I have my thoughts on that. If like me you want to sometimes have serious conversations around here. Or if you are exclusively on the fun, games and entertainment side. Either way I hope you would like to avoid unpleasant discussions.

So we have a bunch of those around here. Like the obvious culture wars in gaming thread. But many more keep popping up. Examples of common GOG arguments - please do not feel the need to answer:
- Is GOG betraying its values?
- How much Steam is DRM?
- How much evil is DRM?
- Why prices of games are too high or too low or too different?
- Which is worse Steam or Microsoft?
- Which is better Xbox or Playstation? (I kid of course... we're more the Linux versus Windows type community...)

So if you too would rather a productive alternative and are mostly against interminable arguments maybe read the article and the comments. Then post your thoughts for the rest of us. Even if you think GOG community is great just as it is - maybe post what you like about it. :)

Here's the takeaways I see:
- Avoiding repetitive arguments is valuable but taboos / banning are not universal solutions.
- If you feel you need to answer / respond to someone and their question or post looks like a challenge: be particularly aware of your own emotional engagement.
- Be particularly considerate of newbies. Instead of being dismissive (also via joking) point them to FAQs, link to previous posts or maybe just ignore them (if you can't be constructive)?
- Be particularly considerate of numbers - what I would call mobbing - when the same person is being talked to by numerous others it is inevitable to feel overwhelmed, even if everyone is polite.
- Tone does wonders. Just all around being nice (no sarcasm, no irony, no dismissiveness) and taking others while assuming good faith. This ties back to emotional engagement. If you feel like you are talking to an enemy, you're probably part of the problem.

PS: Relinking also the Raph Koster stuff for anyone that hasn't seen it. Video is good, slides also available.

Edited for emphasis.

No sarcasm?.. *starts to melt* Oh! What a world!

How about you don't tell people how they should post, full stop.

Thanks for helping me avoid this link by breaking it. :P

The kind of community that doesn't create topics like this.

Fixed. :) Net crashed for me, took me a while to get back. I like sarcasm. :) +1 to you.

But Crosmando and Smannesman for example...

Are they serious? Having fun? Not sure :)

Crosmando is always serious. No room for fun there. All anti DRM and frowns make Crosmando a dull boy. :(

Hmmm i'll answer with my thoughts on each question. As far as i can tell, no. Some of what they originally stood for has been bent (regional pricing, DLC), however it was either bend, or never get other games that should be here. I hate steam, i won't lie. However being forced to update your steam client in order to check on your games or stay permanently in offline mode... I'll say a large portion of it. There are worse evils than DRM, however DRM is pretty high there, especially as more of our equipment has electronics not being able to add/modify/control/replace/program our own software for our hardware it becomes worse. DRM is used for example in car engines, which it will detect if it's in diagnostic/debug mode and run totally differently in order to give off fewer fumes in order to pass an inspection. Other times you can't play music on your favorite player and MUST use a particular player. (Yeah music has gone the DRM-free route mostly, but we shouldn't forget how we went through it) Ummm... The price of games are what people are willing to pay. Of course the lower the price the more likely lots of people will buy it, and the higher it is the more likely people who can't wait will buy it first. Personally my limit is $20 for any game, although i do prefer to get them for $5 or less whenever possible and i'm willing to wait until it's on sale to reflect that (or 80% off, whichever comes first) Microsoft straight up. Microsoft is trying to force the store, DRM and many other unsavory features on the OS and the user directly where they can't avoid it. Steam at least you can just not install the software or the games. Microsoft right now is with the same rankings as EA, and Blizzard with their heads up their asses. But that's my opinion. The brand, the current system or the original system?

I'll have to refer my opinion from my first owned Playstation, the PS2. I got it over the Xbox because you needed a separate $30 dongle to play DVD's, not to mention the PS2 had backwards compatibility to all the PS1 games giving you access to a huge library. Not to mention i went to second hand stores and game trading to try and find the games i was interested in. (Damn, now i remember how it was to have only $30 a month for personal entertainment, and living on $500 a month, which mostly went to rent and utilities)

No one is telling you how to post, I'm thinking of it more as a suggestion, not a rule.

As for a suggestion on how to make a better community - Don't be a game begger. Maybe ask once, if at all and that's it.
I don't think anyone likes being nagged into generosity.

I wanted to read your OP, but I got lost in the slatestarcodex comment section.

Nope, Just made a account for posting on the forum in general. Then I just happened to walk in on this thread and decided to speak my mind. I've been lurking around here for a while.

- They a re a business, they will do what brings the money in.
- Not all Steam is DRM, CEG is DRM, the Client is an additional component, which means games can be DRM free from Steam, but still require the client. These are both unacceptable to me. I o not want DRM or Clients.
- DRM is the worst thing in computing. It punushes paying customers whilst making no difference to the pirates. I just look at the piles of games I have thrown away, never played.
- Certainly prices are increasing here. Its not too much of a problem as I just wont buy them until years down the line when they are a sensible prices. But it does shock me when people think £50 for a pre-order game is a good price, shows how valueless money is now.
- In what sense? Steam are far bigger in the PC game market, and are therefore more stable, just compare to GFWL. In terms of OS's, Windows is far bigger. In terms of going forward and buying games from them, I would do neither. They are both DRM'd to the hilt and so are not for me.
- Playstation. I like the XBox, but don't have many games for it, and not got round to 360 yet. PS1 however had a vast array of games, and played it a lot. not played PS2 much, and PS3 has been pretty good. Also the PSP is a good handheld. I have no interest in trying the newer consoles for at least 5-10 years.

Goodness. That's some serious power-lurking right there.