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mrkgnao: a) DRM games: Yes, DRM games. I don't think the die-hard DRM-free crowd is that big and we already know what they (we) will do when GOG introduces a bit of DRM. Nothing. As long as the percentage of DRM games is small (e.g. 10%) and clearly marked, I think GOG should be fine.
With that statement you just canceled your whole point, if you don't understand what Gog is all about please do yourself a favor and move to other platforms.
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Sarafan: ... I suspect though that some changes will have to be undertaken to minimize the loss. ...
oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!! i bet the changes will be amazing!!!

as i've said it before. in the long turm, the big question is: who will by bankrupt cdpr/gog in 5 years? ubi, ea, microsoft or epic?
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StingingVelvet: ...

This forum is nothing but endless complaints about GOG most of the time, yet they're still here offering more DRM free and fixed old games than any other store.
no thats not true, hasn't been for years. they don't give a rats ass about fixing old games, even at release
Post edited September 03, 2021 by apehater
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Cavalary: Tell that to the people ending up paying more because of it. Especially when they're in poorer countries too. And then you have poor regions that don't get discounts, and poor people in wealthy regions...
If you're charging more in poorer countries then you're doing regional pricing wrong. That's not GOG's fault, publishers set the prices. The concept of a game costing a different amount in India compared to the US is perfectly sound.

In my experience most complaints about regional pricing come from Western Europeans who think that since the Euro is worth more than a dollar they should get a lower price, but that's not really how local economies work. I've been in Europe a lot and prices are roughly equal there on everything, numbers wise.
I'm "meh" over GOG dropping regional pricing, maybe because I'm in the USA and only buy at deep discounts and don't necessarily have a "globalist" view of "one planet one people one price" (not that I'm interested in starting an argument over that). I don't see a complete return to the "good old days" and for some of that I'm okay with (goodies are nice but aren't necessarily hard to track down elsewhere), but I do think DRM-free installers should be the main pushback point. (and late updates for crucial patches) Can throw in pushback against geoblocking and China's control / dropping Devotion, but I don't see how that can be done, I'm not boycotting over those. (since I don't buy much to begin with, though)
Post edited September 03, 2021 by tfishell
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Sarafan: Server space is a lesser problem here. The bigger issue is data bandwidth. But I don't think that the offline installers will disappear. It's a too recognizable feature to get rid off it.
Thanks for the reply. To me though that highlights the paradox of prioritising Galaxy over offline installers. Example:-

Person A - Downloads a "finished" game via offline installer, installs it, plays it, uninstalls it but backs it up. Then perhaps wants to replay it every 2 years (from backed up offline installer). After 10 years, he's enjoyed 5x replays from only 1x download.

Person B - Downloads the same game via Galaxy but uses it like Steam (installs it, plays it, then deletes it, then re-downloads, then deletes, then re-downloads then deletes, etc). Then perhaps he too wants to replay it every 2 years. After 10 years, he's enjoyed 5x replays from 5x downloads.

^ Person B (Galaxy user) ends up requiring 5x (+400%) more server bandwidth / load than Person A (offline installer user) for the playing the same game the same number of times. If server bandwidth is the main cause of GOG's significantly increased Selling Costs, if anything I would have thought GOG would be more interested in benefiting from the huge savings in server bandwidth that come with promoting the opposite (GOG's unique feature in not needing to re-download on every reinstall)? I really can't see any other answer to "The more GOG push Galaxy, the higher GOG's selling costs seem to go" in the long run.
Post edited September 03, 2021 by AB2012
You know something else that needs improved?
GOG's default scale. Attached are two images of the same text and interface elements, but there's one major difference: The first one is at GOG's default scale, and the second one is where I typically keep it, 120% zoom.

It's something that really screams, "Text for ants", which given that GOG's primary UI hasn't even changed all that much since 2012, isn't that surprising. I'm not even asking for everything to be a 4K SVG so it can scale to literally any size, but I am asking that perhaps a bit of width and scale could be permitted.

Addendum: GOG's lack of inline image posts has been another bugbear of mine.
Attachments:
Post edited September 03, 2021 by Darvond
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AB2012: Person A - Downloads a "finished" game via offline installer, installs it, plays it, uninstalls it but backs it up. Then perhaps wants to replay it every 2 years (from backed up offline installer). After 10 years, he's enjoyed 5x replays from only 1x download.
It's only true if the majority of people do as you write. I don't know how the statistics look like, but I suspect it's not that great in reality. Probably also a lot of the offline installers users re-download the games when they want to install them once again. There are newer versions available and not everyone has big storage capacity.

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AB2012: ^ Person B (Galaxy user) ends up requiring 5x (+400%) more server bandwidth / load than Person A (offline installer user) for the playing the same game the same number of times. If server bandwidth is the main cause of GOG's significantly increased Selling Costs, if anything I would have thought GOG would be more interested in benefiting from the huge savings in server bandwidth that come with promoting the opposite (GOG's unique feature in not needing to re-download on every reinstall)? I really can't see any other answer to "The more GOG push Galaxy, the higher GOG's selling costs seem to go" in the long run.
So what are the conclusions? GOG should drop Galaxy completely? I'm perhaps one of the not so many people who remember that Galaxy was introduced because the community did want to have a client to download their games. Of course it has evolved into something much bigger than it was planned in the beginning, but dropping it is not an option.
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StingingVelvet: In my experience most complaints about regional pricing come from Western Europeans who think that since the Euro is worth more than a dollar they should get a lower price, but that's not really how local economies work. I've been in Europe a lot and prices are roughly equal there on everything, numbers wise.
The EU, all of it, Western and Eastern, plus even a few poorer non-EU countries like Serbia and Montenegro, typically gets the "standard" USD=EUR price (which you may recall GOG was opposing right on the front page, "because $1 is not €1"), which at the moment means paying about 18% more.
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Cavalary: The EU, all of it, Western and Eastern, plus even a few poorer non-EU countries like Serbia and Montenegro, typically gets the "standard" USD=EUR price (which you may recall GOG was opposing right on the front page, "because $1 is not €1"), which at the moment means paying about 18% more.
Yes thank you for perfectly exemplifying what I said. My point is the exchange rate says nothing about the economy differences, it depends on local wages and living costs. When I was in the UK and Ireland everything cost the same number of Euros as it would dollars, the same as digital games do. Steak dinners, sodas, train tickets, whatever.

Now if there's a large variance within the Euro nations, that seems more like an EU issue than a GOG issue.
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StingingVelvet: Their roots haven't really changed, they just added more on top. The newer games, the client... all optional.
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mrkgnao: Flat pricing? No geoblocking? Complete Editions? Lots of goodies? Dialogue with the community? Support?

You might not care about them, but these were GOG's roots.
Yep. And it was a glorious time. I miss it :(

The only principle they have left, and even that one is withering before our eyes, is DRM Free.
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mrkgnao: a) DRM games: Yes, DRM games. I don't think the die-hard DRM-free crowd is that big and we already know what they (we) will do when GOG introduces a bit of DRM. Nothing. As long as the percentage of DRM games is small (e.g. 10%) and clearly marked, I think GOG should be fine.
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lixicus: With that statement you just canceled your whole point, if you don't understand what Gog is all about please do yourself a favor and move to other platforms.
Pretty damn sure that was sarcasm.
Post edited September 05, 2021 by Pangaea666
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mrkgnao: Flat pricing? No geoblocking? Complete Editions? Lots of goodies? Dialogue with the community? Support?

You might not care about them, but these were GOG's roots.
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Pangaea666: Yep. And it was a glorious time. I miss it :(

The only principle they have left, and even that one is withering before our eyes, is DRM Free.
That's not exactly true. They have one more principle, which I'm pretty sure they'll never abandon: "GOGMixes will return".
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Pangaea666: GOG should go back to its roots.
Including videos** of the staff with updates/apologies(when needed)/etc.
(**monk outfits in such videos every now and then would be optional, but welcome)

====

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Cavalary: Seriously? Nothing about TET's days?
He was a straight up bro of a staffer.....we would sometimes chat now and then when he had a free moment.
(we have a newish staffer who sort of acts the same, but still...I miss TeT)
Post edited September 05, 2021 by GamezRanker
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mrkgnao: They have one more principle, which I'm pretty sure they'll never abandon: "GOGMixes will return".
Hm? Did they ever say that again after that initial weasely statement about something like them returning in some form?
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mrkgnao: They have one more principle, which I'm pretty sure they'll never abandon: "GOGMixes will return".
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Cavalary: Hm? Did they ever say that again after that initial weasely statement about something like them returning in some form?
They don't need to repeat it to make it a principle. On the contrary, what they repeat often proves to be not a principle after all. This one is set in rock. They have been true to it ever since, they are still true to it, and I am sure they will remain true to it for all eternity.