Anyways, nice to see GOG knows what is important to their customers. As a DRM-free gaming proponent, this pleases me and makes me feel even better having bought yesterday yet more games from GOG.

So I assume GOG has been sitting on this website since June already? Remember that the EFF launched a new logo in July, hahaha!

The problem with PG is that they really are a publisher themselves. A publisher of books that happen to have gone into the public domain in one specific jurisdiction. Those rights they are dependent upon are not international. This has very little to do with DRM.

Their ebooks did not contain actual DRM code. (As many do, e.g. using Adobe’s DRM system.) Whether they were ever legally allowed to even publish the books internationally is a separate issue.

Still waiting for the day a publisher will start selling ebooks DRM free. Rather than the free books on PG or the Internet Archive that are only free because they aren’t IP encumbered.

I propose you "Suck My DRM".

Interesting initiative, but I fear its too little too late in the era where drm is an accepted pratice everywhere besides gog.

Also you could have listed more websites for books that offer only drm-free books like

https://www.baen.com/

Jim Baen the founder of the store was against drm since day one and baen ebooks don't have and will never have drm. It should really be included since its the forerunner for commercial drm-free ebooks.

Indeed. After seeing that... "person", let's call it, quoted there, that site lost credibility.
Although, if you think about it, having that quote there also serves a purpose: he says DRM is bad but he still uses it. That shows his platform is useless and that he is an hypocrite.

If he knows it doesn't work, why does he still use and enforce it?
He is an hypocrite. He says DRM is bad to appeal to the users: "oh, newell is so nice. He takes our side!" but in reality, he supports DRM because it's what profitable for him since it's what most devs want (devs want DRM, I mean).

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LOL yeah, for a brief second there, I got this sinking feeling, expecting something like "Here are the things DRM can do for you! It helped us beat communism, and it can help you too! But don't worry, we'll not do evil things with it - only good things! Like censor evil content when ultra-sensitive hyper-pussies get offended by stuff so they don't commit suicide before they realise that using free speech to call for it to be revoked is massively hyporcritical, which is totally not evil! Glory be to DRM!"

Luckily, that imagining of GOG transforming into a Disney-esque corporation of lawyers, DRM SW devs and total assholes who swallow up all before them before re-releasing them in tiny, slightly-modified morsels based on maximum profit without regard for integrity, artistic expression, or common sense, didn't materialise.

Great initiative.

OK sure it's obviously a marketing ploy - yet I don't understand some of the comments on here. Marketing ploys are not inherently evil per se, and they may be beneficial to more than just the company (such as this initiative). Some companies donate to charities which do some good, yet people don't tend to complain that "it's just a marketing ploy" (although that is almost always the primary motivation for the company to do it). So what's the issue?

If the issue is "a list made by GOG may not be fair and representative of what's out there" - that is undoubtedly true. They are a company that is in competition with others, so even if they did a 100% good faith effort here, that statement would still be true since bias will always be suspected. It wouldn't surprise me if getting on the list requires something, such as a similar statement on the "partner's" site listing GOG, some cash, maybe some hookers for the CEO, maybe a night with their wife and/or daughter, possibly a blood sacrifice or two...

Seriously though, I would personally butcher thousands of orphans if it were guaranteed to destroy DRM and its use in our society forever. Since I doubt this would ever be the case (magic not being real and all), I shall instead spread this message around via social media (it's also much easier than butchering, which is hard work from what I hear).

Sometimes it's truly scary the nonchalance people have with DRM. Most people who I know who use Steam have games with DRM without even realising it - this way maybe it can be explained to them without requiring Inquisition-levels of heathen conversion.

I am going to go out on a limb here. GOG is having to do this, because of the sudden influx of people repackaging and selling these products, so they get pushback, and they are trying to counter it. Just open Aazon, Ebay, etc... to find the latest GOG version of something. I am all for this non DRM thing, but it has turned into an entitlement by many, and the excuses make you facepalm sometimes. What is actually going on, is not what GOG, nor this FCKDRM movement is discussing.

What does this have to do with GOG? It's about their original reason why we disliked DRM. It has morphed into something it was never meant to be . And GOG is not discussing that part of the picture.

Have you noticed how so many people are trying to legitimize the self victimization of not being able to buy a game these days, or commenting they should get it for free because of some self delusional thought to try to legitimize theft? This line of thought was never what the anti-DRM approach was for. Its not an entitlement. Doesn't take long to find someone saying they will download a repackaged GOG for free, because the evil game developer wanted to charge $10 for it, and they only had $2.

I get it, but the way people are turning the original no-DRM movement into, is not good for the industry. It's almost as if its turning games into an entitled necessity, and there are many who assume no-DRM means free access if they can find it. NO EXCUSE is proper for stealing. The past Amazon incident should be proof of that, and is probably why they are pushing this. Because game devs are seeing what is going on and are starting to push back.

JMO, and I do support GOG anti-DRM.

Great job GOG. I also love the email at the bottom of the page.

iwantto@fckdrm.com

:)

That DRM must be such a hottie. ;)

Err... either you've misread or you're making a joke I'm too stupid to get. :P

I used to love humble, but lately it is just so riddled with drm (not all products, but more of them are than aren't) that I wouldn't includ it in lists of drm free vedors if I was telling friends about places to look (which I have done on several occasions). Even if you can filter for drm free only via search on the site (did they add that?) you still get e-mails from them promoting lots of drm infested products consistantly.

It would be great if that site included a and maintained list of articles (captures of, like PDFs, since articles disappear) of DRM issues, like the SimCity release, games like DarkSpore vanishing entirely, people losing their accounts, etc.

I am wondering why GOG thinks that site is a good idea.

There are already sites out there that list lots and lots of DRM-free resources, offer more in-depth explanations about DRM, and have site names that are safe to work and everywhere else.

Other than getting their site name listed on that other site, I really fail to see the brilliance of this idea.


For instance, here's a better "competing" site:

http://www.defectivebydesign.org