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Take a look at the DLC that gives your inmates a fresh start with reform and rehabilitation features, helping them improve behaviors and reduce sentences. Prison Architect - Second Chances DLC is now available on GOG.COM with a 10% discount that will last until 21st June 2021, 10 PM UTC.

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It ain't just convicted killers who need a second chance to make things right, from Steam forums:

Known Issues:
Prisoners drop ingredients when their shift at the Restaurant ends.
Active programs might end when saving and loading the game.
It's currently possible to change prisoners with different security levels to wear the same colour using map settings in Extras.
NPCs walk under the Grass Road Bridge.
Prisoners' heads are separated from their bodies when they sit facing North.
Bureaucracy isn't researched in the order it's queued.
Single log crowding storage.
Overlaps and Overflows for some languages.
Technical text is displayed in the prisoner biography after passed of any new program.
Some reoffending prisoners Bio, shows a different prisoner.
Reform Program Research requires 10 prisoners to pass Reformed Consultation instead of 1
high rated
I own Prison Architect - but after seeing a GOG version using a launcher which installs additional launcher
without asking under GNU/Linux I am out. So to avoid it you should not start the game after installation but
change start.sh to not start the launcher but the real program:
* https://www.gog.com/forum/prison_architect/extreme_nasty_drm
Would not buy any Paradox product in future as long as they are playing unfair.
But I will sometimes write a review about Prison Architect in comparison with other, similar games - as
it also lacks substance and humor (I mean the game - not the teaser ;).

From my point of view it is just trying to make as much money as possible ... after seeing such examples
of making every small addition an expensive DLC I regard more than 2 DLCs as a sign of a bad program.
There are games which evolve over more than ten years implementing new ideas and don't ask a second time
for money. This should be the rule, not the exception.
And after a lot of reports, which every new DLC prison architect becomes more and more buggy.
So the game evolution model seems to be at its worst ...

It is said that the original game had been really good and without DRM - and then came the Paradox touch ...
That's just sad.
high rated
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Vollinger: It ain't just convicted killers who need a second chance to make things right, from Steam forums:

Known Issues:
Prisoners drop ingredients when their shift at the Restaurant ends.
Active programs might end when saving and loading the game.
It's currently possible to change prisoners with different security levels to wear the same colour using map settings in Extras.
NPCs walk under the Grass Road Bridge.
Prisoners' heads are separated from their bodies when they sit facing North.
Bureaucracy isn't researched in the order it's queued.
Single log crowding storage.
Overlaps and Overflows for some languages.
Technical text is displayed in the prisoner biography after passed of any new program.
Some reoffending prisoners Bio, shows a different prisoner.
Reform Program Research requires 10 prisoners to pass Reformed Consultation instead of 1
Nothing new, the game is collecting list after list of bugs since Paradox took over the game. Bugs from 2 years ago (included gamebreaking bugs) are still there, as well as from last year's patches.

DLC's are accumulating (it's Pdox, also nothing new here) introducing more and more bugs in the more and more convoluted/congested code and only some have been fixed. And the rest of bugs? Will be there the next year, along with a few more DLC's.

So, nope, no second chances for them (nice irony with this DLC's name). The last good patch was the previous one before the acquisition. That's a treasure i will always preserve.
Ever since Paradox the game is going downhill :(
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JMB9: change start.sh to not start the launcher but the real program:
* https://www.gog.com/forum/prison_architect/extreme_nasty_drm
Thanks for the info on avoiding the launcher. However, it looks like you don't have any evidence that it contains any kind of DRM. It does sound like it will install the Paradox launcher elsewhere and then run that and my guess (hope?) would be that you have multiple versions of the Paradox launcher due to updating games not because it is downloading and installing anything (that still wouldn't necessarily be DRM but it would be very shady if they were doing that). With a quick look I don't see anything that would remove the installed Paradox launcher when uninstalling the game, which is one of many reasons why they shouldn't randomly install stuff and IMO GOG should not allow this. It is a user-hostile thing to do but different issue from DRM in that it shouldn't prevent fully offline use.

Analytics is a somewhat different issue. Also user hostile but most games on GOG have analytics of some sort. The only way to prevent that is to run games without a network connection, either a fully offline game system (as some of us do) or sandboxing (I wish all operating systems had an easy way to make particular users unable to access the network, however it is usually if not always fairly complicated). DRM-free is what makes it possible to run games fully offline and avoid analyics that way (and security issues; I would be surprised if there aren't a fair number of remotely exploitable security issues in games). Of course, that doesn't help if you want multiplayer :/.
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joveian: Thanks for the info on avoiding the launcher. However, it looks like you don't have any evidence that it contains any kind of DRM. It does sound like it will install the Paradox launcher elsewhere and then run that and my guess (hope?) would be that you have multiple versions of the Paradox launcher due to updating games not because it is downloading and installing anything (that still wouldn't necessarily be DRM but it would be very shady if they were doing that). With a quick look I don't see anything that would remove the installed Paradox launcher when uninstalling the game, which is one of many reasons why they shouldn't randomly install stuff and IMO GOG should not allow this. It is a user-hostile thing to do but different issue from DRM in that it shouldn't prevent fully offline use.

Analytics is a somewhat different issue. Also user hostile but most games on GOG have analytics of some sort. The only way to prevent that is to run games without a network connection, either a fully offline game system (as some of us do) or sandboxing (I wish all operating systems had an easy way to make particular users unable to access the network, however it is usually if not always fairly complicated). DRM-free is what makes it possible to run games fully offline and avoid analyics that way (and security issues; I would be surprised if there aren't a fair number of remotely exploitable security issues in games). Of course, that doesn't help if you want multiplayer :/.
I understand what you say - but DRM {FSF: digital restrictions management} is everything that make the user no longer
be the master but transferring control to remote people - or an automated server.
The launcher invoked checks the version, install another launcher - so it could also delete the game or change it in a way
which is against the user (i.e. owner) of the program.
In EU one must be asked if something is installed.
I am happy when people want to be spied or even get help to live a life everyone can see it is ok for me.
But selling a game as DRM-free was said by GOG to be SiPl DRM-free.
Put here I was sure the launcher is not present (it was no longer used) and just invoked the GOG start script and the
invoked launcher changed my HDD - and not in a way saving a game or config locally (being in the users interest), but
in a very invasive way which is against law in EU, AFAIK.
The no dispute about this being DRM - it is. If it is really used against the user is quite likely - but as GOG customer
one should not deal with such nasty programs. Advertising DRM-free games should mean something - and not
calling this DRM would be just stupid - it is a technical term, so purpose or even doing bad things with it is not necessary.
And with smartphones - which are mere DRM devices and used e.g. by parents as such - it got common and
convenient ... but this does not mean everybody has to be living with spy devices.
And having it removed and no longer using it after a lot people blaming Paradox for DRM and even for several versions
and then reintroducing DRM in an even nastier form not even asking before installing another launcher
(not even taking care to delete old ones) ... is bad faith.
You already mentioned the point that it is not even deinstalled with the game.
In every aspect this is malware.

By the way sandboxing is just a lie (concerning smartphones, flatpak and where ever this term is {mis}used - it is just
not possible with today's HW - all experts know that even virtual machines are not separated enough ...
Offline is the only way to suppress such malicious code ... and most people would not work that way today ...
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JMB9: ... about Prison Architect in comparison with other, similar games ...
Pray tell - what other games, beside Rimworld (which I honestly view as just a Prison Architect mod!) are there?
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JMB9: I understand what you say - but DRM {FSF: digital restrictions management} is everything that make the user no longer
be the master but transferring control to remote people - or an automated server.
There really isn't a clear line where that is or isn't the case and so the term is used mostly for the type of restrictions marketed as DRM (claimed to be for copy protection, I agree with the FSF that it isn't the actual purpose). I'm sure the FSF would be happy to call anything that only comes in a compiled binary a type of DRM (and I agree by the general definition you give) but even they don't call that kind of thing DRM in their anti-DRM campaign because they know that isn't what the term means. They give the example of not being able to play a game single player offline and generally seem to use the term in the same way I do. They don't include analytics as DRM (though I'm sure they have anti-analytics polemics elsewhere). Your super-general definition of DRM is not what GOG is claiming when they claim DRM-free.
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JMB9: The launcher invoked checks the version, install another launcher - so it could also delete the game or change it in a way
which is against the user (i.e. owner) of the program.
The thing is, they could just directly change the game. It is suspicious but not direct evidence of DRM. It is user hostile and I'd be happy if they could be held legally accountable, but that still doesn't make it DRM by the general use of the term. I can't think of a legitimate reason they would install the launcher (and will be checking Paradox games to avoid this now that you mentioned it), but it is possible that whatever they use it for is relatively benign-ish. I'm just saying that you should make claims that you have evidence for and call suspicious stuff suspicious rather than jumping to conclusions.
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JMB9: Advertising DRM-free games should mean something
It does mean something, it just isn't as general as we would like.
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JMB9: By the way sandboxing is just a lie (concerning smartphones, flatpak and where ever this term is {mis}used - it is just
not possible with today's HW - all experts know that even virtual machines are not separated enough ...
Offline is the only way to suppress such malicious code ... and most people would not work that way today ...
Sandboxing can be fairly good, although not flatpak. I mean more like firejail --net=none type thing (that would be safest if run to cover an entire user). While there are a number of security issues with VMs and Linux namespaces, they are rarely trivial to exploit. It is highly likely to actually avoid tracking and including VM or sanbox exploits in a game would greatly increase the chance of successful legal action (unfortunately I don't think the companies or developers who have done this kind of thing have been held criminally responsible).

My point here is that sandboxing or an offline game system are the only ways to prevent analytics. We both want that to not be the case but it is actually the case and it is not just a few games that have analytics. As far as I know, GOG is the most user-friendly game store around so there isn't an option of buying elsewhere for a more user-friendly product. If you want to avoid analytics, take the time to make sure that single player games do not have the ability to access the network.
Post edited June 17, 2021 by joveian
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JMB9: ... about Prison Architect in comparison with other, similar games ...
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Atlo: Pray tell - what other games, beside Rimworld (which I honestly view as just a Prison Architect mod!) are there?
From my point of view "Not a Pineapple Left Behind" is similar ... and I had a 3rd one I have forgotten ...
But I have played each about half an hour or so - more looking at the technical aspects of both.
I found "Prison Architect" earlier - but from 1st impression I consider "Not a Pineapple Left Behind"
to be much more consistent with the environment and theme.