Sad :(
For all others not spending money on gog (and hopefully steam), keep strong!

Yet the response itself was pretty black and white, despite the option not to be so. At the end of the day, GOG pissed off somebody, doesn't really matter who, by offering Devotion. Then, GOG decided to go 180 degrees, and piss off someone else. We could argue which party is wroth more to GOG, but, well, at this point, can GOG redeem itself and regain full trust of either somebody or somebody else? Surely, not pissing anyone off to begin with would've been best, but was it really wise to piss off somebody else if it doesn't really change how somebody feels? We could discuss who both parties are, but does it really matter, or is it more about how they handled it overall?

to use your style - do we need to, though? does this have anything to do with what I posted? does it really matter? is it done? do I really care?

(No offense but) I think it's time you go and read the ENTIRE post collection in this thread before you come and imply you are some sort of saviour of humanity by being implied the first one to point out something that was in fact already pointed out multiple times LONG AGO.
YES, there is a slim chance that these messages were from real people.
But there is far more against that theory.
Plus there is COMPLETE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY from GOG for seemingly no reason - do you think GOG would stay silent for so long if that would REALLY be "normal people"?

Right... So, obviously, there always may be people who will get OUTRAGED by international HUMAN RIGHT to free speech - right to free expression through art, such as games, falls within this cathegory.
But if, IF, those would be real people having concerns then 2 things would happen:
1.Those REAL PEOPLE would NOT resort to what is essentially covert ops.
They would use many different NORMAL communication channels, they would be vocal in various places other extended period of time, NOT just in 1 specific contact form other suspiciously tight time window.
2.They would have no legal, moral or any other right to block INTERNATIONAL release of the game.
If any real gamers in CH would want this game gone they can only legally try to block it in CH. Outside of there there is free speech (and right to free expression) guaranteed as a human right and so action such as this technically isn't even legal internationally.

Do you have ANY IDEA how many western services are blocked there yet people interested in them still access them?
There is VPN and people there ACTIVELY UTILISE IT.

I don't *think* you can announce marketing material on targeted country X social media if you are not officially registered business there.

I would also like to point out that GOG has official chinese language support on the website whereas it doesn't even have Japanese language support as of now. That speaks loads about GOG's attitude to worldwide market shares' "equality".

Hey, do you really think people in there would be afraid of THAT that much?
Their gov is known to be able to block pretty much ANYTHING for no reason on a brink of an eye.
One would think people there are already used to western services getting banned.
So really, this doesn't change ANYTHING.

They dug their own grave on the same merit this game is blocked, that is specificly, taking actions on past content.
Because as far as I know THE GAME IN QUESTION got the CONTENT IN QUESTION removed long before there was even an announcement of this game's distribution by GOG.
The allegedly "offending content" was GONE long before the point when the announcement was made so technically the entire argument of "a bunch of 'gamers' contacted us to block INTERNATIONAL release of the game because it contains offensive content Z" is a bunch of BS, a made up lie, because it either DOESN'T HOLD UP AT ALL (since the content was REMOVED BEFORE THAT) or it's all made up BS.
Either way GOG has burned their reputation with this to the ground and they continue plummeting by not making an official statement and releasing proofs for the rightfullness of their decision (remember, GOG broke already signed contract with a developer/publisher - they can TOTALLY be held LEGALLY responsible for that - and they SHOULD BE).

(edit starts here)

Does it even matter?
GOG as a company has to ask themselves a simple question of what matters to them more:
(let me quote myself since I already said it well before)
OR
.
.
.(dots are for spacing since GOG cr*ppy forum software ignores my line breaks here)
Just because YOU do not care does NOT mean OTHERS do not too.

edit: added response to post 1106 added simultaneously with my post 1107.

The lack of transparacy means it can only ever be speculations. what you belive is another matter

yes ther are many breaches of human rights in China. What else is new? It also have no impact on what gOg decides. gOg is a buiness, not a moral endavor

do they? got any evidence or numbers to back this up? And do please keep buisnes and private VPN's seperate.

Many buisness use VPN's, they have to to do buinsess across the GFoC, but for private people it is different. There are reports, however, of people getting arrsested for using a VPN (for example https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3095201/man-punished-using-vpn-scale-chinas-great-firewall-and-watch-porn). Or getting fined for using them (https://uk.pcmag.com/news/119084/china-starts-issuing-145-fines-for-using-a-vpn)

Even as a westerner visitng China, and you usea VPN, you risk having the device confiscated and the VPN deleted (https://nordvpn.com/blog/vpn-for-china/). So while some may use a VPN, i do wonder how many.

And they did not either, as gOg do not officially trade there. They did an annoucment on Twitter in chineese (god only knows what they wherer thinking....) They did not do it on for example Weibo, it was Twitter, And, yes, thank you for proving the point for me, re. Chinese on gOg's forum, shows how big the market is.
many western buisness do trade in China under the principle "don't rock the boat"

For a start, GOG has shown no evidence of these 'messages from many gamers'. Besides, does it not seem highly suspicious that they would do a complete 180 on the release on the same day as receiving those messages, yet not even have the decency to acknowledge or reply to the thousands of GOG customers who have signed and commented on the wishlist request in over 2 weeks?

Secondly, even if some Chinese gamers were outraged at the game, they (and the Chinese government) have no business whatsoever dictating what happens outside of China and what games we in the free world can and cannot play. Especially since the offending content has been removed from the game anyway. Therefore, even if true, their demands are clearly unreasonable and GOG has given in far too easily to what seems to be blatant blackmail.

It is simply disgusting and inexcusable behavior from GOG. You give the impression of someone who is trying to stir up a conspiracy theory to suit what you want to believe, because you are a die-hard GOG fanboy who will defend them to the death, regardless of what they do.

I think it was more of an 'oh, shit, what have we done' moment when they was made aware of it, and compared to the Chinese market, the 1000 wishlist entries is really less then a drop in the ocean. If we turn it around, it is you who can be seen as selfish for damanding (and here it is demand) gOg to release this game, without any considerations for others. (want anyone think of the Chinese children!!!)

Who have said anything about demands? Did gOg say "gamers demanded"? What if it was a - "please don't do this gOg, pretty please with sugar on top"

Demands, blackmail etc, is something you have made up. if not, provide some evidence. I'm not saying this is not the case, but without evidence it is just speculations (like almost everything else here)
points of view, if it is group 2 of gamers that asked gOg, then it is quite nice of gOg to take them in consideration.

(sniggers at being called a die hard gOg fan boy, need to keep this for the future. And when all else fails - add an ad hominem)

nope. Yep. Absolutely, and this precisely the point. That's up to you.

Good

nope


nah

good

What do you mean by that? If GOG were to release the game in the rest of the world and just block it in China, how would that negatively impact the Chinese? Somehow I'm selfish for not wanting the Chinese to impose their standards of censorship on me? Your logic is so warped it is hard to believe you can actually be serious. How is it any of the Chinese people's f-ing business what happens outside of China?

If they were just asking politely, why would GOG agree to that, given they were 'asking' for something unreasonable, that doesn't affect them and is none of their business (for the game to be blocked worldwide)?

What we know is that GOG did a complete 180 and pulled the game on the same day that they supposedly received 'messages from many gamers' asking them to pull it. No evidence has been provided by GOG to back this up. None of those messages have been made public. If so, they made their decision very quickly indeed, having listened to only one side of the debate and not consulting their user base more widely (i.e. outside of China). Why should users in China have some sort of veto over GOG's global policy, as it affects users in the rest of the world?

On the flipside, we know GOG has received many messages from gamers both here and on their social media pages, which they have completely ignored, with not even the barest acknowledgement.

Something clearly doesn't add up there. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see that.

you seem to be stuck in a single loop, and forgetting I am talking about alternative scenarios

who do you refert to here when you say 'they'? who do you think I was refering to?

they have no veto, gOg was bing kind to them (and still want that lovely Renminbi)

Indeed, so all conjecture an no proof

You are referring to 'Chinese gamers' asking GOG 'nicely' to not release the game, correct? If not, perhaps you could clarify what 'alternative scenario' you are referring to?

Ok, so even if GOG are screwing over non-Chinese gamers, you are saying it is ok, because 'they were being kind to the Chinese'? Sorry, but that makes very little sense.

To use an analogy, let's say my neighbor asks our local town authorities 'nicely' to send some people to come and burn down my shed in my garden, and they comply. It's my shed, which is not interfering with my neighbor in any way and is none of his business. That would be perfectly ok, because the authorities were 'being kind to him', in doing what he asked, regardless of the fact that the act violated my rights and had a negative impact on me? I would have no cause to complain. In fact, I would be selfish to complain, because that would imply my neighbor's wishes should be disregarded.

I'd say that is very close to the scenario you are painting. Besides, your statement 'still want that lovely Renminbi' implies a threat that money would have been withheld if GOG didn't comply. That doesn't sound like a 'polite request' to me.

There is literally zero logic in any of your last 6 posts.

Making deductions based on things that we know, which all seem to point to the same conclusion, is called 'logic'. You might want to consider familiarizing yourself with the concept.

I bought the Heretic and Hexen games. I wanted to buy more but that was all my will power could muster. A working out of box version of Hexen 2 was just too much for me, I couldn't refuse.

Everyone, please do kindly consider adding your vote to all the "Winnie the Pooh" games listed on the community wishlist.
Search for "pooh" to catch them all.
The idea is to only have Devotion and Winnie the Pooh games at the top of the community wishlist, for added visibility and to further help our cause for Freedom of Speech. Thanks!