Posted January 05, 2021
low rated
Update 1/20/2022:
Having boycotted GOG successfully for a year and given there have been few signs of improvement, nor any signs of GOG seriously addressing most of the listed grievances, we are intending to continue the boycott through 2022. Following a vote in December by people who had signed up on the list, it was decided that the title of the thread would change, to reflect the continuing timeframe of the protest. The list of people from 2021 has been carried over - if anyone didn't intend to continue boycotting into 2022, please let me know and I will happily remove your name from the list.
Also, to clarify some confusion that has arisen recently: we are using a flexible and permissive interpretation of the term 'boycott' and are considering anyone who is significantly reducing their spending to be boycotting. No, we are not going to tell the person who was spending $1000 per year and is reducing by 80% that they can't be on the list ;-)
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:
Firstly, the continued slippage of GOG's DRM-free values. The promise of 100% DRM-free is what the site was originally founded on and yet GOG seems to be allowing this principle to be increasingly eroded. The games Absolver and Dying Light are two examples of games that include single-player DRM and there are several more listed here. GOG is aware of these games, but has apparently made no effort to address them. CDPR also seem to continue to believe the rules on GOG don't apply to their own games, firstly with Gwent and more recently the DRMed single-player rewards and Piggyback Interactive Map for Cyberpunk. In addition, GOG's recent deal with Epic appears to be a cover for GOG to start selling DRMed games. This is clear from the fact that GOG is providing technical support for DRMed 'EGS' games sold via Galaxy.
Next, the continued heavy pushing of Galaxy and the lack of maintenance of the offline installers. Several times in recent months, GOG has given incentives only to Galaxy users in the form of bonus content or free games. This has the effect of making non-Galaxy users feel like second-class customers. Also, there many well documented cases of GOG neglecting to update offline installers (refer to the list here), even though they are updating the Galaxy versions, so they clearly have the updated files. This is not acceptable - offline installers are the core of the DRM-free concept. All of this points to a worrying trend which may ultimately lead to GOG abandoning offline installers entirely and making Galaxy mandatory.
On another point, several acts of censorship have been perpetrated by GOG, which are unacceptable. Firstly, there was the debacle with Devotion in December 2020 (which was a strong catalyst for this protest). GOG's decision to be complicit in imposing Chinese censorship on non-Chinese users is simply unacceptable. The game needs to be released on GOG immediately. In addition, there have been cases recently where GOG staff have deleted legitimate negative reviews of games (for example, this was reported to have occurred with Blade Runner Enhanced Edition). This amounts to censorship of GOG customers and false advertising (which may even be illegal in some countries). Each and every one of those deleted reviews needs to be reinstated, without delay.
The wishlist request for Devotion can be signed here.
Actions I would like to see GOG taking:
DRM:
1) Remove Gwent from GOG.
2) Remove DRM from the bonus cosmetics in Cyberpunk and remove the DRMed Piggyback Interactive Map from the store.
3) Address the games on this list that are currently sold on GOG, which include non-cosmetic DRM. The developers in question should be given a warning to remove the DRM asap. If not heeded, the games should be de-listed. This includes the games Absolver, Dying Light, Carcassone Tiles and Tactics and Fishing: North Atlantic - Scallops Expansion
4) Address the other games on the above list that include locked cosmetics.
5) Cancel the deal with Epic.
6) Stop providing free games/incentives only to Galaxy users.
7) Assign adequate resources to maintenance of the offline installers. There is a list of games available here, where the offline installer version is behind the Galaxy version (some of these entries go back to 2020).
Censorship:
1) Release Devotion immediately
2) Restore legitimate negative reviews that have been deleted (from games such as Blade Runner Enhanced Edition)
For me to make any purchases on GOG this year, Devotion needs to be released at least a couple of the items on the DRM list need to happen. I.e. I want to see clear signs of a change in trajectory of the site, away from it's current misguided direction towards being a weak Steam competitor and back towards the principles it was founded on.
Is anyone else intending to boycott GOG? Who is with me?
Update 1: Below is the response from GOG staff to a user who asked why they were not doing anything about the games on GOG that are listed to include DRM (if we need any more proof about GOG's total apathy regarding DRM-free):
All games available on GOG have offline installers available. We stay in touch with the partners and do our best to keep them up to date. However, video games continue to evolve with many titles offering online modes, cosmetics, and incentives for completing certain actions by players. This might be subjective, but as long as these additional features and rewards do not affect the single-player offline experience in a major way, we believe that the developers and publishers should be free to design and sell their games in a way they choose.
That statement is not compatible with the promise of a DRM-free game store that GOG has been making to their users for the past 10+ years.
Update 2:
To provide a standard answer to the many people who have said they won't join the boycott because they don't think a boycott by a limited number of users can be effective against a large corporation, this article provides a list of many successful consumer boycotts. Also note that GOG users have successfully boycotted in the past over issues such as Galaxy being bundled with the offline installers. This is not a hopeless cause. Claiming it is so is false and nothing but a convenient excuse for those that want to sit on their hands.
People who are boycotting, to whatever degree they're comfortable with:
1) Time4Tea
2) Lifthrasil
3) joppo
4) kdgog
5) Ancient-Red-Dragon
6) Seceroth
7) TencentInvestor
8) pearnon
9) Leevi
10) gloombandit
11) MajicMan
12) Chaossaturn
13) Grahor
14) Orkhepaj
15) B1tF1ghter
16) _Auster_
17) rtcvb32
18) fr33kSh0w2012
19) Hexchild
20) GreasyDogMeat
21) DevotedTitan
22) Zegpi
23) gargus
24) DrearierSpider
25) WeirdoGeek
26) Zorzy
27) Kohleran
28) plagren
29) Lesser Blight Elemental
30) Captainchicken84
31) dycaite
32) Amiko Novich
33) Agent-94
34) evilprotoss
35) TrueBlueGamer
36) faldofas
37) ShadowXOR
38) Adoru
39) g00dbye
40) LordJF
41) nevasith
42) TormentFan
43) ApeKing
44) Dalswyn
45) aiMute
46) Shendue
47) classic-gamer
48) ResidentLeever
49) DesmondOC
50) AstralWanderer
51) Cavalary
52) hollibolli1970
53) sebastelian
54) FateIsOneEdge
55) theseawulf
56) A CRICKET RIDING A TUMBLEWEED
57) RETRON84
58) Mplath1
59) RichDude_2005
60) LtOin
61) granny
62) romulus16
63) KiNgBrAdLeY7
64) Arsen7
65) Firefox31780
66) 5P34R
67) shattenyagger
68) OldOldGamer
69) DeadCityResident
70) Serpens6
71) TheRPGenius
72) fraan11
73) Ragmand
74) Souffrir
75) Doomjedi
76) PirroEpirote
77) Witch2Gog6
78) Nalkoden
79) Peaceful Protestor
80) mqstout
81) Eidskogian
82) rtwjunkie
83) Kyousuke
84) ElektroSmokes
85) zakius
86) SuccessDenied
87) LordEbu
88) beresk_let
89) lostwolfe
90) wintermute.
91) Pyromancer138
92) lmc2002
93) torkel104
94) sanscript
95) Creo1
96) GamezRanker
97) watchinofoye
98) ChinaGovIsFacist
99) Elkinda
100) Moriaantjie
101) zeragrin
102) springtoiffel
103) Executer
104) Mirrorio
105) Dave3d
106) ddeceive
107) Engerek01
108) wolf_and_shadow
109) viine
110) whitelynx
111) Tuttle757
112) Nightcraw1er.488
113) tassforaiur
114) whistle-blower
115) Dryspace
People who are sympathetic to the concept:
Moved to this post (as we seem to have reached the max. character limit).
(current as of post #5828)
Having boycotted GOG successfully for a year and given there have been few signs of improvement, nor any signs of GOG seriously addressing most of the listed grievances, we are intending to continue the boycott through 2022. Following a vote in December by people who had signed up on the list, it was decided that the title of the thread would change, to reflect the continuing timeframe of the protest. The list of people from 2021 has been carried over - if anyone didn't intend to continue boycotting into 2022, please let me know and I will happily remove your name from the list.
Also, to clarify some confusion that has arisen recently: we are using a flexible and permissive interpretation of the term 'boycott' and are considering anyone who is significantly reducing their spending to be boycotting. No, we are not going to tell the person who was spending $1000 per year and is reducing by 80% that they can't be on the list ;-)
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:
Firstly, the continued slippage of GOG's DRM-free values. The promise of 100% DRM-free is what the site was originally founded on and yet GOG seems to be allowing this principle to be increasingly eroded. The games Absolver and Dying Light are two examples of games that include single-player DRM and there are several more listed here. GOG is aware of these games, but has apparently made no effort to address them. CDPR also seem to continue to believe the rules on GOG don't apply to their own games, firstly with Gwent and more recently the DRMed single-player rewards and Piggyback Interactive Map for Cyberpunk. In addition, GOG's recent deal with Epic appears to be a cover for GOG to start selling DRMed games. This is clear from the fact that GOG is providing technical support for DRMed 'EGS' games sold via Galaxy.
Next, the continued heavy pushing of Galaxy and the lack of maintenance of the offline installers. Several times in recent months, GOG has given incentives only to Galaxy users in the form of bonus content or free games. This has the effect of making non-Galaxy users feel like second-class customers. Also, there many well documented cases of GOG neglecting to update offline installers (refer to the list here), even though they are updating the Galaxy versions, so they clearly have the updated files. This is not acceptable - offline installers are the core of the DRM-free concept. All of this points to a worrying trend which may ultimately lead to GOG abandoning offline installers entirely and making Galaxy mandatory.
On another point, several acts of censorship have been perpetrated by GOG, which are unacceptable. Firstly, there was the debacle with Devotion in December 2020 (which was a strong catalyst for this protest). GOG's decision to be complicit in imposing Chinese censorship on non-Chinese users is simply unacceptable. The game needs to be released on GOG immediately. In addition, there have been cases recently where GOG staff have deleted legitimate negative reviews of games (for example, this was reported to have occurred with Blade Runner Enhanced Edition). This amounts to censorship of GOG customers and false advertising (which may even be illegal in some countries). Each and every one of those deleted reviews needs to be reinstated, without delay.
The wishlist request for Devotion can be signed here.
Actions I would like to see GOG taking:
DRM:
1) Remove Gwent from GOG.
2) Remove DRM from the bonus cosmetics in Cyberpunk and remove the DRMed Piggyback Interactive Map from the store.
3) Address the games on this list that are currently sold on GOG, which include non-cosmetic DRM. The developers in question should be given a warning to remove the DRM asap. If not heeded, the games should be de-listed. This includes the games Absolver, Dying Light, Carcassone Tiles and Tactics and Fishing: North Atlantic - Scallops Expansion
4) Address the other games on the above list that include locked cosmetics.
5) Cancel the deal with Epic.
6) Stop providing free games/incentives only to Galaxy users.
7) Assign adequate resources to maintenance of the offline installers. There is a list of games available here, where the offline installer version is behind the Galaxy version (some of these entries go back to 2020).
Censorship:
1) Release Devotion immediately
2) Restore legitimate negative reviews that have been deleted (from games such as Blade Runner Enhanced Edition)
For me to make any purchases on GOG this year, Devotion needs to be released at least a couple of the items on the DRM list need to happen. I.e. I want to see clear signs of a change in trajectory of the site, away from it's current misguided direction towards being a weak Steam competitor and back towards the principles it was founded on.
Is anyone else intending to boycott GOG? Who is with me?
Update 1: Below is the response from GOG staff to a user who asked why they were not doing anything about the games on GOG that are listed to include DRM (if we need any more proof about GOG's total apathy regarding DRM-free):
All games available on GOG have offline installers available. We stay in touch with the partners and do our best to keep them up to date. However, video games continue to evolve with many titles offering online modes, cosmetics, and incentives for completing certain actions by players. This might be subjective, but as long as these additional features and rewards do not affect the single-player offline experience in a major way, we believe that the developers and publishers should be free to design and sell their games in a way they choose.
Update 2:
To provide a standard answer to the many people who have said they won't join the boycott because they don't think a boycott by a limited number of users can be effective against a large corporation, this article provides a list of many successful consumer boycotts. Also note that GOG users have successfully boycotted in the past over issues such as Galaxy being bundled with the offline installers. This is not a hopeless cause. Claiming it is so is false and nothing but a convenient excuse for those that want to sit on their hands.
People who are boycotting, to whatever degree they're comfortable with:
1) Time4Tea
2) Lifthrasil
3) joppo
4) kdgog
5) Ancient-Red-Dragon
6) Seceroth
7) TencentInvestor
8) pearnon
9) Leevi
10) gloombandit
11) MajicMan
12) Chaossaturn
13) Grahor
14) Orkhepaj
15) B1tF1ghter
16) _Auster_
17) rtcvb32
18) fr33kSh0w2012
19) Hexchild
20) GreasyDogMeat
21) DevotedTitan
22) Zegpi
23) gargus
24) DrearierSpider
25) WeirdoGeek
26) Zorzy
27) Kohleran
28) plagren
29) Lesser Blight Elemental
30) Captainchicken84
31) dycaite
32) Amiko Novich
33) Agent-94
34) evilprotoss
35) TrueBlueGamer
36) faldofas
37) ShadowXOR
38) Adoru
39) g00dbye
40) LordJF
41) nevasith
42) TormentFan
43) ApeKing
44) Dalswyn
45) aiMute
46) Shendue
47) classic-gamer
48) ResidentLeever
49) DesmondOC
50) AstralWanderer
51) Cavalary
52) hollibolli1970
53) sebastelian
54) FateIsOneEdge
55) theseawulf
56) A CRICKET RIDING A TUMBLEWEED
57) RETRON84
58) Mplath1
59) RichDude_2005
60) LtOin
61) granny
62) romulus16
63) KiNgBrAdLeY7
64) Arsen7
65) Firefox31780
66) 5P34R
67) shattenyagger
68) OldOldGamer
69) DeadCityResident
70) Serpens6
71) TheRPGenius
72) fraan11
73) Ragmand
74) Souffrir
75) Doomjedi
76) PirroEpirote
77) Witch2Gog6
78) Nalkoden
79) Peaceful Protestor
80) mqstout
81) Eidskogian
82) rtwjunkie
83) Kyousuke
84) ElektroSmokes
85) zakius
86) SuccessDenied
87) LordEbu
88) beresk_let
89) lostwolfe
90) wintermute.
91) Pyromancer138
92) lmc2002
93) torkel104
94) sanscript
95) Creo1
96) GamezRanker
97) watchinofoye
98) ChinaGovIsFacist
99) Elkinda
100) Moriaantjie
101) zeragrin
102) springtoiffel
103) Executer
104) Mirrorio
105) Dave3d
106) ddeceive
107) Engerek01
108) wolf_and_shadow
109) viine
110) whitelynx
111) Tuttle757
112) Nightcraw1er.488
113) tassforaiur
114) whistle-blower
115) Dryspace
People who are sympathetic to the concept:
Moved to this post (as we seem to have reached the max. character limit).
(current as of post #5828)
Post edited October 09, 2022 by Time4Tea
