"wouldn't've" may look strange, but is correct. It's short for "would not have".

Cheers,

Your friendly grammar nazi (sorry, that error really grates on my nerves!)

In Steam individual downloads are always a plus, because you can organize your library in categories the way you want, you have sorting and visualization options etc. Not to mention all the other advantages (auto-update, auto-installation, cloud for saves etc). And I don't even care about achievements. Nothing would prevent GOG from doing something similar, DRM has nothing to do with this. Desura has also its own client, and their games are also DRM-free. Right now GOG compared to Steam has:

1. a downloader (pretty basic)
2. a nice forum but you can't bowse other people activities
3. a library that is.. like it is now
4. and nothing else (except DRM-free, but many offer this)

At GOG they thought they could compete with Steam, but they mess everything up when they change something. GOG won't get real until it will offer a proper downloading suite, with mods support (auto installation of downloaded games plus aluto installation of supported mods/tweaks).

Don't think that I only want to criticize GOG since I discovered some great games here, and it' also a good place for technical problems with certain games (their support is ok). But right now Steam is miles ahead, and GOG imo is wasting time and resources on the wrong things (movies, unbundling stuff that didn't need to be unbundled...). If they pulled out an application where you can install your games and also mods, that would be a real improvement. Some of this could come with GOG Galaxy, but if they don't have mod support, it would be a small improvement anyway, and much less than what Steam already offers.

DRM-free matters way more than any feature Steam can offer, since that way you get to keep your games forever.

When the Steam client breaks (as it has been broken yet again for a while on systems running pre-SS2 Athlons which run some of the games they "sell" just fine), you lose the ability to install or run ALL your Steam games on that system.

The single biggest improvement GOG could make would be to make their executable installers optional (just wrappers around a compressed archive and an editable installation script).

Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of games on Steam, but mostly from cheap bundles and high-discount sales, since a DRM-crippled game has very low value to me.

Whenever I can choose between DRM-free and not, the choice is clear, but I'm talking about client and site features. I also only buy Steam games if they're in bundles or even free from trades. I have maybe 200 games there and I don't think I spent more than 30$. Still, the Steam client is great.

Editable scripts? What for? To me, the perfect client would be:

- download and auto-install games (as in Steam), but with the option to download the installer, for backup (since they're DRM). If the games were packed in archives with a wrapper as you say, it would be easy to have both things.
- auto-install (and auto-remove) mods: even in Steam some games have big mods that you can activate if you select a 'beta' install.
- then chat, screenshots, library manager, lniks to forum and web resources for the game, etc.

Because clients and installers/uninstallers both tend to have bugs which prevent access to games which would otherwise work just fine, or screw up your system in some way (GOG v1 uninstallers removing all compat settings is a good example), or at a minimum you just don't have a clue what they're doing to your system (games themselves, apart from their DRM, tend to only damage themselves, whereas installers frequently mess with your system in undesirable ways).

With an editable script you can read what it's going to do before you run it, and fix it when it's broken (I got into this habit with commercial application install scripts on Unix systems 30 years ago!).

Ideally, games are just archives to extract into a folder, but scripts can be useful for ensuring that dependencies are installed, setting up the Windows registry (though games should not rely on any registry settings on first run), or even just create desktop or start menu shortcuts if the user so chooses (for convenience).

Ah this is good to see. Another actual reference that GOG Galaxy is still churning along. I popped into my account to grab a fresh copy of a game, and it took me a second or two to even realize something was different about my shelf. Hopefully (to me) they continue to take their sweet time and get every thing done properly. As this seems to me a monstrously massive undertaking.

Can I turn this feature off, please? Many PlayOnLinux recipes assume the old bundled style, which means that it's impossible to install those recipes without having to hack some shell scripts. I suppose I can do that, but things worked just fine until a couple weeks ago and I don't feel that I should have to write some code because GOG made a change--a change that wasn't well communicated at all, I'll note.

No, their path is set and nothing will change their mind. You'll have to hack those scripts or wait for someone to hack them for you.

To be fair, it's not the responsibility of gog.com to ensure that playonlinux scripts keep working.

I see GOG took to heart [url=https://www.gog.com/forum/general/flat_priced_games_on_gog/post93]prompts to Ciris in the "Flat Priced Games on GOG" thread and has made tons of posts here. Nice.

While I do have sympathy for GOG in that they often have a Sophie's Choice when deciding to make changes that they feel will make the place better, that sympathy is dimmed by their recent decline in communication and openness. I believe a number of us who really love GOG have felt them become more distant and remote, withdrawing behind a wall of obfuscation and legalese. Perhaps I am overextending the romantic metaphor, but there is a growing feeling that "this is not the person we married".

Yup. TheEnigmaticT went away and they never really replaced him. There's still Judas, but he seems to avoid the hot topics (which I understand, since this is not his job and he probably isn't even in the position to discuss those things). And then there's Ciris... Posting official announcements in non-official threads, just to vanish again.

Today is Tuesday, April 7, 2015.

The full unbundling has begun 22 days ago and has apparently not ended yet, leaving the library in a half-broken state (no update notifications, no links to game pages/forums for unbundled games, broken game links, even more product_bonuses, etc.).

A blue has not posted in this thread in the last 20 days (post #631, i.e. 749 posts ago).

GOG, to assist you:
- Here is the list of most of the issues raised in this thread. A few more issues were raised after I had posted that list, but given your overwhelming response, I did not bother to collect them. I will gladly do so if you ask me to.
- Here is the list of those you have already fixed, AFAIK.

I think the metaphor works quite nicely, actually. Especially as they insist on still being open and transparent, even though it's clear that they do it selectively, both in content and timing, and only to hype their decisions and choices.
And speaking of choices, it more and more feels like they exploit the DRM-free angle to push and justify everything else they've decided to do, and are doing. Definitely "not the person we married".
The really worrisome part now that trust has been lost is that an uneasy thought has surfaced - did they change somewhere down the road or were they always the person we see now?

At this point I really wish a blue would show up and at least tell us if they ever continue with the unbundling or if it will just stay as it is. (My expectations got really low...)
Thanks for the great summary of the let-down here ;-)