The easiest way to test if Galaxy is DRM is just not having it installed . If all the games from GOG still work, it clearly isn't DRM.

Curious, are you including working multiplayer modes in your definition of a game "working?" If not, why not?

Of course I include a working multiplayer mode for the multiplayer games. No reason not to.

And accidentally I don't use Galaxy and all my games from GOG work. For me and my games Galaxy doesn't seem to be DRM.

Thank you for the clarification and I am glad to hear that. Unfortunately, it sounds like you got lucky rather than this being the rule. There are multiple games on GOG which require Galaxy to access multiplayer; this is not just my opinion, it is a verifiable fact :( I can provide you links to the gamepages for some of these if you are really interested. Sadly, they have become more frequent occurrences over the years. I wouldn't be as critical of this development, if there were also the option of DRM-free offline multiplayer modes too in these same games, but that is generally not the case.

You mean shared/split screen or hotseat? Meh, does not make up for multiplayer.

Have you never heard of LAN multiplayer?

It's a concept that made sense three decades ago, before IP based protocols took over and made connections at the application level work exactly the same no matter whether there's a switch and a pair of ethernet cables or a pair of routers and some kilometers of fiber between the two machines that are trying to communicate.

It's not relevant today, except in the dreams of DRM-loving developers who take multiplayer and come up with some ridiculous way to artificially restrict it to their made-up definition of LAN (which has nothing to do with reality). In IP networks, LAN is not a concrete thing, it's just a way to categorize a part of the network up till some arbitrary point where the person doing that categorization decides that it's now the internet on the other side.

I go by the standard on GOG's sister site, FCKDRM.com, which last I checked reads "100% DRM-free." That is what I advocate for, without accepting less. Offline multiplayer includes LAN, splitscreen, hotseat. Fact is that ANY game that includes traditional online multiplayer can include traditional LAN multiplayer, at minimum.

The importance of offline multiplayer, beyond being DRM-free, is that it is preservable in a way that even private servers cannot guarantee. See, for offline multiplayer, the preservation of the multiplayer mode is baked into the game itself instead of having to rely on others or even an online connection itself.

I am not saying "get rid of online multiplayer." It's great and welcome as an option, albeit should not require ANY client (including Galaxy) to access. What I am saying is that it is amixed message to customers whether games are 100% DRM-free or not, and often not articulated well (imo) on the gamepages as to what offline options exist.

Any game that includes online multiplayer has zero reason to try and artificially restrict it to LAN, except as a form of DRM.

What? With all due respect, did you read any further in my post? I am not saying to "artificially restrict it to LAN;" I am saying to "stop artificially restricting it to online-only (and with extra conditions, at that)". There is nothing stopping a game from having both online and traditional LAN, traditional meaning no extra bs requirements bordering on making it online multiplayer despite the "LAN" catchphrase.

What are you talking about? LAN is no DRM restriction because Developers/Publishers have no control over people's LAN.

Which developers do that and why?

Whoever implements "LAN multiplayer." If it's not actually restricted to LAN, then don't call it that. Just call it multiplayer. LAN has nothing to do with it.

It's 2019 you know, not 1999.