Developers have to maintain another store version. Several developers see this as extra work besides maintaining the Steam version.

Yeah, once the package builder is made, it's so much work to copy/paste updates and then hit build...

so hard....

Might take 30, or 40 seconds of work... Maybe a minute if you have to change a meta file to update the version number. Then set to upload the installer.

Paris the game dev(office temp): "work is hard"

You are ontly thinking about the game itself, not the structures around and the corpoorations. There are legal fees, contracts, payment systems, admin, different update systems mean double work even if the files are the same, and so on and so. There is more to selling a game than just providing a file, and all thse things cost resources and time. Some are one-off costs, but other are recuring.

This is why many developers use publishers, as most of the legal, communication and technical (non game) issues are then handled by them.

A quick question to you. In your opinion, is richlind33 'virtue signaling' in this post?
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/stop_supporting_piracy/post278

(or perhaps 'vice singaling'?)

Near everyone virtue signals at some point....sometimes one does so without noticing it.
The question one should then ask themselves is less if a person is signaling or not at a given point, but
whether it's a conscious action or not...and if it is then what was the reasoning/motivation behind such.

How do you tell the difference between conscious and non-conscious 'virtue signaling'?

And if you think richlind33 did 'virtue signal' - why did you not call him out for it? Do you think his 'virtue singnaling' was non-conscious?

My opinion is and continues to be that this thread should be removed.

Morally, whether you pirate games or not can involve nuanced arguments - any storefront need not concern themselves with such arguments.

Legally, the argument is clear, and again, any storefront should be removing any reference to piracy - at the very least, to appease their clients (the game publishers).

But the legal obligation has to be reasonable, and no company is legally obligated to search for every single instance of piracy.

There is no legal obligation for companies to "read between the lines" to combat piracy.

So I can only assume that the OP wanted to draw attention to piracy rather than combat it.

Well ... discussiing piracy is perfectly fine. Promoting it is not. That's what the TOC states. So no need to remove the thread. Also, there never should be any need to remove a thread at all because we all are adults and should be able to discuss things in a civil way ... even things like piracy which - as fans of DRM-free - we all hate because it's the given reason why DRM exists in the first place .

The OP talked about sth. that happened to him and could happen to everybody and he warned about a certain situation which has happened before and which has been confirmed by others as well. I see no reason to "assume" that the OP in fact wanted to draw attention to piracy. He wanted to make GOGers aware about pirates contacting GOGers - that's all. Interpreting anything else into it imo would be a stretch.

Virtue signaling is about conformity to a popular opinion or ideology. If you don't subscribe to ideology or groupthink you aren't going to be virtue signaling.

Here's a quick question for you: does nonconformity with moral affectation equate to vice?

1) Piracy is going to exist regardless of there being GOG or not. It's just an excuse, and excuses are refuge of the weak as the Emperor taught us.

2) Speaking as somebody who is completely amoral (but not unethical) - I will start caring about somebody stealing illegally from corporations when they stop stealing legally from people.

You are free to assume everything and anything, however absurd it may be. Cheers!

Silly takes Part 32

1. "Because you cannot completely eliminate piracy and it will always exist, it is justification enough for its existence and makes it OK."

2. "Everyone virtue signals."
Comment: That term was made up to discredit the motives of absolutely anyone saying anything. Thus, it's a completely non-sensical term, and everyone whoever uses it, should be ridiculed.

Really? The TOC states that discussing piracy is perfectly fine?
It's perfectly logical to assume anything and everything about other people, because other people often act absurdly, especially tightly wound people who insist on logic for every single argument.