Or customers like GOG -- with no loyalty?

Two Questions:

1: Will games be updated at the same time? In other words, do Galaxy and non Galaxy users get game updates the same day?

2: Online? Meaning what? Users must be connected online to play their games?

Yeah but why? everyone who want´s to use the galaxy client most of the time will already have it installed, the only thing you guys are doing is annoying people who do not wan´t the client and choose the offline installers for a reason, and why the hell have the option on by default and bundled into the installation package instead of a link, uninstalling the damn thing from time to time when I forget to uncheck is going to be annoying as hell...
Congrats gog on including bloatware in your installers.

Classic installers, sounds fine, as that is why i joined gog, offline installers with nothing added.
If you don't keep them up to date, something you've shown so far as a company to be abysmal at.
Then i'm calling it a day here, not going to spend money with you when you aren't holding up you end of things.
Patch games for the love of gog, stop with the downloads of entire games...it sucks fluffy balls having to do so.

I didn’t participate here for some days now and I suppose that if this is pinned is the final answer from GOG so I would like to left my opinion about this.

I don’t think the solution that you’ll offer it’s the best, not for the some users that weren’t happy with this move or for GOG itself.

Now you have to maintain two separate offline installers, adding work (packing, testing, whatever you have to do to make them) for GOG that could be used in other things.
Also the users now have two options to download that could lead to confusion (I suppose that the installer will be named or will have any description to know what they install or not)
And there is always the possibility these “classic” installer disappears once the Galaxy install base is big enough just because they are “redundant” or “not necessary anymore” (I have seen things like this before with other software unfortunately)

I guess that the “new” installers will have the option to install Galaxy active by default, that it’s what some users were worried about, myself included.

You (GOG) stand in your opinion about including Galaxy in the installer, and some of reasons you put here a pretty valid, others I’m not completely sure. But since we are talking about an optional service I stand in my opinion, as a Galaxy user, that this should be an opt-in option by default.

One compromise solution that I though was the following:

Just one offline backup that includes an online installer for Galaxy (just the installer!) that have an opt-in option to install it.

Also in gog.com/galaxy you could put an online and offline installers for Galaxy, like other companies do (for example for Java)

This is not perfect (and I’m not sure if someone has proposed something like this the past days), there is people that doesn’t like to have any trace of Galaxy in their backups, but I think it’s lesser of two evils.

GOG is my main source for pc games for sometime now, I love you guys and I appreciate a lot your work :) but the way this has been handle have made me lost a bit of trust in you, please don’t do something like this again.

Here's another possible compromise that I haven't heard mentioned yet.

When I install a game from an off-line installation file, I get the standard setup window. The game automatically knows that I don't want it to create a desktop icon, and it automatically knows where I want the install to go. That's because at some time, a long time ago, I set those values on an installation, and the game installer recorded those decisions and now they're the default. However, the FIRST time I installed a game, they were not.

Why can't we have off-line game installers that include a SMALL code stub which allows for an on-line installation of Galaxy? The beauty of this is three-fold.

1) Being a stub, the online code is small - it could be squeezed down to an extremely minimal size - perhaps just a few kilobytes, eliminating your customers worries about bloatware and taking up excessive amounts of off-line storage space.

2) Being an online Galaxy installer means it doesn't include the ACTUAL Galaxy install code, so when a person installs the game, the off-line installer knows to go to the GoG website and download a copy of the most recent version of the Galaxy installer. No off-line installer would ever need to be updated solely due to changes to the Galaxy client. Once Galaxy is installed, it can handle its own updates, and when it isn't, using an on-line option to retrieve the most recent install within the off-line backup ensures that no matter when a person installs the game, they'll have the most up-to-date version of Galaxy IF THEY WANT IT.

3) Because the game installer is capable of being written to use defaults which apply only if a person hasn't configured the installer (a DEFAULT default, if you will), but also has the ability to change that default once a person has specified a preference (i.e. a customizable default), anyone that doesn't want to install Galaxy, or who believes it should be opt-in, would only need to uncheck the box ONCE. The installer program would save that selection just as it saves the option to NOT create a desktop icon, and which folder to install games to. After that point, the default would then be to NOT install the Galaxy client unless the user reverses their decision. This has the benefit of allowing the installation of Galaxy to be the default, opt-out option that GoG wants, while still allowing the end user to change the default option to opt-in if THEY want. Once the end-user has chosen to set the installation to opt-in (simply by unchecking the option ONCE), they would never need fear accidentally installing Galaxy and being forced through an annoying uninstall.

Once you can ensure that the VALID concerns expressed by your customer-base about file size bloat and accidentally installing the Galaxy client are eliminated, it would no longer be necessary to keep separate "classic" and "new" install files for each game, reducing the amount of storage, time, and effort on the part of GoG staff. Also, it would eliminate concerns among customers regarding having "classic" and "new" updates both being made available at the same time without needing to unnecessarily delay either one.

GOG?

Posted 2 days ago
1303
avatar
Destro: 1. We clearly noticed - yes, we did - that many of you prefer the old installers (let’s call them “classic”) and prefer to manage their growing libraries manually. Therefore, once we roll out “new” installers with the option to install GOG Galaxy, we will add a separate download of the “classic” ones. Going forward we will offer the option to download “classic” installers whenever a game is offered via a “new” installer.
2. As mentioned earlier, we will work on making the GOG Galaxy installer smaller, but at the cost of it being online only.
Two Questions:

1: Will games be updated at the same time? In other words, do Galaxy and non Galaxy users get game updates the same day?

2: Online? Meaning what? Users must be connected online to play their games?

Meaning that you have to be online to be able to install GOG Galaxy.

Sorry, Destro, you are stubborn,

You complicate things :

Client should be downloaded alone and updated alone. For reference it works fine for the Steam client... why it shouldn't working like this for Galaxy ?. ...I'm puzzled.... oh yes ... of course all is clear after reading CD Projekt 's focus for GOG (sarcasm)

Putting the client in the offline / backup installers is a non-sense, it's like putting an unwanted tool inside.. ..

Users wanting to use Galaxy already uses it , others who prefer the offline installers don't , if they use it just for getting the backup installers something went wrong with your initial ideas...it's like you want to drop the website and only use the client (i am almost certain that's the final step you have in mind).

Speaking of the users library (web) it's really starting to be a real mess :

- No more notifications
- Choose how you name the offline installers definitely : either GOG internal number or the real game version (because it's starting to be the last case for some games.
- Now i use DownThemAll, it's working fine....no way to install Galaxy just to get the features i had in the past : you continuously destroy users experience via a browser because : you prefer to compete with Steam with a client ...

- Having 2 types of offline installers, will increase the workload for a result which already a pain with only one, because you don't take care a lot of the user library (web)...

- Your website & forum are just full of bugs, if some users (3rd party scripts) do better than you then shame on you... and with the new nav bar.... there's some performance issues....

Just a piece of advice (but you won't listen)....don't implement the client in the offline installers, just put a button to download the client in the nav bar.. and just a reminder , every game in the library has already a button 'TRY GOG GALAXY" -> We ain't blind .....

sigh......really disappointed...and for the moment i vote with my wallet till improvements ...but it's really an aggressive move towards those who prefer to use the website. I'm not against client... but client & website should be separate except for the offline installers (which should point to the same resource) ...your solution is a waste of space / time / and money...

You know, I don't want to be pessimistic about the future of GOG, but it still feels like $hit seeing new stuff coming without seeing essential features missing for so long or very old bugs fixed first. And even the new stuff brings bugs, like the game count. (attached)

And with the new effort to push something obnoxiously "optional" like the GOG Galaxy stub GOG doesn't manage to do anything else than proving that this is clearly the direction we're heading: step by step, a dependency on GOG Galaxy.

I don't know who in the right mind can say GOG Galaxy is optional when it's set to be installed by default. That's just lame-a$s politics and I'm sick of it. Clearly, I'm in a bad mood today, which is why I'm less tempered. But I'm actually pissed off by this politician talk.

No, GOG dudes: opt-out is not optional. A default opt-out is a scumbaggy way to sneak in something that people don't explicitly want. It's literally crapware, spyware, malware - whatever you wanna name it. It's the same thing lots of people truly hate about various installers that you carefully must handle so you don't end up with crap installed, 3 more icons on the desktop, a toolbar and some auto-start crap that phones home for updates and whatever else.

Adding more work by maintaining two separate installers for every game on GOG proves beyond any doubt that you stand behind this scumbaggy way of installing stuff people don't necessarily want. I'm sure everyone here realizes how easy it is to store the GOG Galaxy stub installer next to the collection of games. It's literally that easy for those who want the installer. But you're willing to waste time to maintain double the amount of game installers, like you have so much time that you don't know how to spend it.

Today, again, I really don't like you. BOO!

Well said, m8.

I hate pushy, dishonest salespeople, and I'm starting to feel that way about GOG.

Thank you for the elaborate and thoughtful answer.

I think I see better now where you are coming from. The only objection or at least suggestion I want to add is that GOG isn't a U.S. corporation, so you (Americans) shouldn't react to the actions of foreign firms based on your local circumstances and a priori assume the worst. You don't have to blindly trust either, I recommend (and at least try to take myself) a neutral stance whenever one just don't know enough to make even educated guesses.

Cheers to you across the big pond
V4V

That sounds fine in theory, but there's nasty management all over the world, affecting everyone. I think many of us are aware of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

So while trust isn't necessary, we have two undeniable things: promises and facts.

Promises (June 5th, 2014):
(1) "with GOG Galaxy, being online will always be optional."
https://s26.postimg.org/bqetqgxih/gog-galaxy-always-optional.png
(2) "We call it the OPTIONAL CLIENT."
https://s26.postimg.org/75snbjdt5/optional-client.png

Facts (GOG Galaxy page):
June 2nd, 2015: GOG GALAXY is a fully optional client to install, play and update your games.
March 1st, 2016: GOG GALAXY is a fully optional client to install, play and update your games.
December 10th, 2016: GOG GALAXY is a fully optional client to install, play and update your games.
February 17th, 2017: GOG GALAXY is a fully optional client to install, play and update your games.
March 23rd, 2017: The gaming Client designed for a convenient purchasing, playing and updating games, as well as an online play between gaming platforms, GOG Galaxy is also built with optionality in mind, and a belief that you should own the games you buy.

Now promise no.1 is obviously about the games and the features that don't require online connectivity. But it also implies that you can use GOG Galaxy even without being online. This means that we should also have offline installers for GOG Galaxy, so we can store them along with our games collection. That would allow us to manage our games wherever we are and whenever we get back online we will have the chance to update everything we want. With all this madness in this thread I still haven't seen a statement about offline installers for GOG Galaxy. So is this promise about to be broken?

Promise no.2 is currently broken or planned to be broken. Having installers with GOG Galaxy stuffed in, even the stub installer, and also pre-set to be installed, makes this NOT OPTIONAL, but an OPT-OUT. They took a politician-type spin on this one by stating they will maintain "classic" installers, but then they expect the same "dumb customers" to be able to download the correct offline installer for their games, between those two choices. Because choices always makes it easier for "dumb customers". And it also makes it "easier" for everyone else to always have to be careful which version they download and then when they install the games, always be careful not to have the auto-checked GOG Galaxy install just because "something happened and a few 'classic' installers got the GOG Galaxy stubs added, we apologize".

And then we have the removal of the "fully optional client" statement what was the first thing we saw on the GOG Galaxy page.

So things are obviously changing - it's a fact. And I hate the outright lie that the client is optional. They are willing to create two separate installers for a lot of games, only to add the client. And that, by implicitly call their customers stupid enough not be able to install GOG Galaxy without "optionally" shoving it on their PCs by default.

You see, this is a problem of attitude on their part. They've obviously changed. By their own actions they prove they no longer want GOG Galaxy to remain optional, otherwise they would clearly see the nonsense of having installer stubs in hundreds of game installers instead of having one stub (online) installer and one offline installer so we can place them next to our games for whatever purpose and network condition we might find ourselves when we want to install GOG Galaxy.

@GOG: I still don't like you today. BOO!

Obvs I don't buy from gog anymore.

But is the malware already being distributed? I used to shop here and have updates waiting, but I won't download from the site once the changes are in effect and I'm curious which of them may already be infected.