Here's something I would like to see on GOG.. ofcourse WITHOUT any sort of online DRM.

Could GOG integrate their own achievement system for newer games like Steam only it could be optional and without the need to be connected to play. I know many of my fellow GOGers couldn't care less about them, but personally I like the permanent account bound reward for my efforts in a game. Could update IF and WHEN the player chooses to login to his/her account and provided he/she has opted in for achievements..

What do you guys think? Would it work? How would it go down with the community?

*achievements

I like it, I will also like to see an option to count the hours that we play a certain game :) everything optional of course if you dont want to use it just dont, nothing like steam

Not necessarily. On both counts.

I think its possible, but its need support from both GOG and game developers. There is also some slippery points in that idea.
For example, lets assume some small client need to be installed on PC to communicate with game and online services. Probably only achievements for purchased games should be allowed . Its clear that you will need to authenticate it somehow with GOG to post your achievements, but in that case that disallows it to check if that game title was purchased? If some kind of client should be integrated in game itself its makes possible DRM-like misuse even more possible... Or it will need some type of Web API implemented in game itself, thats i doubt developers will bother to do.

Not for me but if it floats your boat fine. I just don't want to find out about bonuses and content people in here are landing because they are better at a game then I am. I had enough of that in high school.

Okay, then- I personally wouldn't mind if GOG games had achievements; might even be fun, depending on how it's implemented.

Only if the client is required.

I'd like to see GOG-like achievements:
Own a game from every decade. Or every continent.
Play through a level without saving (a reference to the old games).

Stuff like that. They could include some of this in account management and with the option to make is visible in the forums.

As for ingame achievements they would have to talk to the developers. Maybe possible with Witcher 3/CDPR, to include some GOG referenced stuff.

The most important thing would be choice. People who don't like it must be able to run this off. If I'm into a great story that takes me to tears I don't want a "Achievement unlocked: Crybaby" popup.

As long as I can get DRM-free games from GOG, I don't care about much else, tbh.

I guess what we're thinking here is that we should be able to connect a DRM-free game from GOG into some kind of client, which then tracks your gameplay to check off achievements. It could work, but the main thing is that game should remain DRM-free, first and foremost.

However, I think tracking in-game achievements requires DRM-restricted games, but I have no idea.

There are games like Race the Sun that have optional account features on GOG already. Indies that want to support GOG should be able to incorporate a GOG-login to track stuff. Of course GOG would have to provide some common interface for that.

Similar to how some games interact with Steam, then?

The Banner Saga, for one, where both the backer-only zip file acquired off Stoic's own site, and the one off Steam can interface with Steam and get tracked (or shoved into its own directory and run without Steam).

Or, for that matter several of Valve's games, that can be run in singleplayer mode completely without Steam (despite the Steam client being the only way to get the game data). Of course they don't register achievements without Steam, but they're perfectly playable.

I had no idea, how does that work? I am getting the sense that you need to log into the game with GOG account details.

But that sounds cool- the game is DRM-free, but you can turn on the option to get game achievements. Nice. But I guess if someone wants achievements from different games to be consolidated under one account, then they might need a GOG client.

If GOG can work out some way to offer DRM-free games and achievements, I wouldn't mind, but I think keeping the game DRM-free should be prioritized over anything else.

A public achievement system would require some sort of 'protection' to keep honest people honest. Otherwise you're likely to see rampant cheating.

I'm not really against it ( just highly indifferent about it ), but I'm afraid there's about a dozen reasons why this would be much more difficult to do, than you seem to realize. Due to that, and the fact that most GOG users don't really care for it, or are actively against anything vaguely reminding them of Steam or modern consoles, chances for this to happen are slim.

The best you can get are in-game achievements, which come with certain games. I think Unepic and Triple Town got some, in example.
That's part of the problem. As soon as you introduce something like this it creates a certain hostile and competitive atmosphere in the community. Personally I play games to have fun, not as some e-peen contest, and I think most GOG gamers feel the same about it.

There's already several multi-player capable games here at GOG, for those who enjoy competitive playing. And those who really get into the whole gamerscore thing and such probably prefer to use Steam or their XBox anyway.

I think I wrote that bit misleading. The are games on GOG that use accounts, but the accounts are with the developer and act like public highscore lists.

But it could work this way:

A game could offer the option to log into the GOG account. GOG would provide some kind of service for that (like a REST service). They would also define some data structure that decribes what information games can push into the account data and how it must be formatted (XML schema, JSON). GOG would provide some method to display this information should people wish.

So you start the game and decide if you want to log in or play offline.
You play the game online and it says "Oh noes, you beat that level under 1 minute". Data is published.
You go to your GOG account and choose if this kind of information should be visible tthe public or not.

GOG is the 2nd largest digital store after Steam. Why should developers that are here not support it? If GOG ever goes out of business, you just play offline. If Steam goes out of business on the other hand...
That's true of course.