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Nicole28: I have to agree with a few of the others, that this isn't a "real" region-lock in that sense per see. I view region-locking as the developer/publisher deliberately blocking out their games from countries of their own violation, when they do have a choice (at least with no threat of jail time/governmental trouble) not to. Happens quite a bit on Steam.

In this case, it kind of falls under censorship than actual region-locking.
QFT

Exactly, and it's not even DRM as some like some to claim based on the definition of DRM. That word get thrown around to much if people don't like a situation on here. :/
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mrkgnao: It changes GOG to become a store that promotes and enforces censorship, which makes me uncomfortable.
Sorry, but that's ridiculous, bizarre, and untrue.

It makes GOG a store that follows the law, as it is required to do.
Of course they have a choice, they could choose to not sell the game.
Obviously the deciding factor here is the possible income for a company and there is really nothing wrong about that, but it leaves a bad taste and shows us that there is yet another boundary this service was willing to cross.

This occurrence is unique for now, but who knows what the future will bring? Maybe next time it's not just Australia, but a third of the world, or whatever.
Pure speculation, granted. Anyway, such matters become naturally more important to those affected.

And by the way, Nazi symbols aren't generally banned here in Germany, if those symbols are used in a work of art, for example, they are allowed. Most games still have to be acknowledged as art though, so it doesn't matter yet.
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mrkgnao: It changes GOG to become a store that promotes and enforces censorship, which makes me uncomfortable.
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LinustheBold: Sorry, but that's ridiculous, bizarre, and untrue.

It makes GOG a store that follows the law, as it is required to do.
It has other options of following the law, such as:
a) Asking me to click on a checkbox that I am not living in Australia when I come to buy the game.
b) Not selling the game.
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Gilozard: (...)
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RadonGOG: And why, if I may ask? We´ve been calculating that whole "regional pricement stuff" for a long time and thanks to the FairPricePackage it´s completely irrelevant, as long as your last game you buy in a row is a traditional priced game eating up all the store credit you collected before! (and yes, this has been proven) So yes, it´s completely irrelevant if that list is growing, as long as it´s not over-growing the rest of the catalog!

Nobody got the right to ban art; but countries do simply take it! Sadly even the ones claiming that "the rule of the stonger" isn´t relevant for them are still attending to it
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Gilozard: Actually, countries do have the right to ban art. Germany in particular is notable for its long-standing ban on Nazi symbols. Different places and people have different standards, and each country has the right to collectively decide what they want to permit in the country. Australia is in the middle of a struggle over what they want to permit, but that doesn't give citizens of other countries the right to try and decide for them.
Somebody taking themself a right isn´t the same as possessing a right...
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mrkgnao: I still have to think about it, but for the moment my decision is that I will not buy any games released on GOG on or after 25 February 2015.
That does seem a bit much.

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mrkgnao: It has other options of following the law, such as:
a) Asking me to click on a checkbox that I am not living in Australia when I come to buy the game.
b) Not selling the game.
Well, a) probably doesn't cut it legally, as they would clearly still easily sell to Australia in violation of the law. And you really think b) is a better option? How does punishing the developer for Australia's fascist stupidity help anybody? That would only benefit the fascists.
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mrkgnao: It has other options of following the law, such as:

b) Not selling the game.
Honest question: What do you think this would achieve?
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LinustheBold: Sorry, but that's ridiculous, bizarre, and untrue.

It makes GOG a store that follows the law, as it is required to do.
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mrkgnao: It has other options of following the law, such as:
a) Asking me to click on a checkbox that I am not living in Australia when I come to buy the game.
b) Not selling the game.
Gog most likely feels that due diligence would not be met with option a, and have already directly stated why they felt b was an inferior option.
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mrkgnao: It has other options of following the law, such as:

b) Not selling the game.
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madth3: Honest question: What do you think this would achieve?
In the extreme, the developer could also chose not to release the game anywhere in the world because of the ban in australia right?
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mrkgnao: It has other options of following the law, such as:

b) Not selling the game.
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madth3: Honest question: What do you think this would achieve?
It would be a statement that GOG will not give a hand to policing the Australian censorship laws.

If all stores did this for all censored games, the outcry would be such that countries/companies would put pressure on Australia to come up with a better policy.

Why does GOG avoid selling DRM games? Because it believes that by leading through example it might bring about a change. It should have done the same here. Frankly, I personally find censorship more abhorrent than DRM.

P.S. I still think that, until proven otherwise by actually doing it, option (a) is valid.
Why are people trying to blame GOG? The blame entirely falls on the Australian government. GOG's decision prevents the idiosyncrasies of one government from affecting people from other countries. The only people affected are Australians, who have the power to elect a new government if they don't like the policies of the current one.

This issue is completely different from regional pricing, etc. Businesses do those other things because they make more money. Any reasonable person can see that GOG is not doing this to exploit its customers.
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mrkgnao: It has other options of following the law, such as:
a) Asking me to click on a checkbox that I am not living in Australia when I come to buy the game.
b) Not selling the game.
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EBToriginal: Gog most likely feels that due diligence would not be met with option a, and have already directly stated why they felt b was an inferior option.
I know they stated it directly. I just disagree with them.
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mrkgnao: P.S. I still think that, until proven otherwise by actually doing it, option (a) is valid.
It isn't. When GOG introduced regional pricing for Witcher 2, they decided to avoid using geo-ip to enforce it, which meant that you could just change your country in your account's settings. GOG said that they did that because they didn't feel that IP-checking was the way to go. Half a year later, a court order would force them to do so.
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mrkgnao: P.S. I still think that, until proven otherwise by actually doing it, option (a) is valid.
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Grargar: It isn't. When GOG introduced regional pricing for Witcher 2, they decided to avoid using geo-ip to enforce it, which meant that you could just change your country in your account's settings. GOG said that they did that because they didn't feel that IP-checking was the way to go. Half a year later, a court order would force them to do so.
That's a French court and a commercial dispute.

Who knows what another court would rule, or whether the Australian government would even want to take this to court.

But I am not in GOG's shoes, so it's easy for me to come up with "bell the cat" solutions.

I respect their decision and adapt myself to it.
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mrkgnao: That's a French court and a commercial dispute.

Who knows what another court would rule, or whether the Australian government would even want to take this to court.

But I am not in GOG's shoes, so it's easy for me to come up with "bell the cat" solutions.

I respect their decision and adapt myself to it.
Assuming they decided to implement your a) solution, they would be breaking their contract with the publisher, which is what also got them into trouble with Namco. How would Devolver Digital be moving from then on, is another matter.