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General discussion (archive)GOG and people's perspective on it(279 posts)(279 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 05, 2013
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011284mm:
Think your friend could do with a good slap maybe?
- I've had some friends similar with consoles vs PC actually, but thankfully none that have been that way regarding steam / gog.
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GOGwiiisfun: And not to mention that a lot or Steam games don't actually have cloud saving (at least in my experience).
I've actually found the cloud saving to have messed up some games
Post edited October 05, 2013 by Sachys
Posted October 05, 2013
Delete!
Post edited December 14, 2013 by user deleted
Posted October 05, 2013
It's just the pro-DRM folks, nothing new there. We have some of those also here on the GOG forums, the people who seem to be here only to promote Steam. At least they don't appear to be buying any GOG games.

I wonder if those folks who say you must be pirate for wanting to buy a game without DRM said the same for music and ebook buyers, who preferred to get the media without DRM?
Posted October 05, 2013
high rated
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Xanto: There is a chance I might lose access to all my Steam games at some point in the future, I honestly don't feel that much safer with having DRM free games either. In 10 - 20 years GOG may not be around, and without them constantly updating there games (which is unlikely when they get to the point of having 1000's of games anyway) newer technology could easily make all our DRM free games useless anyway and sure we could keep old tech around to play these games but that will only get us so far when that breaks and goes away as everything does.

I think some people here at GOG have told themselves that by buying DRM free games there much safer when it comes to having the ability to play them again in the future. When quite frankly were really not. Every year technology gets better and gets better at a faster rate then the year before. The technology of 20 or 30 years from now could be vastly different from the tech of today.
I think you're overlooking one extremely important fact: control.

With games bought on GOG, _you_ control whether or not you'll be able to play these games in the future. GOG may or may not be around in 20 years - no problem, I have my games backed up. Technology will change, but no one is forcing me to scrap my current machine. It's _my_ decision whether or not I switch to some new technology that's incompatible to my old games, and in all likelihood, I'll keep my old machine in such a case. I maintained a DOS/Win95 secondary PC for years to play old games, before emulators made it obsolete. I see no problem doing this unless there's a radical change to the way our power grid is working, but I really don't see any indication for that.

With Steam, you're _not_ in control. As you stated correctly, there are ways how Steam could make your games unavailable to you without you being able to prevent it.

For me, that's a very important difference. I'm a collector, I own several thousand games, and the thought that someone had the power to take a huge part of my collection away from me at any moment is not something I cherish. _I_ want to be in control of _my_ collection, period.
Posted October 05, 2013
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Xanto: I'm torn when it comes to Steam and GOG really. I like all the stuff using Steam gives you as-well as the ability to buy newer games but I like the peace of mind the GOG gives you when you know they can't just up and ban you from the games you buy or take them away because GOG shuts down.

Steam is DRM and DRM does nothing against piracy. We all know this. I told myself to stick with GOG and buy only DRM free but the more I think about it... the more I feel that is kind of silly.

There is a chance I might lose access to all my Steam games at some point in the future, I honestly don't feel that much safer with having DRM free games either. In 10 - 20 years GOG may not be around, and without them constantly updating there games (which is unlikely when they get to the point of having 1000's of games anyway) newer technology could easily make all our DRM free games useless anyway and sure we could keep old tech around to play these games but that will only get us so far when that breaks and goes away as everything does.

I think some people here at GOG have told themselves that by buying DRM free games there much safer when it comes to having the ability to play them again in the future. When quite frankly were really not. Every year technology gets better and gets better at a faster rate then the year before. The technology of 20 or 30 years from now could be vastly different from the tech of today.

My views are becoming more and more of just buying what I can where I can and even it goes away at some point well I get plenty years of enjoyment from it and there will be new games in the future for me to enjoy over these really old games anyway. Nothing is certain so I don't see why buying from one place over another is any better.

The future is so uncertain I can't see why we should worry about the "what if" and limit ourselves... DRM free is nice, GOG is awesome... but are you really any better off? In some cases (like activation limits for some games sure) but generally no.
Wow... just... wow. That changed my opinion on GOG and Steam so much...
Posted October 05, 2013
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Xanto: There is a chance I might lose access to all my Steam games at some point in the future, I honestly don't feel that much safer with having DRM free games either. In 10 - 20 years GOG may not be around, and without them constantly updating there games (which is unlikely when they get to the point of having 1000's of games anyway) newer technology could easily make all our DRM free games useless anyway and sure we could keep old tech around to play these games but that will only get us so far when that breaks and goes away as everything does.

I think some people here at GOG have told themselves that by buying DRM free games there much safer when it comes to having the ability to play them again in the future. When quite frankly were really not. Every year technology gets better and gets better at a faster rate then the year before. The technology of 20 or 30 years from now could be vastly different from the tech of today.
This argument is wrong in so many ways I don't even know where to start with it.

In 10-20 years your GOG games will still continue to work on the hardware they were set up for at the very least. Nobody has ever claimed anything more or anything less of any game in the history of PC gaming. Just because I have my ancient copy of Discworld Noir that refuses to work on a modern PC doesn't mean that I can't set up a Win98 box and play it on there (which, by the way, is just what I did)

Of course, this all assumes that you apply due care in keeping backups of them. Assigning responsibility to third parties for keeping backups of your games is lazy and reckless. It's the same mindset that causes businesses to entrust confidential data to cloud computing providers, putting it at massive risk simply for the sake of 'convenience'. 'Convenience' these days seems to be synonymous with "I'm too lazy to look after my stuff properly or get up off my arse to change a disc".

Steam games, on the other hand, will likely not work on any hardware in 10-20 years time without fundamental modification due to their reliance on an external server, including that hardware that the game was specified for in the first place. Moreover, Steam will gradually be phasing out support for older versions of Windows in the future, which means that the games that you bought on Steam that do not work on newer versions of the OS will be useless. In this case, we're not talking about 10-20 years down the line, but rather 2-3 years when Valve starts phasing out support for Windows XP.
Posted October 05, 2013
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Xanto: There is a chance I might lose access to all my Steam games at some point in the future, I honestly don't feel that much safer with having DRM free games either. In 10 - 20 years GOG may not be around, and without them constantly updating there games (which is unlikely when they get to the point of having 1000's of games anyway) newer technology could easily make all our DRM free games useless anyway and sure we could keep old tech around to play these games but that will only get us so far when that breaks and goes away as everything does.
That argument doesn't work at all. The DRM is an _extra_ potential impediment blocking you from playing the game that you bought earlier, not an optional. So yeah, without DRM you might not be able to play the game on your future PC and OS, if you don't have your old hardware around, or an emulator. But with DRM it is even worse, you might not be able to play your purchased game even if the game otherwise would run fine on your future PC or emulator, or even if you had the old hardware around.

Your argument is the same as saying that it makes no sense to use a safety belt while driving because you would die anyway if your car got crushed between two high speed trucks, or if you drove off off a high cliff. Yeah, but how about all those other potential scenarios where the safety belt would help you immensely?

Or, taking a travel insurance doesn't make sense because someone might kill you while you are abroad. Ok, but what if you wouldn't get killed abroad, would it still make sense to take an insurance?

Copy protection or DRM schemes are the main reason old games from dead systems can't be run on e.g. emulators, while the DRM-free versions run fine. Try running your original NES Super Mario Bros cartridge or a copy protected Amiga 500 floppy game disk on a Nintendo or Amiga emulator running on your modern PC: nope, can't be done.

Next, try the same with the DRM-free/copy protection free version of the same game (basically meaning a ripped/pirated version, where someone has removed the DRM/copy protection/media dependency), and suddenly there is no problem whatsoever running it.
Post edited October 05, 2013 by timppu
Posted October 05, 2013
Ignore dumb people on the internet, you'll live longer. Literally.
Posted October 05, 2013
So you say you want a GOG version of a game so you can, one assumes, buy it. A game one has to also assume has a pirated version that does exist(because it's basically a given). But these people think that you want a GOG version because you are some how too stupid to get the pirated version that exists now so you are crossing your fingers hoping a GOG version comes around to make it easier?

It would have to be that or they just aren't quite able to work out the math as to why you wouldn't need a GOG version if you were in fact one of the pirate types they are accusing you of being. Either way you are stressing out over some very dull knives.
Posted October 05, 2013
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Xanto: There is a chance I might lose access to all my Steam games at some point in the future, I honestly don't feel that much safer with having DRM free games either. In 10 - 20 years GOG may not be around, and without them constantly updating there games (which is unlikely when they get to the point of having 1000's of games anyway) newer technology could easily make all our DRM free games useless anyway and sure we could keep old tech around to play these games but that will only get us so far when that breaks and goes away as everything does.

I think some people here at GOG have told themselves that by buying DRM free games there much safer when it comes to having the ability to play them again in the future. When quite frankly were really not. Every year technology gets better and gets better at a faster rate then the year before. The technology of 20 or 30 years from now could be vastly different from the tech of today.
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Psyringe: I think you're overlooking one extremely important fact: control.

With games bought on GOG, _you_ control whether or not you'll be able to play these games in the future. GOG may or may not be around in 20 years - no problem, I have my games backed up. Technology will change, but no one is forcing me to scrap my current machine. It's _my_ decision whether or not I switch to some new technology that's incompatible to my old games, and in all likelihood, I'll keep my old machine in such a case. I maintained a DOS/Win95 secondary PC for years to play old games, before emulators made it obsolete. I see no problem doing this unless there's a radical change to the way our power grid is working, but I really don't see any indication for that.

With Steam, you're _not_ in control. As you stated correctly, there are ways how Steam could make your games unavailable to you without you being able to prevent it.

For me, that's a very important difference. I'm a collector, I own several thousand games, and the thought that someone had the power to take a huge part of my collection away from me at any moment is not something I cherish. _I_ want to be in control of _my_ collection, period.
Control is a big part of it, I think there is also a layers issue. A lot of what makes DRM work today, are the same things that make preserving them difficult in the long run. It's an extra layer of crap someone is going to have to dig through to keep games working long term. There are plenty of impersonal, natural barriers to preserving games over time with technology changes. Adding an artificial one that is actually made to cause failure the moment a duck falls out of line isn't good for preservation.
Posted October 05, 2013
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Xanto: There is a chance I might lose access to all my Steam games at some point in the future, I honestly don't feel that much safer with having DRM free games either. In 10 - 20 years GOG may not be around, and without them constantly updating there games (which is unlikely when they get to the point of having 1000's of games anyway) newer technology could easily make all our DRM free games useless anyway and sure we could keep old tech around to play these games but that will only get us so far when that breaks and goes away as everything does.

I think some people here at GOG have told themselves that by buying DRM free games there much safer when it comes to having the ability to play them again in the future. When quite frankly were really not. Every year technology gets better and gets better at a faster rate then the year before. The technology of 20 or 30 years from now could be vastly different from the tech of today.
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Psyringe: I think you're overlooking one extremely important fact: control.

With games bought on GOG, _you_ control whether or not you'll be able to play these games in the future. GOG may or may not be around in 20 years - no problem, I have my games backed up. Technology will change, but no one is forcing me to scrap my current machine. It's _my_ decision whether or not I switch to some new technology that's incompatible to my old games, and in all likelihood, I'll keep my old machine in such a case. I maintained a DOS/Win95 secondary PC for years to play old games, before emulators made it obsolete. I see no problem doing this unless there's a radical change to the way our power grid is working, but I really don't see any indication for that.

With Steam, you're _not_ in control. As you stated correctly, there are ways how Steam could make your games unavailable to you without you being able to prevent it.

For me, that's a very important difference. I'm a collector, I own several thousand games, and the thought that someone had the power to take a huge part of my collection away from me at any moment is not something I cherish. _I_ want to be in control of _my_ collection, period.
Both of your posts: spot on IMO.

I have friends who love steam, and I just cant get into it :(
Posted October 05, 2013
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StingingVelvet: Ignore dumb people on the internet, you'll live longer. Literally.
This.
Posted October 05, 2013
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Post edited December 14, 2013 by user deleted
Posted October 06, 2013
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Psyringe: I think you're overlooking one extremely important fact: control.

With games bought on GOG, _you_ control whether or not you'll be able to play these games in the future. GOG may or may not be around in 20 years - no problem, I have my games backed up. Technology will change, but no one is forcing me to scrap my current machine. It's _my_ decision whether or not I switch to some new technology that's incompatible to my old games, and in all likelihood, I'll keep my old machine in such a case. I maintained a DOS/Win95 secondary PC for years to play old games, before emulators made it obsolete. I see no problem doing this unless there's a radical change to the way our power grid is working, but I really don't see any indication for that.

With Steam, you're _not_ in control. As you stated correctly, there are ways how Steam could make your games unavailable to you without you being able to prevent it.

For me, that's a very important difference. I'm a collector, I own several thousand games, and the thought that someone had the power to take a huge part of my collection away from me at any moment is not something I cherish. _I_ want to be in control of _my_ collection, period.
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Xanto: And your right in the fact you can keep an old machine around... but old machines break, and when something is old it becomes much harder to replace non working parts. Like today, try finding parts for an old 95 computer. It's possible but gets harder with each passing year. You don't have as much control over these things as you may think. Sooner or latter your old machine will get left behind.
At which point wouldn't it be nice to not have a significant extra point of failure tossed into the mix making it even harder to keep the old train moving?
Posted October 06, 2013
Odd... not until recently when I've become more involved on GOG have I noticed not only a real... dislike of Steam/Origin but I've noticed a real hatred to the point of people being down voted for saying "I use Steam/Origin. That's kinda... strange I think.

I use Steam. I use Origin. I use GOG. I don't think Steam/Origin is evil... oh wait... ok maybe Origin... jokes. But honestly though, I don't see why people hate Steam so much. If someone can explain that that would be great.

But in terms of games on both Steam and GOG... I buy the game from GOG for sure. I don't see it as piracy at all... It's really no were near piracy seeming how you're still buying the game. I think people say it's piracy is because it's DRM free and then you can share it with friends/other computers all you want. That's nice I enjoy that but still wouldn't consider it piracy.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)GOG and people's perspective on it(279 posts)(279 posts)
(279 posts)