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Breja: Perhaps you should actually use one.
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DoomSooth: "the process or an instance of joining with others in refusing to deal with someone (as a person, organization, or country) as a way of protesting or forcing changes"
Should've told 'em to use two, I guess, Breja :D

Anyway, there are multiple ways to use the phrase "deal with", including "trade money for goods".

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DoomSooth: How can you refuse to deal with GOG if you're here dealing with GOG?

As for me leaving, that's not going to happen. I'm happy here.

You're not happy here, though, so why are you notcotting?
How about:
- To avoid supporting GOG financially as long as they continue making us unhappy here,
- To try and actually affect some change so that GOG considers going back to being a place where we can be happy here like we used to be.
- To be heard so that more people are reminded that there is something they can do, and thus they can join in if they feel it's the right thing to do.

What would be the point of leaving?

As for the word "boycott" itself:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/boycotting_gog_2021/post2571
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Hexchild: How about:
- To avoid supporting GOG financially as long as they continue making us unhappy here,
Are you absolutely sure that GOG isn't making money just from post activity? I'm not. I wouldn't think they are but I can't say for sure. If they are, it likely isn't much, but it would still be something. Some sponsors pay for ads viewed even when there is no sale as a result of it. If people make money from or spend money on something like that then it wouldn't be crazy to think something similar is happening here. Even if that's not happening, they're merely protesting and not boycotting.

I would not be at all surprised if GOG is making money from my having an account here when I'm not spending money.
Post edited June 27, 2021 by DoomSooth
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DoomSooth: As for me leaving, that's not going to happen. I'm happy here.
You have to ask yourself what's making you turn to this thread if you are happy here.
Just something to think about.
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patrikc: You have to ask yourself what's making you turn to this thread if you are happy here.
Just something to think about.
Just wondering why they say they're boycotting when they're still here. If I weren't happy with GOG, I wouldn't be here at all, and I definitely wouldn't have bought as much as I have.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. These guys aren't going to cost GOG more money than it would make from China.
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DoomSooth: If I weren't happy with GOG, I wouldn't be here at all, and I definitely wouldn't have bought as much as I have.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. These guys aren't going to cost GOG more money than it would make from China.
See, we hold different opinions here. I am not happy with GOG, especially as of late, but I won't leave because I still wish for this to be a better place in the future. I don't know if that will ever happen, but I would like to keep my hope alive. Leaving would equate to losing hope.
Also, I believe silencing or removing those unhappy with the current situation won't help this place in the long run. It can only lead to more complacency and passiveness. That shouldn't be the case.
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DoomSooth: If I weren't happy with GOG, I wouldn't be here at all, and I definitely wouldn't have bought as much as I have.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. These guys aren't going to cost GOG more money than it would make from China.
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patrikc: See, we hold different opinions here. I am not happy with GOG, especially as of late, but I won't leave because I still wish for this to be a better place in the future. I don't know if that will ever happen, but I would like to keep my hope alive. Leaving would equate to losing hope.
Also, I believe silencing or removing those unhappy with the current situation won't help this place in the long run. It can only lead to more complacency and passiveness. That shouldn't be the case.
I certainly hope his government is not going to do something he really dislikes, because obviously he won't protest against it. Instead, he's going to leave the United States and go live elsewhere.
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I don't like what happened with Devotion either but GOG's value to me outweighs the dislike I have for how they handled that situation. This is simply the best place for DRM-free games, and I don't really see that changing. I'll be just as glad as anyone else if GOG changes its mind about Devotion, even though I've already bought it from Red Candle's store.

Censorship is terrible. If it were up to me, I'd cut China off and not let China cut Red Candle off. What good is having access to the Chinese market if they're so strict? China should be allowed to say that GOG can't sell Devotion in China but they shouldn't be allowed to say that no one in the rest of the world can buy it.
Post edited June 27, 2021 by DoomSooth
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Hexchild: How about:
- To avoid supporting GOG financially as long as they continue making us unhappy here,
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DoomSooth: Are you absolutely sure that GOG isn't making money just from post activity? I'm not. I wouldn't think they are but I can't say for sure. If they are, it likely isn't much, but it would still be something. Some sponsors pay for ads viewed even when there is no sale as a result of it. If people make money from or spend money on something like that then it wouldn't be crazy to think something similar is happening here. Even if that's not happening, they're merely protesting and not boycotting.

I would not be at all surprised if GOG is making money from my having an account here when I'm not spending money.
I don't recall viewing ay ads on GOG since I found this thread (unless you count the "Discover GOG Galaxy" one at the bottom), but I can only speak for myself.

It's possible I did view one or two when I updated my wish list, so in that specific regard you do have a point. If I notice any ads I'll keep that in mind and avoid using the store pages in the future.
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DoomSooth: It isn't going to be taken seriously unless those people leave and never return.
This would be utterly pointless and even counter-productive (which is probably your intention). If those in this thread deleted their accounts it would save GOG money since they would no longer be downloading updates, and allow GOG to gain more income from games re-purchasing in future.

Plus someone who is "never" going to return becomes a non-issue for GOG. It is the loss of income in the present and the possibility of regaining that income in the future that provides the incentive for change.

Aside from a misunderstanding of how boycotts work, you seem to have little understanding for how companies operate.
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DoomSooth: Are you absolutely sure that GOG isn't making money just from post activity? I'm not. I wouldn't think they are but I can't say for sure... I would not be at all surprised if GOG is making money from my having an account here when I'm not spending money.
The only way GOG could make money from forum activity is via advertising and selling user data. I run ad-blockers and have never seen an ad here, and thanks to NoScript can ensure that external webcode on this forum (which has in the past included Google Analytics and Facebook, but now just seems to be fonts.googleapis.com) is blocked.

GOG's main means of selling user data currently seems to be via Google and that occurs with purchases. So boycotters are reducing this traffic - whether that has any measurable effect is another matter. However your arguments here hold no water.
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: I'm not sure that makes a difference though, unfortunately.

It seems that from GOG's point of view, their strategy has "succeeded," their strategy to say and and do absolutely nothing in regards to the Devotion scandal, after having published their initial "many messages from gamers" lie....
GOG has benefitted from the general increase in gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic as this news item shows - a doubling in revenues and "active" user numbers allows them to overlook a lot.

However "DRM-Free" is still GOG's Unique Selling Point - backtracking on this will have those new users asking why they shouldn't just go for wider choice on Steam or more freebies on Epic. And the more discussion this thread attracts, the more attention new users are likely to pay to it.

It's likely to take a while, but once COVID-19 starts subsiding and GOG's business contracts (along with other gaming platforms), management are likely to start looking harder at those issues causing customer haemorrhage. It's not implausible that this thread may have put the brakes on further "DRM-ification" of titles like Cyberpunk 2077.
Post edited June 28, 2021 by AstralWanderer
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DoomSooth: "the process or an instance of joining with others in refusing to deal with someone (as a person, organization, or country) as a way of protesting or forcing changes"
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Hexchild: Should've told 'em to use two, I guess, Breja :D
I'm pretty sure my mistake was to partake in this deja vu of an argument at all :P

I'm still not sure if the guy is trolling or if he's that clueless for real.
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Time4Tea: I appreciate your valiant efforts to keep the boycott thread on the front page.
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: I'm not sure that makes a difference though, unfortunately.

It seems that from GOG's point of view, their strategy has "succeeded," their strategy to say and and do absolutely nothing in regards to the Devotion scandal, after having published their initial "many messages from gamers" lie.

As GOG had hoped, for the most part, the scandal has "blown over" and other than in this thread, and maybe an occasional post once in a blue moon in other random threads, no one ever talks about it any more.

And the support for the boycott in this thread probably isn't strong enough for it to be a meaningful boycott in GOG's eyes.

Plus, this scandal never gets any more media coverage.

The majority of GOG customers and the public don't seem to care any more.

Most people seem to have completely forgotten about the scandal by now.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying it's a good thing that GOG's refusal to apologize and be transparent and make things right (i.e. unbanning Devotion from GOG) has "succeeded", but I'm just stating what is the unfortunate reality.

This also sets a disturbing precedent for all future scandals that GOG will be involved with, since their bosses have now learned that the strategy to say and do nothing until the scandal blows over is a successful one that will allow them to "win" and never need to worry about being held accountable for any future nefarious actions or inactions on their parts.
I value your comments, but I don't agree with the negative viewpoint. I think it's difficult to impossible to know what impact the boycott is having on GOG's sales figures or decision-making. Regarding sales, even if there is evidence that sales haven't dipped, the past year and a half have been heavily skewed by COVID and so can't really be considered 'typical'.

In terms of their decision-making, again it's very hard to know. I think it's likely that some people working at GOG would have seen the boycott thread and/or be aware of it by now (especially those in PR/customer customer service). It's very unlikely in any event that GOG would directly respond to or acknowledge the boycott, as it's not in their interest to empower their customer base to protest. Even if they made some changes to address the boycott requests, I'm sure they would spin it in such a way as to save face.

However, it seems that at the very least, things haven't gotten any worse since the start of year. There have even been some positive signs of games that had DRM being fixed and the situation with offline installers improving. It's possible the boycott may have influenced their actions on those to some extent (of course, there is no way we will know either way). Part of the goal is to send a message and if that message is helping to influence even some small decisions in a positive way, I would call that worthwhile.

I totally agree with your last paragraph. If the community sits on their hands and lets this stuff slide, then it sets a bad precedent and sends a message to GOG that their strategy of 'do nothing, say nothing' is valid and effective. In which case, we can only expect more of the same in future. There are examples of GOG backtracking on decisions in the past, because of user backlash; however it seems these days a majority of users may be more apathetic/defeatist. Unfortunately, that mindset is effectively asking to be taken for granted and exploited. They will clearly do that, if the users let them.
I have a question,

What happened with the FCKDRM page that GOG "Good Old Games" used to have while promoting actual ownership of the buyer to the product he bought ?

fckdrm.com/ => now it only links you to the main page of GOG... Talk about shadow-banning methods & such.
Post edited June 28, 2021 by Beerbeer007
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Beerbeer007: I have a question,

What happened with the FCKDRM page that GOG "Good Old Games" used to have while promoting actual ownership of the buyer to the product he bought ?
It was taken down a couple of months ago. Great PR move, at a time when questions are being raised about GOG's DRM-free convictions!
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Hexchild: Should've told 'em to use two, I guess, Breja :D
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Breja: I'm pretty sure my mistake was to partake in this deja vu of an argument at all :P

I'm still not sure if the guy is trolling or if he's that clueless for real.
After reading his second post I knew it was a troll. Ignoring it may not make it go away. You could try what I do when I see those types of people, "shake my head and hope they have opted out of the repoduction cycle".

See my previous post 2593

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Beerbeer007: I have a question,

What happened with the FCKDRM page that GOG "Good Old Games" used to have while promoting actual ownership of the buyer to the product he bought ?
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Time4Tea: It was taken down a couple of months ago. Great PR move, at a time when questions are being raised about GOG's DRM-free convictions!
Those questions haven't gone away in my opinion.
Post edited June 28, 2021 by kblazer883
Don't know why this is 'low rated', this is necessary to ensuring that GOG remains a provider of DRM-free games. Add my name to the list, I shall now cease purchasing games from GOG until CDPR agrees to the demands. More people should join this effort if they want GOG to remain DRM-free.