Our wallets can't repel prices of this magnitude!

Seriously though, it will end when the final round of games are all purchased, I should think?

By which I mean, I don't think gog has a "hardline" scheduled ending for this.

I don't think theyll ever kill it off for good. Its very popular and gets the community together for one happy, sleepless week.
I just wish they'd advertise it ahead of time and not start it on a Monday. For people with families and commitments (while both will still be there) starting it on a Friday night and having it run over 2 weekends and also if we knew about it, we could maybe prepare and maybe make some time to track the sales. I kinda feel like I missed out on some good deals...sure they'll come around again but when something like this comes around, its hard not to get caught up in the spirit. And not to mention I had very few "crit" chances in comparison to what it sounded like others had. (sounded like lots of people were hitting every game to try to get that freebie whether they wanted it or not).

Not complaining either if it sounds that way. Only trying to say a little notice/advertisement ahead of time would be a plus for everyone.

Some jackass wrote a review of Lumino City that simply says: "Please buy this sack of shit".

Perhaps some jokester hoping to hurry along the first round flash sale?

Gonna grab some sleep. I'm too tired. It's already 5:39 AM here :S
See you later. :)

You're not lying - six times I groaned when Witcher 1 /2 came up in this sale - every time - GONE in short order! Still shocked!

goodnight!

Rest up. Don't make the same mistake I did.
I waited around like a fool for Banner Saga to show up. :( And I'm 99% sure it'd show up after I doze off.

IT'S A TRAP!

No, really I only intended to buy Dead State - the trade for Grimrock and the click-lucky crit of Wasteland were just icing on the cake ;)

Lengthy reply part 1 of 2 ...

The bottom line is that the entire movie industry has regional ownership rights on just about everything produced and GOG is not going to cause say DIsney to plan their next movie to have one set of owners globally for Disney to be able to be in the GOG store DRM-free. Disney's own bottom line is not going to care about that, it wont even be the least of their priorities, it wont even be a line item during a conversation on planning the given film. And so every movie will continue to have different investors/rights owners from different parts of the world all trying to obtain the rights to a given region, and the legal ownership of the given movie will be regional. In order to get worldwide distribution rights owned by one company or set of individuals would require the entire industry change itself and have investors willing to invest globally in a given film. The reason it is likely regional probably has to do with the risks of an individual product being received very well in one region and perhaps not in another, so one set of owners doesn't want to take the risks of that region and they only invest in the movie's success in say North America, which then leads to regional ownership.

From the consumer point of view having worldwide distribution is perhaps considered superior for what the end user gets out of it, but from the investor's view to put their money into the making of a movie they simply may not be willing to put up the money to buy worldwide rights, and so the rights for those regions are sold to another investor instead. Unless all of these investors that own the rights end up all agreeing to one set of conditions for their movie to be sold including pricing and other factors important to the vocal minority on GOG.com, then that movie wont end up here ever. Multiply that entire negotiation process times every single movie and TV show ever made and GOG could be spending many man hours on the phone and fighting the good fight for years just to secure the worldwide rights for one single film.

It is basically a high-overhead complex legal ownership mess that comes out of the way in which movie rights are bought and funded from the start. It's not inherently evil, it's just legally complicated. But to try to reconcile that to the terms that some people are asking for is just unrealistic to expect to happen all-or-nothing. The overhead involved with trying to make it happen, and the complexity of convincing the rights owners to a huge set of conditions they don't have to accommodate at any other place they sell their assets just to pick up a small fraction of a currently niche market is most likely considered by them not worth their time and effort for the headaches.

Every single movie would have to go through this arduous process from what we've been told, which could take eons to come through.

In the end, ownership rights are regional on just about everything made and that is not likely to ever end with or without GOG. So GOG can either negotiate for content for a given region and get it, and then perhaps the success of the sales of that might help to negotiate with the owners of the same content in another region, then another until perhaps they secure the rights for that content worldwide over time - or they can spend years trying to convince all of the rights owners to simultaneously agree to it and that's going to be a much more difficult sales pitch to make really. Even if they can secure the rights to one single movie worldwide like that and be able to start calling it a success...

... then if it is sold in US-only currency and pricing, people will complain they can't buy it in their own local currency and have to convert to USD at a loss and scream about it. If GOG makes it available in local currencies, then people will complain because the prices are higher in one country than another due to currency volatility, country specific VAT or similar, etc. If GOG eats the cost differences of that up, people will complain because one country gets a better deal than another in certain circumstances or whatever. If GOG tries to eat the costs of that and come to some solution at their own expense, people will complain because ... well... because people will complain. That's just it - people will complain just to find a constant reason to not be happy with something no matter what GOG does. If one subset of people are happy about a decision, another highly vocal group of people spring up feeling disenfranchised and complain. Please them, and another group will spring up and complain.

<continued in part 2>

Congratulations on critting:)

I finally found it...Dwarf Vader.

I saw that too... irony was they gave it 5*s if I recall correctly. I want the game it looks great art wise but not in my personal impulse buying zone at a $10 price point.

Lengthy reply part 2 of 2 (continued from Part 1)

Ultimately GOG is pure evil in someone's eyes at all times even if they just gave everything away for free and the employees paid for it all for everyone instead, and then donated any other money they had to feed the hungry. Someone would then complain that they are donating the money to feed the hungry, but what about the lame?

Talk about your can't-win situations. The way I see it, GOG simply can't do anything whatsoever and have it met with universal appeal and applause. Doesn't matter what it is or how good their intentions will be behind it, some small group of highly vocal people will feel disenfranchised, complain and make GOG have to back out of it or eat the costs of it. I don't envy the good folk at GOG and the difficult decisions they have to very carefully make to grow their business. In some ways they've backed themselves into a hole they can't get out of now.

If you want to make an omelette, you have to break some eggs. If GOG wants to make an omelette, they have to deal with an angry mob of PETA members protesting them for taking chicken's eggs, an angry mob of people who wanted duck eggs, another mob that wanted ostrich eggs, another mob that thinks the omelette is too small, another mob angry that GOG is selling omelettes worldwide when their government has banned eggs in their country and GOG has to comply with that country's laws anyway, and another group who would prefer to buy an omelette from GOG but will end up just buying an egg McMuffin from McDonalds instead because they want it bad enough and it's the preferred option most people go with in lieu of GOG's omelette availability.

I think GOG has made some errors in judgment in the past about some of their decisions, but mostly communicating them to people well enough and ahead of time. Many of these things they've recanted on due to pressure, but I sometimes wish they'd just go ahead and make some bold changes most people do actually find reasonable and just let people who disagree go shop elsewhere. They might lose some business in the short term, but the progress they make as a result will draw in 10 times as many new customers potentially to make up for the loss.

One of the only reasons I'm even speaking my thoughts on this right now is that I think there are many many people out there who think very similarly to me but either just don't want to get involved, or are too afraid to speak their mind, and so most of what GOG actually sees in the forums is the thoughts of a very vocal minority, and they are afraid of that. I think they do need to be concerned and to try to accommodate people as best as they can, but I think that they cave in to the vocal minority all too often and never know what the non-vocal majority might be thinking. I never see much of a peep in the forums from people who think similarly to myself and so I say my thoughts so that at least someone has said it, and perhaps that makes others come forward who agree and GOG gets a more balanced view of the big picture. Of course I could have everything wrong too - I could be in the minority and the majority could be the ones who fight every thing GOG tries to do to move forward and expand their business and offerings to customers. I guess we all have our feelings about that without a way of knowing, but we can let our thoughts be known and GOG can take it as feedback at least and help them weigh the pros and cons in a more balanced manner.

In closing, I can say that if GOG brings Hollywood type movies/TV Shows etc. here to the GOG store DRM-free and they are things that I would like to own and I am able to purchase them in my region (whether or not any other region can), and I can purchase them in USD or CAD, or even in EUR and the final price I'll pay for the content I consider worth the price for what I get in return, I'll gladly buy it even if someone on Mars has to pay10 times as much. I don't want things to be regionally restricted, nor for prices to be unfair for people, but for reasons beyond my power if that is the way it is, that is the way it is, and I'll buy what I can get for myself if it is a good deal for me realizing and accepting the fact that all of the injustices in the world can't be solved in a day and not by one company overnight even though they certainly seem to try and do their best. If someone in another country is unable to buy or has to pay more, then those of us in a better situation can perhaps help them like happens already bypassing censorship etc. via proxy or one person buying and sending the code to someone else etc.

I highly recommend everyone read "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu also. The wisdom in that is widely applicable to business and any other competitive situation in life where differing opinions come together to resolve problems, especially situations where a disenfranchised minority goes up against a giant goliath where the odds are against them. If us GOGites want to see better practices in the industry and more consumer-fairness, then we need to be more methodical about getting to that point and less emotional. More method and logic, less emotion, and sometimes that means doing things you'd rather not, making compromises you'd rather not, or other things that leave a sour taste in the mouth in order to win the war by not getting caught up in the details of any one given battle along the way. IMHO, it is short term negative emotional reactions that end up being the death knell for long term positive change more often than not. It's just sad to see it happen over and over again when there are other ways to achieve the end goals incrementally and with patience.

I respect everyone's opinions about this whether or not I agree with them, but just want to see a more two-sided exchange about the subject matter as well. I also want to see everyone whose approach to the end game that I disagree with ultimately get what they want. We have more in common with what we'd like to see after all is said and done than we differ on, even if we differ about how to get there after all!

Am I mistaken, or were there things still on the list before they finished then they finished!

Old British saying: Dont start some bollocks unless you're willing to finish it!

Very well said and very respectfully said. Nothing is ever perfect and I agree that "The Art of War" is worth reading.