I think people are overreacting. If there were no online media (youtube and co) and you'd live on a deserted island, and you'd install NMS from an installer, could you enjoy it without ever knowing about quicksilver points and live ships and all? I think so. So is the game DRM free? Yes it is. Does it have multiplayer content affecting the single-player. Yes it does. But other games have had this too in the past (ie achievements that could be obtained only in mp), I don't see this as different.
Will you be able to get that content if HG go bankrupt (or GOG, or whomever is linked to it): probably no. But that's the same with all sorts of multiplayer that rely on a central server.
As long as the game is great offline, without the need of ever going online, I think there is nothing inherently wrong with such tacked-on add-ons.

Since you guys have been low rating me for not joining your braindead mob, and constantly either ignoring or attacking/insulting every single person who's been trying to pose a reasonable argument, here's a few questions:

Have you ever used a code wheel or infrared glasses to access a game?

Have you ever had a game you just bought tell you your license had expired, because the dev messed up with their DRM, and you had to download a patch from their server to play the game?

Have you ever had a hairline scratch on your disc make it impossible for the game to recognize it as a legit copy?

Have you ever had a hiccup in your internet connection only to be kicked out of your game, only to have to replay the last half hour plus boss fight from scratch?

How about your game key being used up when you just bought a brand new game?

These are all examples of DRM, which in case you haven't noticed stands for Digital Rights Management. It's a "tool" for a copyrighted work to be protected from unlicensed copying, e.g. pirating.

Giving a reward or anything of the sort to the online users of the game, does not make it DRM, and you can whine all you want about it. If you think this is DRM, then you've probably never had to deal with actual DRM.

All I've been seeing in this thread is a lot of manchildren whining how the "cool kids" that go online get an easier access to some fancy, imaginary, completely useless ship. And don't be fooled by the word "easier". You still have to jump through hoops to get said useless ship.

So, you got jealous, picked up a pitchfork, slapped a "DRM!" banner on top of it and took to the streets. "Why do they get to have that and I don't?" No, DRM is not a subjective term, same way whether the Earth is round or not is not subjective. GOG/CDPR have been in game development longer than any of us here and they too started as gamers. Their definition of DRM is not "arbitrary". What's evident is that your definition of DRM is malleable to suit whatever your special interest is.

You've ignored, attacked or insulted every single person who's presented a reasonable case, and the answers to my questions, as well, were unsatisfactory at best. "Yes, it doesn't affect the game in any way", "no, it's not a special perk". If your own answers are not enough to show you that you're being unreasonable, then it's obvious you're just here to whine and complain without a valid case.

If you're set on throwing tantrums, you might as well contact GOG support about your "problem" ("Why do they get to have that and I don't?" *pout*) or move to a different forum altogether.

Your attitude is immature, undignified and utterly unacceptable.

I think you might want to read https://www.gog.com/forum/general/no_mans_sky_isnt_fully_drmfree/post249, which explains why this is not multiplayer content.

The question is - to what end? It does not function as copy protection, because the game itself is DRM-free, and the added content is completely free of charge, and does not work without the main game anyway. HG gains literally nothing from locking the content behind this silly one-time online requirement (which can be easily hacked, to boot).

It makes no sense. I would assume a bug, but from what I've heard people have complained about this for a while now, it should be easily fixed (simply get rid of the store check, just show all items), and HG delivered massive amounts of new stuff, fixed tons of bugs, but not this?

It's baffling.

Is this a variation of the "I know you are but what am I?" thing? Well done.

And you've managed to ignore everything else in my post. Well done, again.

I'm done. It's obvious you guys are just here to troll.

Take care - and I'm not being sarcastic here. I agree with you this is largely unimportant and may come across as whining about a first world problem.

Yet I don't think anyone is trolling here, we're actually debating a subject. Much of what you are asking has already been covered on this thread.

As for me, I've said my share already too and I'm not the guy with all the answers here.

I'm still hoping they will address it to be honest. Maybe they were just testing the waters for some reason (maybe issues we are not privy to) and will now reconsider.

You may be debating. Some more vocal users, though, have just been ranting endlessly and attacking anyone who doesn't agree with their views. They were quick to take offence, and quick to respond to the clickbait title of this thread.

As for what I was asking having been covered in this thread, yes, since I asked the questions before (starting with post #61) and they got answered. It's a wonder how the answers got ignored by the mob, though.

If you feel like responding to me, I'll gladly do it in Chat. Please don't quote me in-thread.

He said at the end of the longest, most trollish, insulting, tantrum in this thread by a longshot.

Yep, I'm pretty much done. I said all there is to say, and no one really countered any of it with any rational arguments, so there's nothing to talk about further as far as I'm concerned. The next time GOG bends their "rules" a bit further, and a bit further after that, I won't even be mad. I'll just point at this thread and laugh.

NMS installer has just been updated on galaxy; offline installers not yet. Let's hope this is related.

That's the sad thing about it. From event to event the outcry becomes smaller and there are more defenders of GOG breaking their promises step by step. GOG's strategy of corrosion works. Small steps, then it's not so noticeable. If there is an outcry, row back a bit, try again later. They are succeeding in turning into a cheap Steam-copy. And thereby making themselves irrelevant.

I'm tired of raising an outcry each time they break another promise too. It was clear for many years that this was the way GOG was heading and by now I am jaded enough to just accept it and stop buying here.

I will continue to frequent the forum for the Forum games and some conversations. But GOG has lost me as customer. Unfortunately the influx of people who don't care for DRM-free more than makes up for that. At least for the time being. Let's see how long GOG can compete against Steam on their own turf without a significant difference between the two.

I was sort of going back on forth on that in my head, but I think I'm still going buy games here for the time being. I mean, if there's no massive boycott, it doesn't really matter either way, so I may as well stock up on truly DRM-free games while I can.

That's good to know. Not gonna get No Man's Sky then, it's that simple.

Some people are. You, for instance :-)
The kindergarten "I downvote all posts which disagree with me" is troll behaviour though.

I hope so. I've been thinking while doing some housework, and I've come to the conclusion, that it's probably a bug.

It may work like DRM, but it's not really DRM, because DRM serves two main function:
1. Control - basically copy protection
2. Surveillance - check who plays what (online DRM only of course)
The NMS problem doesn't server either function. There is no copy protection at all, and a one-time requirement to go online (per new game) is no surveillance.
Also DRM is supposed to be hard to circumvent, which is clearly not the case - the info is stored offline in human readable format.

So why isn't it fixed?
The bug is probably very low priority for HG - it's in no way game-breaking, users came up with solutions themselves.
At the same time from what I gathered on other forums the game has serious issues for quite a few players with botched savegames (stuff stuck inside planets, missions not working), and HG usually go out of their way to help those people. They even offer you send in your save game if you're stuck and they fix it and send it back.
In my experience as a dev low prio bugs are only fixed when there's really time, sometimes never.

That's just me speculating of course.

What GOG should do anyhow, if HG doesn't fix this soon:
Create a support page for NMS like "Can't get the void egg", with some text like "It's a know problem, we're waiting for a patch from HG" and meanwhile describe how to "fix" the save game. And of course keep this page up to date.

So you wouldn't say it's control even though the game is deliberately lacking features when you're not logged in? You're basically being pushed to log in, if not forced, if you want to experience the full game. THere is absolutely no reason to lock away features behind an artificial login wall. The login should be optional and for multiplayer only.