Kadlin: There is nothing wrong with DRM. People that try to list problems with DRM fail to notice that DRM-free has the same issues.
I had bought a ton of games on dotemu a long time ago. I probably had more games than anyone on there. All DRM-free games. Then one day they shut the site and service down. This led me to not having access to download any if my paid games anymore.
There you can blame only yourself, for not downloading your games. That is the same as if you bought a physical game (CD) from a store but leave it to the store, telling them that you will pick it up later when you will actually play the game. Then the store closes down for good and you can't get your purchased game, just because you didn't transfer the game to your own possession beforehand. That is what downloading is, getting the possession of the goods you have purchased.
I did download all my purchased DotEmu games (DotEmu communicated the closure of the store to their customers and gave them some time to download them, just like Desura did; I had downloaded the games already before that though), and they are on two or three hard drives now. So yes I have access to all my purchased DotEmu games, same as e.g. with the Strategy First's "SFI Super Bundle" games I bought many years ago from their site (there was a clear requirement at SFI that you MUST download and store the game installers right there, the deal didn't include an option to redownload your games unlimited times from here to eternity).
If, however, those DotEmu games required online validation to DotEmu servers before I can install and play them... then all those downloaded DotEmu installers on my hard drive would be worthless. I couldn't use them anymore.
Kadlin: This leads to another issue that affects old DRM-free games that came on discs, as well as these DRM-free downloaded versions. Even if you already have the game DRM-free, you cannot access any of the new updates, add-ons, extras, or whatever it is the specific game has added or will add, unless you buy the game again DRM-free from somewhere that has it.
That is totally beside the point and has absolutely nothing to do with the game being DRM-free (or not). You have that very same issue also when a store stops selling the game you purchased earlier (e.g. the publisher leaves the store; this has happened also on GOG). Most probably the publisher will not update that abandoned version anymore (even though sometimes even that has happened). The game being DRM-free or not doesn't affect this in any way.
Kadlin: You can make the argument that I can play the game DRM-free still, and sure, I could, but if I want any updates, new content, or the ability to run it on Windows 10, I need to buy it again. Yet if I bought it on Steam on day one, I would have had to only buy it once, instead of having to buy it multiple times DRM-free.
No you can't if the Steam store closes or Steam stops selling that game because the publisher leaves Steam. Then you will be left without any further updates to the game, and in the case the store closes, you can't install and play even your unupdated version of the game anymore.
That argument has absolutely nothing to do with DRM or DRM-free.
Also, the point you raise about compatibility with Windows 10 or future/other OSes, with DRM (clients) that issue becomes even worse. Let's say you have a game on Steam that only works in Windows XP and 7, not 10. Ok so you can still play it on your old PC running Windows XP or 7, just not on your new PC with Windows 10, unless you are able to run it in a virtual machine running an older Windows or something.
Ok then, but what happens when that DRM client (in this case Steam) that you need in order to play that game, stops supporting that old Windows version (XP or 7)? So the game itself would still run fine on the old Windows, but the client that you need for installing and playing the game, doesn't. So you can't play them game at all anymore, not on your older Windows PCs (because the client refuses to run on them now), and not on Windows 10 (because the game itself has issues on it).
Meanwhile, if the game was DRM-free, it could still run fine on your older Windows PCs, or maybe a virtual machine running older Windows, or maybe Linux running WINE.
That same issue happened when Microsoft blocked SafeDisc and SecuROM DRM copy protections from working in Windows 10, rendering lots of older retail CD/DVD games unusable in Windows 10. So the games themselves might still work fine on Windows 10... but it is the DRM that prevents them from working.
You know what the solution to that is? Yep, removing that DRM with a noCD crack or such, making those games... wait for it... DRM-FREE! Wow, how could that happen, DRM-free is the solution for the game working on Windows 10?
Kadlin: I get that fanboys will fanboy, and that forum like this are one big echo chamber, but the fact is that DRM and DRM-free both have issues with their history and neither one is better. They are options and choices for the publishers/developers/user, and they both will continue to have problems and issues, as well has good things about them.
You failed to present any arguments from the customer point of view where DRM would benefit the user. At least in single-player games, DRM-free is always better for the user, it has less risks for being able to run the game in the future.
After all, if all the old classics that GOG has released over the years had had online activation DRM in them that is now defunct and can't be removed from the games... then GOG couldn't have re-released those games on GOG. As simple as that. The only way GOG could re-release them was that the games were cracked, ie. any earlier copy protection or other DRM was first removed from them.
You live and learn.
