People didn't choose the DRM version due to the DRM. They chose it _regardless_ of it (possibly because they didn't even know of a DRM-free option, or just because they rather keep all their games only in one digital store, in this case Steam).

It seems to be a common misconception that achievements, cloud saving, auto update etc. require a forced DRM to everyone. After all, even Steam has "DRM-free games", which have those extra features.

I have 200+ games on Steam. Have I "accepted" DRM? Or am I merely trying to tolerate it, and still avoid it the best I can?

Yet another misconception that everyone who has Steam games is completely fine with the DRM, or even prefer DRM.

Courts to decide who is the pirate and who is not. Do you have some reported cases of non-pirates going to jail or paying fines on court order?

Third misconception, that GOG or DRM-free means the same as pro-piracy.

And what exactly is that supposed to achieve?

Not really fair to to compare Steam vs GOG sales, since buying the Steam version also go you the GOG version gratis.

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/gog_and_peoples_perspective_on_it/post225

Unless, of course, the legal matters are again in yet another clusterfuck, preventing anyone from selling them anymore. Or in someone's hands who just couldn't care less, like Disney with their older LucasArts games.

But wait, then people can just pirate those games for free, right? And as we know, the old classic games just magically appear on the internet from thin air, without anyone actually preserving them before locally on their own hard drives?

Don't come knocking on my door for any pirate copies, though. :)

That doesn't explain anything. What is the point of using DRM to track legitimate customers beyond knowing how many there are? You can do that by looking at the sales figures of all major outlets. And since pirates don't appear on the radar at all, you can't deduce anything from those numbers anyway.

...

Also with DRM free I can say this. I just need to show the email I got from GOG. A proof of purchase doesn't have to be DRM, a simple receipt should be sufficient.

True, despite the growing culture right now where classics are putting back on sale there might be some rarer cases where I wouldn't be able to get them at the time. It'll require patience then, or replacing (or already have been replaced) with newer games that do the same thing or hopefully even do it better.

Not sure about this. I didn't see any convincing reports about legitimate users being accused. I would like to see more evidence. I guess it was just unpopular for some reason, only CDPR really knows what went wrong. Also here DRM doesn't matter. Whether you use Steam or GOG there is never a reason to use torrents for downloading your game.

but that do not stop CDPR treating legitimate customers as pirates until the customer managed to procure evidence that they had a legitimate copy. Talk about a publisher treating customers as thieves? :)

(and what if I had accidentally deleted that email? or moved email services and can no longer access it?)

That would have happened all the same because that whole IP tracking thing is very wonky to begin with. I know because I was personally involved in a case where faulty IP tracking could have cost a life if the person behind the IP had actually intended to commit suicide instead of just threatening to do so.

Short answer: print them before. Long answer: If you accidentally deleted that email you ask GOG to send it to you again and if you moved email services you are as screwed as with Steam because also there accounts are based on emails. I think it's reasonable to expect customers to keep such documents save. It's standard in every shop where you buy something physically. It should work in the internet world as well.

And CDPR never went after me (legitimate customer) because I never gave them reason too. I just downloaded Witcher 2 from GOG and everything was fine. So I never had to prove that I own Witcher 2 although I could have if needed.

that's because CDPR quickly backed down and stopped the whole thing when the process they used became known (a supposedly 100% accurate IP tracking system...), due to the amount of backlash it created. Now CDPR states that "pirates are just misunderstood customers"... quite a big turn around. It do not smell slightly of spin at all.
I am doing a PhD, I got print outs flying everywhere... god, no more papers to keep track of, please.