free speech rights.

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Grahor: No DRM policy; if the game is on gog, it can be, alternatively, just downloaded. Some people had to force themselves to pay for the game on GOG instead. Now they will relapse into not paying.
Are you seriously comparing people seeking true DRM-free software with software pirates?
[edited out]
Post edited January 06, 2021 by Breja
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XYCat: And on top of that the demands like "GOG-senpai notice us!" while all of the hatespammers are very much happy to exploit the fact that gog forums are completely unmoderated and when someone actually does finally decide to step in and delete this nasty spam trash they're all like "ZOMG mah freeze peach!"
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: So "hatespammers" is your eupheism for anyone who levels legitimate criticism against GOG and their horrible anti-consumer decisions. That's not a very appropriate label that you've assigned there.

And the rest of that quoted posted is equally as bad; it's using the phrase "step in" and "moderate" as PR-friendly euphemisms for "tyrannically censor all criticism."

If GOG were to do that, then they might as well apply to become the official Polish branch of the CCP, as GOG would become 100% identical to them at that point, as opposed to just bending the knee to them as and submitting to become their slave, as GOG currently does.
I know, legitimate criticism. Maybe you should team up with the "ethics in journalism" and "constructive movie criticism" guys, although I kinda presume you're the same sort of people.

I don't want to shock you, but internet forums are moderated most of the time, I mean tyranically censored and oppressed. Really, it's true, regular internet forums are "the official branch of the CCP". Absolutely shocking, I know, but you need not worry because this forum is completely unmoderated so you're free to make the same venting threads every day without any tyranical censor bothering you.
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Time4Tea:
I haven't made a purchase in YEARS
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Breja: I love how smug everyone in this thread is, how full of contempt for someone having principles. If anyone wants an explanation for why GOG wen the way it did, this arogant contempt for someone having principles is the best answer there is.

Personally, I'm not making any absolute resolutions. I bought only a few very cheap games at the very beginning of the Winter Sale, just before I learned of the whole We Welcome Our Communist Overlords debacle, following which I bought nothing else, even though most of my wishlist was heavily discounted, and I surely would have bought more games if this was the same GOG as even only a year before. I'm not swearing GOG off for ever and ever and totally right now, but unlike the past, I will treat is a "last resort" sort of thing. I will play through my backlog, re-play older games, seek DRM-free games elsewhere, and only if there's something really super important to me that I can't get elsewhere (like maybe a release of Star Trek Final Unity), or I'm completely out of games will I buy here again.

And unlike the smug douche nozzles above, I totally respect anyone who in the light of the events of the past year boycotts GOG altogether.
Why do you think I haven't bought anything for YEARS, I told people GOG would end up like this and you all just cyberflogged me, Look who was RIGHT. GOG has become a MONOPOLY! just like NexusMods has become a monopoly on mods. Power Corrupts Completely!