RIP 2008 account

I quote again, not that I should need to, since I bolded it and you re-quoted it: "and it is all GOGs fault". This means that no fault lies in the publishers at all. The additional response by malevesque above merely pretends it's because GOG "doesn't have the balls" (which I also don't agree with, but others have already covered that aspect: GOG doesn't have the clout that a near-monopoly or a company with limitless pockets has -- balls have nothing to do with anything). This still doesn't excuse the publishers from being assholes in the first place. Just like nothing excuses businesses from engaging in unethical practices just because it's not against the law ('and if we don't do it, someone else will, and profit more!!" is not an excuse, either).

You then switch the argument to "it doesn't matter who's fault it is, but it's happening on gog". Whatever. Go ahead and leave gog for what you consider to be greener pastures. Just don't play this "it's all gog's fault" shit.

Or finding specific people who are willing to keep going to the senate/congress day after day bringing up the copyright problems. Though probably getting a foot in the door with some senators to bring it to the floor would be better than banging on the doors demanding to be heard.

Though putting up a site and campaign to get feedback from both copyright holders, modders, and prospective would-be authors/aritsts (if works were in public domain) to give feedback so you can tell story after story of how the current copyright has screwed or prevented them from making something and instead of 'encouraging the creation of works and arts' it instead squashes any poential to make something they are passionate about because Disney pushed the copyright 100 years longer because they wanted to hold onto mickymouse and you can't make your variation of Star Wars/Star Trek shows/books/artwork, etc.

And hopefully it gets into software, especially modding. Modders talking about the annoyances of DRM, the annoyances of not having source code, of making an entire Super Mario Brothers first level in HTML5 and getting shutdown by Nintendo for something that they didn't make but happens to include mario in it. Of games that should be in public domain for decades not only because they are old, but because the world has moved on and only a handful actually play them and it's more for research and less for fun as mechanics and many things were weak and janky made at the time as they didn't know what they were doing. Of how many arcade games may have been lost due to copyprotection schemes and companies lost the source code, but many arcade games might have some life yet if we were allowed to update them to modern systems or to emulate them without companies being sue happy. Of how old console discs for Xbox/PS1/PS2 no longer can work because the hardware was no longer made/supported and now bought games are just useless plastic, when by right we should be able to make a copy for backup as well as repair our own systems and even modify them.

And then Operating systems. How older unsupported OSes can then be run in emulation more freely and modded to make support of older software more possible rather than have to wait 80 years for what is obviously a dead unused OS because they push a new one out every 4 years.

Hardware as well, microcode and schematics to be released so better drivers could be written and not relying on proprietary compiled binary code and stuck with the unknown, especially with people who prefer to run GNU free software and don't want to be held down by NDA and losing rights just so they can use their own hardware, and maybe even improve hardware by making better tests for microcode and finding errors to improve future designs.

Then it goes to movies. Want to create a new interesting Alice in wonderland play on movie? Well you can't because Disney will sue you out of existance unless you agree to sell your work to them and have them publish it under their name and make major changes to your script.

Then there's Let's plays, play a 20 second intro from Mario Kart and Nintendo will claim your entire video and throw advertising on it. (Not that it matters with Youtube, they will put ads on everything and not give you anything unless you're just big enough to qualify for ad revenue)

Music is no better. Companies have algorithms where new art made by people gets copyright striked by unrelated companies. All big annoyances.

What do you think I said?

Amen! I really hope that too. Meanwhile welcome to the boycott club. In the state it is now, I also still refuse to buy games here. A shame really, my wishlist has grown since I stopped buying here. It is now a long list of games that I would buy if GOG returns to being DRM-free.

It's good that they were forced to withdraw Hitman. But the Cyberpunk issue is still not changed and shows where GOG wants to go. I hope they reconsider some time in the future. But I guess not. I guess they will try again to sell more DRMed games, just in smaller steps than the big step that was Hitman.

lol here i am unable to buy games from gog due to restrictions on my payment card -_- next best thing...well other than pirating ofc
https://www.zoom-platform.com/

Meanwhile in the OP:

Cheer up, OP.
At least you didn't drop 10k into the Amico.

First and foremost Valve do not give a fly fig about their customers, not as an individual. They've automated as much as they can so they don't have to interact with you.

My personal experience with Valve support has been the worst and most infuriating experience I've had with any company, and used to liaise weekly with BT Openreach. You have an issue that can't be fixed via a script, Valve will not care.


Cyberpunk:
I've said this before, and until I see proof to counter it I'll stick to my assumption, The year 2020 is seminal to Cyberpunk. There was a single opportunity to perform an act of ultimate IP kismet, and come hell or high water Cyberpunk most be released in 2020.

Paying that ultimate homage, I believe had far more influence that any investor. That said, investors likely did insist on a concurrent XBOne and PS4 release. Delaying console release could have saved much of the release issues.


2nd Class GoG users:
GoG is the underdog, they have almost no power and no influence. They can not demand devs/pubs give us release parity, they can not impose sanctions on those that don't.

Yes its a shitty situation, but thinking GoG can just "stand tough" is delusional.

The best way to ensure parity is doing the same as with Yoki Island Express, the community acting on mass has more influence.


HITMAN:
There is no two ways around it, it was a absolute mess. The real test is whether it ever returns.

But none of GoG's mistakes are comparable to the calculated assault on consumer rights that Valve have done over the last decade and a half.
Epic is valued at $28 BILLION and has insane influence via Fortnite and the Unreal engine.

CDPR is Valued at $8 BILLION, with moderate influence via Witcher franchise and small scale support from a bunch of DRM Free activists.

"Balls" has nothing to do with it. Epic has a much larger carrot to entice and much larger stick to hit them with

I'm not sure such people exist in government.
I don't like Disney or Nintendo that much but what you suggest sounds like complete removal of their rights to protect their trademarks. The mods are free at least, but your example of creating an *interesting* play or a movie based on Alice in Wonderland without Disney consent and probably to earn money out of it - this is way too much in my opinion.

Anyway I suggest we move that discussion to another thread.

They did get a bump in active users because of Cyberpunk, but we all know Cyberpunk did more harm than good overall. It ruined their reputation, and now they're a villain to a lot of gamers, especially console gamers. Reputations take forever to build and seconds to ruin, and they ruined theirs. Also at some point during that time it was reported that GOG was in the red, or losing money.

If you look at earnings reports, what's been posted here, and elsewhere you'd see that GOG is always just trying to stay afloat. It's either they're losing money or barely making any. If GOG wasn't a part of CD Projekt this store would have shut down years ago. You want to know why the service around here stinks? Because the store is constantly in the red and they don't want to commit any real resources to it. That's why there's so many real complaints from people here that don't get fixed, and that's why support will always be forever backed up. This store is under-staffed and has no real resources commited to it, because it would just bleed money if it did.

Now with CD Projekt being in the position they're in now, and the fact that "Triple A" game development is extremely volatile, I seriously have doubts that this store is going to be around in the next five years or so. I could easily see them shutting it down, and just releasing their games on Steam, EGS, consoles, etc.

And, no, GOG's DRM-free policy would never be the rule. That's you living in a fantasy world. Hell, a lot of people around here would say GOG's not even a truly DRM free store anymore. It's one thing to be DRM-free, and it's another to actually advertise as being DRM-free. The advertising of it is the bigger problem. I mean, and just so you know, Steam actually has more DRM free titles than GOG does. The only difference is you don't have an inefficent offline-installer.

And yes, Steam does have a better and more appealing service. Not just for the people who buy the games, but also to the people who sell games. The numbers don't lie, and the people have made their choice. GOG has no real market share so to speak, and they have really no big games. CD Projekt wouldn't dare make their own games on PC exclusive to GOG, because they know they'd lose a ton of money, and any bump it might give to GOG would be literally nothing in the end.

What exactly does GOG offer that Steam doesn't? Offline installers and that's literally it.

Meanwhile Steam has more games, better customer support, better linux support, more developer communication for news updates and patches, full controller support for everything, a store that's miles better than GOG's in features, a better community space, better forums, Steam workshop, ability to manually remove games from your account, trading cards, the same DRM free games that GOG has plus more, and so on...

There's really no advantage to GOG except for offline installers, but if you have any tech savvy whatsoever that's not going to be a problem. General rule of thumb is that anything on GOG is also going to be DRM free on Steam.

Now think about all the negatives with GOG... The store that's as basic and barebones as it gets... Where the best thing you can say about it is that it's barely servicable, and some might even disagree with that. The support response times are atrocious. 25 days to get a response back for a cash refund? Nice. The games catalogue is sorely lacking because of the advertised DRM-free nature. Love Japanese games for example? Good luck living that GOG life then, because outside of Falcom they have no games. You basically need to thoroughly investigate any purchase you make on GOG, because you're liable to buy a game wiht missing achievements, patches, content or DLC...

Very rarely does GOG get a big release here. Pretty much everything is going to be on Steam with some rare exceptions like Ubisoft and EGS nonsene. Remember when GOG got Horizon Zero Dawn? Which I think was even slighly delayed from the Steam and EGS release, but where is Day's Gone? Were GOG's sales just that bad, or did Sony think that having the game being advertised DRM-free actually hurt overall sales? Or maybe Sony just said screw GOG (CD Projekt) because of Cyberpunk disaster? Does anyone actually believe the recently announced God of War will make it to GOG? Highly doubt it.

Where was Capcom ever again after Dragon's Dogma? Nowhere to be found. It's Halloween time and all that... some Resident Evil would be nice here, should I beg for that on GOG, or just play on Steam?

Where's Bethesda with their flagship Elder Scrolls title called Skyrim? Or are we still going to be begging for that 5 more years from now? But here's a woke Wolfenstein game instead that underperformed everywhere else.

When is Square Enix going to show up with Japanese titles? Or are GOG users going to continue to only receive the sloppy seconds, or the hand-me-downs from "Western" Square Enix / Former Eidos? Tomb Raider 2013? That sure is great pick up when Square Enix had already literally given that game away for free before... I bought it btw just to support this store, despite already owning them all on Steam...

I could go on and on here, but that's legit how the masses look at it. They see Steam and then they see GOG, and it's a clear choice on which is better and who to get into bed with. That's why GOG has no real market share, and probably never will.

I bought Subverse on Monday, and I'll still ocassionally buy something on GOG since I'm stupid, but it wouldn't be a wise move to board this ship right now. Soon enough the iceberg will be right ahead, and then it's GG, GOG.

Most probably your forum settings set up to show 20 posts per page, and every time it's a new page for a user's own post he can't see it for a few minutes (unless from a different browser, or from the different instance of the same browser, e.g. in incognito mode). And yes, GOG forum requires a lots of fixing.

I advise you to change your settings to show 50 posts per page (max).
https://www.gog.com/forum/mysettings

are you a reg on the forums over there?
i used to be, until I was asked to leave for suggesting that plastic bags were a good way to keep noisy kids quiet, :P

Hey, thanks for the tip. It was set to show 20.

The thing was when I made the post it did show up immediately, and created a third page with my lone post on it. I then made a quick edit on it, and that's when it disappeared, and the number of pages went back down to two. Had no idea what happened. I restarted Galaxy, checked the forums on my web browser and it was still missing, until I made that second post and it then it showed back up.

Again, thanks for the advice there with the settings. I appreciate it.

Edit: You guys can keep downvoting my posts all you want, that doesn't invalidate anything I said, because most of it is facts and truth. This is just GOGers living in denial, and abusing a voting system that shouldn't even be a thing.