At least GoG are saying on the store page (in a very visible way):

Skirmish Matches Notice: Please note that the skirmish matches are not available offline and require GOG GALAXY client to access.

It's a shame that the skirmish matches are considered part of the multiplayer part of the game, but it seems like this is down to how the game is designed rather than anything nefarious on GoG's part (of course, there's a further argument about whether multiplayer should need Galaxy etc, but that's not something that I'm interested in engaging in as I'm more interested in a good story-driven single player experience than playing against a bunch strangers)

the codeword there is ownership checks, and it does not matter if it is first or third party. howeverr, dependensies that do not do ownership checks are not DRM. so what you are saying here is that DRM = DRM.

And Galaxy does do ownership checks and requires online connections. It is indeed used, entirely too often, as DRM. Including as it would in this case. You're right that dependencies != DRM. But you're trying to excuse this one that is more than just a dependency.

The GOG version is still one step above the Steam version imo. Since you cannot even play the steam version Single player without steam. I highly dought it was done because of Galaxy. Everything is not that simple.
But GOG did not remove LAN for DOW 2. How much control dose GOG have over adding LAN back, or is that up to SEGA?

what galaxy does or does not do, i do not know. in this case, does it verify ownership or does it only provide the online framework?

I am not exusing anything, i am trying to give an answer to the initial question, and just refusing to equate everything I do not like with DRM

(by the way, having to be online is in itself a dependancy. it is shit and very bad design for single player, but it does not necessary mean it is DRM)

You have 0 games? I'm guessing a user that was banned sometime ago.

Yes requiring GOG Galaxy is Digital Rights Management (DRM).

I wish multiplayer was Digital Rights Management (DRM) free again, only a few video games I can think of in the past had truly 100% Digital Rights Management (DRM) free multiplayer and that was.

Unreal Tournament

Rune

Red Faction 1

And Unreal Tournament 2004

And every video game that had LAN support.

The Golden age. Even Socom for PS2 had LAN.

DRM isn't just about ownership. DRM is about managing your rights, whether the product is "owned" or not. If a game is built in such a way that enables a third party to cut you off from it or otherwise disable parts of the game for you, then yes it has DRM with or without ownership checks.

Why even butt in the discussion if you have no idea? Yes, it does verify ownership.

I don't know how old you are but you gave the answer to yourself.

"Skirmish" started out as the option to add Bots to the MP and play only against those bots. it usually had MP rules, MP Maps and MP options. For the many players who had no network connection back then.

Don't mix it up with usually script controlled hand build missions with special conditions, special goals and stuff.

Sometimes it was placed in a separated menu, but often enough it was not.
Technically for many games it was the same but without connecting to other players (talking about games with direct connection type) or without calling the servers (for server based stuff). But often enough the game was creating a "gameserver" for skirmish on its own, like it would did for MP.

There are even enough games where you can farm whatever is farmable in MP ("level", wins, whatever) while doing "skirmishes".

Maybe it is time to accept that our supply of "good old and drm-free games" is running dry. Steam is a thing since 2003. More and more games required online registration and authentication ("DRM"). Online multiplayer gradually replaced LAN sessions. Now, some modern games even offer hybrid single- & multiplayer experiences, where random other players may drop in and out of your game at any time. That means no classic "campaign" anymore either.

Personally, I want neither DRM (rights management in the narrower sense), nor online-/client-dependence. I buy on GOG simply because they provide those offline installers. And I can rest assured that no one can take my downloads away from me. If that "golden age" is coming to an end, well ... that's bad. Not just for us customers, but for GOG, too. Because it invalidates GOG's business model of selling DRM-free games. What remains is just a weak imitation of Steam.

I remember when people initially rallied against Steam: "What if they close shop overnight? Will I lose all my games?" But then they went like: "Nah, won't happen. Steam is too big to fail."
Can you say the same about GOG?

Coming full circle: If games become client-dependent, which they do now on GOG, then I'd rather bet my money on the Steam platform. Fun fact: I boycotted Steam for 15 years(!); finally bought my first game (PUBG) in 2018. This summer, I already spent twice as much $$$ on their platform as I did here.

This is why I am fighting as hard as I can so we can finally get 100% Digital Rights Management (DRM) free multiplayer.

It is costing a lot of money, but even if it never happens at least I tried. So at least I got that going. May be one day we will have it.

It's only going to get worse with MP. Even more, because MS won its FTC case.

If and only if you convenienty ignore all games that didn't have their multiplayer removed and aren't dependent on galaxy. Funny.. they could offer DRM-free multiplayer, but they choose not to.