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The requirement to login anywhere is of course DRM. It's the Minecraft style of DRM.

Early online updaters like the one from Sierra, which updated Half-Life before Steam came around, didn't require any login credentials and don't qualify as DRM. It wasn't needed, because HL's DRM was still disc- and key-based instead of account based. Even the CD key wasn't checked by the updater, so Sierra's online updater was completely DRM-free: It just conveniently downloaded patch files, saved and applied them. (Running the patched game was a completely different story, of course.)

Now I clearly see a trend of "PC gaming" slowly changing into some sort of "cloud gaming" depending on the Internet and that's the point where I quit. Nowadays game developers do not want to sell games anymore, they want you to continuously pay for "entertainment services" run by them, with weird "EULAs", bogus "subscribers agreements", server downtimes and so on. But this is not going to happen for me, I have more than enough paid games in my backlog, so I can just sit this out, even for a decade if I have to.
Post edited December 28, 2014 by jtsn
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jtsn: The requirement to login anywhere is of course DRM. It's the Minecraft style of DRM.

Early online updaters like the one from Sierra, which updated Half-Life before Steam came around, didn't require any login credentials and don't qualify as DRM. It wasn't needed, because HL's DRM was still disc- and key-based instead of account based. Even the CD key wasn't checked by the updater, so Sierra's online updater was completely DRM-free: It just conveniently downloaded patch files, saved and applied them. (Running the patched game was a completely different story, of course.)

Now I clearly see a trend of "PC gaming" slowly changing into some sort of "cloud gaming" depending on the Internet and that's the point where I quit. Nowadays game developers do not want to sell games anymore, they want you to continuously pay for "entertainment services" run by them, with weird "EULAs", bogus "subscribers agreements", server downtimes and so on. But this is not going to happen for me, I have more than enough paid games in my backlog, so I can just sit this out, even for a decade if I have to.
So I guess when you login to the site to download your game it's DRM too right? As far as Galaxy goes, hey how about we wait for a actual full release before we all go crazy...
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BKGaming: So I guess when you login to the site to download your game it's DRM too right?
No, that's like going to the store.
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BKGaming: So I guess when you login to the site to download your game it's DRM too right?
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realkman666: No, that's like going to the store.
I'm just pointing out the absurdness of having a login requiment being classified as DRM is nonsense. You can have a login system and still be DRM free, right now Galaxy may not be in the true sense of the word, but it's also not done. That there are also technically ways to back up your Galaxy installation for the patches as along as you also keep the standalone installer for your games too.
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realkman666: No, that's like going to the store.
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BKGaming: I'm just pointing out the absurdness of having a login requiment being classified as DRM is nonsense. You can have a login system and still be DRM free, right now Galaxy may not be in the true sense of the word, but it's also not done. That there are also technically ways to back up your Galaxy installation for the patches as along as you also keep the standalone installer for your games too.
The way Galaxy "installed" itself and "functioned", I removed it immediately, so I wouldn't know.
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BKGaming: I'm just pointing out the absurdness of having a login requiment being classified as DRM is nonsense. You can have a login system and still be DRM free, right now Galaxy may not be in the true sense of the word, but it's also not done. That there are also technically ways to back up your Galaxy installation for the patches as along as you also keep the standalone installer for your games too.
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realkman666: The way Galaxy "installed" itself and "functioned", I removed it immediately, so I wouldn't know.
Just in case you didn't know, and for others that may take issue with that.. GOG has said that's only temporary because they didn't want to provide that separately until Galaxy is finished, Once done, people wanting MP will just use Galaxy and the standalone installer will not be bundled with additional stuff.
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BKGaming: So I guess when you login to the site to download your game it's DRM too right?
Only the Humble Bundle got this completely right: You paid and got an unique URL to a download page with your DRM free games on it, including updates. Connecting it to an account is optional, initially this option wasn't even available. Of course, meanwhile Humble Store sells games with all sorts of DRM, including Steam, has region-locking and regional pricing. So I'm out there, too.

So yes, tying a purchase irrevocably to a specific person is another form of digital rights management, quite literally indeed. I accepted this for buying $5.99 classics, when I joined GOG six years ago, because in this price range, it was not a big deal. I'm not going to accept it for new releases priced at $80.
Post edited December 28, 2014 by jtsn
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realkman666: The way Galaxy "installed" itself and "functioned", I removed it immediately, so I wouldn't know.
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BKGaming: Just in case you didn't know, and for others that may take issue with that.. GOG has said that's only temporary because they didn't want to provide that separately until Galaxy is finished, Once done, people wanting MP will just use Galaxy and the standalone installer will not be bundled with additional stuff.
The only thing I know is that I thought I was installing a video game and ended up with that as an extra, which is on par with my first Uplay experience.
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BKGaming: So I guess when you login to the site to download your game it's DRM too right?
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jtsn: Only the Humble Bundle got this completely right: You paid and got an unique URL to a download page with your DRM free games on it, including updates. Connecting it to an account is optional, initially this option wasn't even available. Of course, meanwhile Humble Store sells games with all sorts of DRM, including Steam, has region-locking and regional pricing. So I'm out there, too.

So yes, tying a purchase irrevocably to a specific person is another form of digital rights management, quite literally indeed.
That doesn't make it DRM because you have to have an account that you must log into . Your game is not being restricted after sale. Regardless if GOG bites the dust or not your game will function as long as you have the installer in the same way that URL would bite the dust if humble closed. You still have an unrestricted game.

So it literally semantics, sure if you have a problem with making an account to get a game... that's a legit complaint maybe, but that doesn't make it DRM. DRM is relation to software, not accounts on a site.
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BKGaming: Just in case you didn't know, and for others that may take issue with that.. GOG has said that's only temporary because they didn't want to provide that separately until Galaxy is finished, Once done, people wanting MP will just use Galaxy and the standalone installer will not be bundled with additional stuff.
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realkman666: The only thing I know is that I thought I was installing a video game and ended up with that as an extra, which is on par with my first Uplay experience.
Well I pretty sure GOG made it well known before hand that Galaxy was needed and included for MP purposes... I find it little absurd to complain about that and about a service you don't even have to use that takes up less than 100MB of space. In regards to UPlay which which is nothing like that.
Post edited December 28, 2014 by user deleted
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realkman666: The only thing I know is that I thought I was installing a video game and ended up with that as an extra, which is on par with my first Uplay experience.
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BKGaming: Well I pretty sure GOG made it well known before hand that Galaxy was needed and included for MP purposes... I find it little absurd to complain about that and about a service you don't even have to use that takes up less than 100MB of space. In regards to UPlay which which is nothing like that.
Now I know what to think.
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realkman666: The only thing I know is that I thought I was installing a video game and ended up with that as an extra, which is on par with my first Uplay experience.
You didn't had anything "extra", as it's part of the game, it's just a launcher. And also what is bundled with either Witcher Adventure or AvP is not galaxy, just some multiplayer component/launcher which uses Galaxy infrastructure. It's not any different from Neverwinter Nights, Original Sin or Eador, etc... which all have their very own, installed by default, launcher.

There is already 350 something games in GoG catalogs that are Galaxy compatible and I doubt you will be able to notice any difference between a normal installer and a Galaxy "friendly" installer unless you actively look for it.
Post edited December 28, 2014 by Gersen
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realkman666: The only thing I know is that I thought I was installing a video game and ended up with that as an extra, which is on par with my first Uplay experience.
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Gersen: You didn't had anything "extra", as it's part of the game, it's just a launcher. And also what is bundled with either Witcher Adventure or AvP is not galaxy, just some multiplayer component/launcher which uses Galaxy infrastructure. It's not any different from Neverwinter Nights, Original Sin or Eador, etc... which all have their very own, installed by default, launcher.

There is already 350 something games in GoG catalogs that are Galaxy compatible and I doubt you will be able to notice any difference between a normal installer and a Galaxy "friendly" installer unless you actively look for it.
That's true too, it really is "part of the game" since it powers MP. Since it's optional, it's really not something worth complaining about either. Had they packed that into the actual game folder, many people wouldn't even know it was there.

As far as the installers...there really isn't. All installers will be compatible at some point. Only way to really tell, it to look into the install files but it really doesn't matter because they all work with or without Galaxy.
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realkman666: The only thing I know is that I thought I was installing a video game and ended up with that as an extra, which is on par with my first Uplay experience.
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Gersen: You didn't had anything "extra", as it's part of the game, it's just a launcher. And also what is bundled with either Witcher Adventure or AvP is not galaxy, just some multiplayer component/launcher which uses Galaxy infrastructure. It's not any different from Neverwinter Nights, Original Sin or Eador, etc... which all have their very own, installed by default, launcher.

There is already 350 something games in GoG catalogs that are Galaxy compatible and I doubt you will be able to notice any difference between a normal installer and a Galaxy "friendly" installer unless you actively look for it.
Galaxy is part of AVP? When did AVP come out?
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Gersen: You didn't had anything "extra", as it's part of the game, it's just a launcher. And also what is bundled with either Witcher Adventure or AvP is not galaxy, just some multiplayer component/launcher which uses Galaxy infrastructure. It's not any different from Neverwinter Nights, Original Sin or Eador, etc... which all have their very own, installed by default, launcher.

There is already 350 something games in GoG catalogs that are Galaxy compatible and I doubt you will be able to notice any difference between a normal installer and a Galaxy "friendly" installer unless you actively look for it.
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realkman666: Galaxy is part of AVP? When did AVP come out?
It been out for a while, was even given away free for a bit to test Galaxy's MP servers...

http://www.gog.com/game/aliens_versus_predator_classic_2000
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realkman666: Galaxy is part of AVP? When did AVP come out?
Some months ago : http://www.gog.com/game/aliens_versus_predator_classic_2000

And like I said Galaxy is not "part" of AvP, just that if you want to play in AvP multiplayer then it will use the same MP infrastructure than Galaxy will be using once it's released. ( Actually AvP is not even one of the games compatible with Galaxy yet.)
Post edited December 28, 2014 by Gersen