Well Steam had one at least and a Did'nt like Police would have saved me from some badly bought games like Superheros of Howbocken, Railway Empire, Galaxy of Pen and Paper + 1, Way of the Samurai 3, Civilization IV, Lichdom Battlemage, Fallout, Kinghts and Merchants, Re:Legion or Warcraft I.
But sadly it is not possible, having 50€ on Steam all the time for trying out games there is to stupid for me and well at least games are DRM free here and that I would always give or DRM but give back if do not like.

Yeah sadly and the problem is, Let's plays do not really do justice. Okay with Heros of Hoboken it would be mayby clear but other games mayby look awseme on playing but turn out when playing as not my case. Okay Lichdom would I mayby have be a case for giving back because how bugged the game is but well it whas like only one or two euro. Other problems are that games are not like they where advertised. Examples are Valcyria Chronicles and Pathfinder Kingmaker. First one is not really a Strategy Game where you react to the enemy, but a puzzle game where find the one "correct" way to the goal after failing once or more because the game is build like you exactly know what will happen and react before it. PFK whas only honest with the time limit at the beginning. I waited until I read reviews and the reviews said there only at start timelimit and after it you have all the time you want for exploring your land. Turned out it whas not the case and there is a hidden timer. So you play through more or less rushed to find out, that even after ending campaign, you can not finally roam free because then the game is ended. That thing could only be avoided beside being honest with looking the whole game as a let's play and after it you know already the campaign.

op never replied

i stand by my comment. i am correct

I'd like to read your case for people needing to watch Let's Plays. A format that doesn't account for spoilers.
If it was video reviews, fine, helps a little bit, though even there you only get snapshots, but Let's Plays seem like a horrible suggestion.

I'd also be interested in where to find those informative reviews, because the last time I've read anything approaching something like that was Christ Centered Gamer and I'm just not fitting their target audience. Is there even a review source that reliably covers things like accessibility options, trigger warnings, content related to phobias? I'm not great at search engines, but I couldn't find anything that makes a point of answering the somewhat common question of "are there spiders in this game?". I have to assume there are a decent amount of cases where enjoyment of a game, maybe even the ability to actually play it, hinges on those factors.

Granted, I'm not sure whether you should get a refund if you're deathly afraid of cauliflower and there's some depicted in a game you bought, but I think the notion that you could have found that out beforehand is not realistic. Just figuring out if a game has colourblind options seems to be a lot more difficult than it should be.



Why would they have to?
For every system there will always be a non-zero amount of people trying to abuse it. That doesn't make the system a bad one. That's just something you have to account for.

And if you're looking at it practically, if you wanted free games it's probably easier to sail the seas instead of going through a refund process after every purchase and the inevitable chat with staff after you do that ten times in a row. And that's possible right now.

For a few refunds(store credit) it might be nice, but I think not much beyond that as it incentivizes people to do it more often(look for an easy remedy to regretted purchases)

Also let's plays might not show everything, but they still help & I feel(in general I mean) that mistakes one makes shouldn't always be "rewarded" or reversed. People who buy games are usually adults....they should know what they are getting into, and if not they should be allowed maybe a few such refunds & otherwise buy at a deep sale to not take as huge a hit to their wallets.

What about asking players who finished it specific questions like: Does that game have a time limit, how long is it on average, does it allow saves, etc.

That alone could help some mitigate some such bad buys while not spoiling games much they might want to buy and play.
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Posting this way as GOG ate my reply to you and it won't allow me to re post it unless I change it a bit....all post bits are numbered and correspond to reply bits:

1. Not as much if one only watches little bits and also uses other means(asking questions of those who finished the game/etc).

2. Wouldn't that information spoil the game almost as badly in some cases as let's plays(knowing triggers/phobia stuff/etc)?

As for reviews, one can check the "games finished in 20xx" threads here on GOG for one, and ask those who finished the games for more info if need be.

3. They should as it'd be the right thing to do....if one doesn't want a game and gets a refund they should delete it for their system...they should either get their money back as store credit or to keep the game, not both.

And yeah some wouldn't do it, which is why I think(if GOG did it) there should be a limit per year and/or store credit only for such refunds.

4. Some are afraid of such sites(legalities/being caught/etc & risk of viruses/etc) & would rather get GOG approved installers, for one.

The option to download a demo would prevent such issues. To buy a game randomly, and end up not liking it, that is special kind of stupid. There are some games which annoy me with their broken mechanics after certain period of gameplay, usually when I reach the end-game, or when I am deep into the current playthrough. Never once have I wished to refund them. There are ways to try out games before buying them, just be creative.

Woot!

I wonder if this thread was one small part in pushing gog to a very good, customer-first decision?

I'm glad they ignored all the naysayers, although amazingly, there are still people begging gog to go back on this policy, which I find especially hilarious.

But can see why somebody else might want to go back on the policy?

What I find funny is how some(not just you, but in general) seem to see only companies giving people more things as the only(or near only) way companies can show they care about their customers.

I'm personally ok with it somewhat as long as customers don't go crazy with refund requests....i.e. I hope they put their foot down on those who take advantage too much/those who seem to be scamming the site's policies.

Not sure what you mean! The policy I'm talking about here is gog's refund policy. Why would gog want to go back on its refund policy?

E.g. if it turns out they lose more with it than they gain? Like when they went back on the Fair Price policy?

Ah, fair enough. I suppose it could happen, but when it does, the refund option will no longer exist in its current form. Not sure what the purpose of dwelling on that is. It's along the lines of "What if Steam shuts down?". Inevitable, but at this point a hypothetical that doesn't serve any purpose contemplating- unless someone buys a game with a mind to refund it, and then finds out after that the refund option has been revoked.

There's a chance it could make some publishers even more sceptical about releasing games DRM-free here, since GOG can offer no guarantees now anymore that people who refund a perfectly working game will not see it as an easy way to keep the downloaded installer without paying, but that's a hypothethical as well.

If publishers are already ok with DRM-free, and they're all ok with Steam's refund policy, I don't see how they'd be not ok with this.
People keep bringing up "But then you can buy it, download it, and then ask for a refund!" as if that's more convenient than just simply pirating it (the actual steps are getting a credit card/paypal account/transfer system, using that to purchase something online, downloading it, then going through the refund process to most likely just get it refunded to your gog wallet).

People keep going on about "Oh but pirated games can have viruses!", as if that's real. As a pirate of many years (I was a student in a country without online purchasing power, sorry), I can't remember a single time I downloaded a game and got a virus. Keygens might have occasionally given me viruses if I had used them, but gog doesn't use any keys.

All this also seems to assume the fact that gog are morons who will be letting the floodgates open on millions of scammy refunders and can't tell when someone is exploiting/using a dupe account/repeatedly using the same credit card.