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General discussionWhat happens to GOG account(16 posts)solved(16 posts)solved
(16 posts)solved
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 07, 2021
When its owner dies, or is unable to access it themselves completely for whatever reason?

Also, is transferring it to somebody else possible, like other possessions of material value? Possible like clean, legit, as being "allowed to", or just confiding your login info, email, credentials to somebody else and instructing them to not reveal the change of ownership?
This question / problem has been solved by toxicTomimage
Posted March 07, 2021
https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/212632089-GOG-User-Agreement?product=gog

3. GOG ACCOUNT

3.3 Your GOG account and GOG content are personal to you and cannot be shared with, sold, gifted or transferred to anyone else. Your access to and use of them is subject to GOG’s rules which are set out here, as updated or amended when necessary
Posted March 07, 2021
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KiNgBrAdLeY7: When its owner dies, or is unable to access it themselves completely for whatever reason?

Also, is transferring it to somebody else possible, like other possessions of material value? Possible like clean, legit, as being "allowed to", or just confiding your login info, email, credentials to somebody else and instructing them to not reveal the change of ownership?
If the owner dies - and I've been through this, sadly - you contact support. They will tell you what legal documents they need from you. If you provide those, they'll grant you access to the deceased's account. Means, if you are entitled, you'll "inherit" the account. Transferring or merging to another existing account seems not to be possible.

When I was in the situation, I didn't went through with it, because the person who died had mostly the same games as me, and also it would have been too painful to sign in as him... although I could have provided all the necessary paperwork.

What I can say is that support was extremely forthcoming and empathetic - it was one of the darkest times in my life and this was one of the upsides and one big reason I still feel some loyalty to the site, although a lot of things have gone downhill sadly in the last few years (for which I blame management, not the grunts at the customer or coding fronts).

Support - overloaded and overworked as they are now with the botched CP2077 release, the CDPR hack and buckloads of new releases - has always been a forte of GOG. Back then, even emotional support, which was awesome.
Posted March 07, 2021
Why are you asking this? Do you intend to off yourself and want to leave your account to someone else?
I would recommend against it (the "offing yourself" part, of course you can always donate your account to me or some other user you like).
Posted March 07, 2021
Dead men play no games.
Posted March 07, 2021
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Titanium: Dead men play no games.
What about the undead?
Posted March 07, 2021
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KiNgBrAdLeY7: When its owner dies, or is unable to access it themselves completely for whatever reason?

Also, is transferring it to somebody else possible, like other possessions of material value? Possible like clean, legit, as being "allowed to", or just confiding your login info, email, credentials to somebody else and instructing them to not reveal the change of ownership?
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toxicTom: If the owner dies - and I've been through this, sadly - you contact support. They will tell you what legal documents they need from you. If you provide those, they'll grant you access to the deceased's account. Means, if you are entitled, you'll "inherit" the account. Transferring or merging to another existing account seems not to be possible.

When I was in the situation, I didn't went through with it, because the person who died had mostly the same games as me, and also it would have been too painful to sign in as him... although I could have provided all the necessary paperwork.

What I can say is that support was extremely forthcoming and empathetic - it was one of the darkest times in my life and this was one of the upsides and one big reason I still feel some loyalty to the site, although a lot of things have gone downhill sadly in the last few years (for which I blame management, not the grunts at the customer or coding fronts).

Support - overloaded and overworked as they are now with the botched CP2077 release, the CDPR hack and buckloads of new releases - has always been a forte of GOG. Back then, even emotional support, which was awesome.
First thing, my condolensces and sympathy. Then, thanks are in order, for the thorough analysis; but nowadays, even staying on topic warrants appreciation! Only one question, please: who is exactly the person that can be entitled, to somebody else's account here? I mean, what criteria must be met, in order for this to happen.
Posted March 07, 2021
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Titanium: Dead men play no games.
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Breja: What about the undead?
They play Doom 2.

:D
Posted March 07, 2021
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KiNgBrAdLeY7: First thing, my condolensces and sympathy. Then, thanks are in order, for the thorough analysis; but nowadays, even staying on topic warrants appreciation! Only one question, please: who is exactly the person that can be entitled, to somebody else's account here? I mean, what criteria must be met, in order for this to happen.
You'd have to ask GOG support, who - I assume - do this case by case. When I was in the situation I was acting on behalf of the parents of the deceased (which I could have proven) who wanted me to keep the account. But like I wrote, I didn't go through with it.
Posted March 07, 2021
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toxicTom: You'd have to ask GOG support, who - I assume - do this case by case. When I was in the situation I was acting on behalf of the parents of the deceased (which I could have proven) who wanted me to keep the account. But like I wrote, I didn't go through with it.
Thank you, Tom. If it is too much complicated or i am not allowed to choose somebody freely for the transfer, then i might also not go through it. I wanted my account preserved though, since i have quite a collection and a number of games that have quit GOG store, since a long time ago at that. My life is in danger again and human life is fragile, especially if others want it to end, regardless of how hard you are determined (and skilled) to defend it... Or i might evacuate to a remote area without internet and stuff, in the foreseeable future. It was a nice ride while it lasted. Few people helped to make it fun, too!
Posted September 05, 2023
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Breja: What about the undead?
This was my question to ask. Shame on you.
Posted September 05, 2023
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Breja: What about the undead?
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neumi5694: This was my question to ask. Shame on you.
Well, now the thread is unead so... good meta joke?
Posted September 05, 2023
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Breja: Well, now the thread is unead so... good meta joke?
Most definitly. However, I have no idea why this thread was shown to me on the first page.
Posted September 05, 2023
You know, I've wondered about this many times myself.

I know most companies casually throw around sentences like "Account belongs to you alone and cannot be transferred", but I think this will start becoming a more frequent and serious issue going forward.

Inheritance has been a thing for centuries. It’s a thing with Physical media and I see no reason why it should not be a thing with digital libraries.

Like the OP, I wondered what would the best approach be. Contact support? hand over credentials without telling them? I can see risk in each case. Support may have been helpful to toxicTom, but unless GOG add it to their user agreement, there will always be a chance that this was a one-off fluke.

If we ask support to "officially" transfer the account, or merge it somehow, they may comply, or they may opt to simply close the account.

If we simply hand over credentials, that may work for a while. A long while, but I feel that companies will start getting suspicious when they discover that there are accounts that have been active and in use for 150 years. They may opt to close them then.

I personally wish that someone like the EU would step in and make digital inheritance a law, forcing all companies to comply and allow it.
Posted September 05, 2023
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SargonAelther: I know most companies casually throw around sentences like "Account belongs to you alone and cannot be transferred", but I think this will start becoming a more frequent and serious issue going forward.
...
I personally wish that someone like the EU would step in and make digital inheritance a law, forcing all companies to comply and allow it.
Maybe that is needed, but should it then be applied to all services, not just digital stores?

For instance, if you have a two year gym membership prepaid but you die to your first 100kg bench press, should your son be able to inherit your gym membership so that he can try to break your record?

In GOG's case, at least you have the practical option to pass all your GOG offline installers to your offspring, even if your account was closed due to your death (I am not fully sure if this is "legal" either (ie. passing the game license to someone else), but I don't see it differently than passing your DVD movie collection or PC CD games to your offspring).

Most other digital game stores don't have even this option because the games are tied to your online account with DRM, and are unusable without the account.

Anyway, I intend to outlive GOG.com because it would be terribly sad to see me go first, to me at least.
Post edited September 05, 2023 by timppu
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General discussionWhat happens to GOG account(16 posts)solved(16 posts)solved
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