I wouldn't mind if GOG did, regardless of if it appeals to me or not. Plenty of folks seem to enjoy the experience, so it'd allow GOG to compete.

What I'd like though is for GOG to not call it "Early Access" or something similar - the term stinks of PR-talk and cultivates the false notion that one gets to play a complete and final release ahead of others.

And a filter for them would save us all a lot of discussions and complaints that have taken place plenty of times already on this forum.

Just my 2c.

To an extent yes, but GOG made a really big deal about them only selling games that had stood the test of time, so they've definitely lowered their standards.

Well they have Unepic on here and it actually IS in Early Access

That actually brings up another issue; even though it's technically in early access, the game still feels complete when you play it. It's stable, the features are all there, and the amount of content is appropriate to the game's cost. In a sense, early access is used to fund continued development and refinement of the product. This is like DLC done in reverse; instead of having parts of the game held ransom, early access is used to fund additional development that all buyers get to enjoy. Done right in a curated environment to avoid unscrupulous developers who just run off with the cash, seeing more of that could be a very good thing.

I'd rather gog focus on getting older games on here, especially ones that are notoriously hard to get working on modern systems. And getting extras for games that are pretty bare.

Edit:

Also release old games that are hard to get through physical media.

How much of that is really technical issues, though? If it's more of a legal/licensing issue, then it's not like they can just throw more manpower and resources at the problem. If anything, investing in the platform itself seems like the most sensible way to make signing with GOG desirable for rightsholders.

Well, old games is what this place started out for, and is what brought me here.

Depends how old, most or all of the DOS games should work with DOSBox these days, I think the issue there is probably mostly a matter of finding out who owns the rights and buying them. I think there's also the issue that a lot of the older games are just not worth a large amount of money and didn't have any sequels either. So, GOG would be stuck charging $1 or something like that and have CC fees eat up a huge portion of the revenue.

But, I suspect that the legal issue is really the issue for most of the games they might bring here. I know that people would cream themselves if LA or MS ever ended up here.

Old games was what brought me in as well, but the "supply" of old games that can be sold is limited. Many old games have some kind of legal/licensing issue that GOG can't solve all by itself (for example the Dungeons and Dragons license for the SSI games). I think they're doing what they can to get more old games here, but the legal issues are not within GOG's reach. The best they can do right now is keep trying to reach an agreement with Disney/Microsoft/Take2/Bethesda.

I think that GOG needs to grow and Early Access is a huge hit right now. Some of the most successful games right now are Early Access titles (Rust, Day Z, Starbound and a few others). It's a big thing and people want to buy it. And i really don't believe it goes against "GOG's core principles". I'm not a huge fan of Early Access myself, i'd much rather wait until the game is finished before purchasing it (except for multiplayer games, since the experience is completely different each time you play).

However, if GOG does get into Early Access, they WILL need to change their current patching mechanic if they want to compete with other sites.

I think GOG should still add both older and newer games. But I agree that "Early Access" games may try to change GOG to "steam-lite."

There are decent Early Access titles. I can understand the hesitance to accept Early Access on gog.com, but Early Access represents a lot of opportunities, some of them not just good but also great fits for gog.com. Why shouldn't gog.com serve some of those games? Divinity: Original Sin, for example. Is that not a game that would be welcomed here? Maybe you just don't want any part of Early Access. Maybe you disagree with it on principle. I agree, I don't like Early Access and I cast a pretty narrow eye towards it. Some people, however, do not care, and if they like gog.com, why shouldn't they be able to get an Early Access game here? Marcin Iwinski already said that if they did it, it would curated. This pretty much removes the biggest problem with Early Access on Steam. When I think of projects like Next Car Game, a return to roots for Bugbear, a fantastic development studio that clearly has a passion for racing games, or at least their games, and takes making them right seriously. Projects like Divinity: Original Sin, made by Larian, who seem very close with gog.com and why not? These are not projects that are without merit.

I've bought unfinished games in the past, largely because I wanted to support the developer. Not many, though, and I do have a lot of reservations with Early Access as it exists. Particularly, the way it's presented, as though you are purchasing a game and not, almost, kickstarting something. gog might do all the things wrong with Early Access right, by way of their easier release schedule and tighter audience. Who knows. Why not find out? If it gets tried and it doesn't work, then the real issue would be whether gog does anything or just leaves it as it is, a lot like Valve has done, so far.

Early Access could be a good thing, and it could have its place on gog.com. It's all a matter of how it is executed and how it shapes up on the developer side and community side. Just completely rejecting it right away is not the way to go.

Perhaps they should make a sister-site/store for early access or indie games. I really don't like them here as they are getting gog off track of what it was supposed to be.

I don't care if GOG starts listing them - I just wouldn't buy any of them XD

Can you imagine all of the update alerts and patches you would have to manually download and install? XD

well I'm pretty sure that the Early Access thing would come in after the site rewrite. which is supposed to be showing up fairly soon.

can't imagine all the crap you'd have to deal with if Early Access were deployed on gog right now.