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General discussion (archive)GOG please dont do Early Access games(110 posts)(110 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 21, 2014
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johnnygoging: 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.
Because those games aren't completed and releasing them prior to completion is a huge risk. Not to mention that it's ridiculous to suggest that a failure to sign them up for early release would automatically mean that they couldn't be added once they're completed.

I don't see any reason why GOG shouldn't wait until the games are done before deciding whether or not they should be brought here.
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carnival73: 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
That's something to consider, the GOG update procedure is definitely not suitable for something like this. As much as I dislike Steam, Steam is in a much better position to handle things like this.

Early access does pretty much require DRM to work properly as it's untenable to have a half dozen different releases coexisting and try to figure out which ones have the bugs.
Post edited May 21, 2014 by hedwards
Posted May 21, 2014
To be honest, the only early access game that actually made sense to me was Minecraft.

I'm not actually aware of any other early access games, but that's because Steam is that odd lump on your arm that says, 'You've got the plague'.

So I try to avoid it.
Posted May 21, 2014
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Darvond: To be honest, the only early access game that actually made sense to me was Minecraft.

I'm not actually aware of any other early access games, but that's because Steam is that odd lump on your arm that says, 'You've got the plague'.

So I try to avoid it.
yeah.... steam was late to the party, though. Places like Desura had it for a long time before Steam.
Posted May 21, 2014
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amok: yeah.... steam was late to the party, though. Places like Desura had it for a long time before Steam.
And if I'm perfectly honest, the problem with Early Access project abandonment on Desura is far worse, endemic even. The reasons for this - be it simple curation on Valve's part or Desura's being in the market for longer - are anyone's guess, but Desura does a good job of showing how not to do Early Access.

If GOG does Early Access, then they should do it so that the usual problems are avoided - possibly with contractual obligations stipulating deadlines, milestones, content specs and quality standards.
Posted May 21, 2014
If Early Access comes to GOG it won't bother me, i'm old enough and i hope smart enough to refuse or not buying something.

I don't like this system, the package about it is made to be sort of cool (yeah you get access to the game before it's release yowza !). I know it can help small indies compagnies, and that's truly the part i like, but in fact it's just a way to avoid hiring beta/alpha testers.
Before they paid people to test the game to make it good, now you pay to be a beta tester and almost no one complain about it, it's genius.

What's the next step ? Paying for a demo ? no wait there is MG : Ground Zeroes for that.
Posted May 21, 2014
Ive never seen a problem with GOG having potential alpha/beta (not even going to call it Early Access as thats a Steam term -- alpha/beta is what it really is) - if anything it allows possibility of games that otherwise wouldnt come here (there has been some games on KS im keen on but devs always push the alphas and betas to Steam and in a lot of cases the final game either doesnt not launch on GOG or comes here delayed ).I think most of us are mature enough to just not buy something that GOG sells if you dont want it....
Posted May 21, 2014
No thanks. I have very limited time for my gaming and definitely not want to use that on unfinished games.
Posted May 21, 2014
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hedwards: Early access does pretty much require DRM to work properly as it's untenable to have a half dozen different releases coexisting and try to figure out which ones have the bugs.
I think this is the main problem. I play and like/love some games still in dev (Dwarf Fortress and Kerbal Space program), but as a Dwarf Fortress fan, I know that open alpha with manual patching can be quite messy.
Auto-patching requires the site to access the games on your computer every time you play them, to know which version you are running and update them if necessary. Which feels very DRM-like to me.

Another problem is that GOG tends to test extensively the patches they give us, which contibutes greatly to their quality. This is not really compatible with the "do regular patches and let the users test them" mentality of open alpha games (I don't like the term "early access", it sounds like a made-up PR word)
Posted May 21, 2014
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kalmis666: No thanks. I have very limited time for my gaming and definitely not want to use that on unfinished games.
Do you guys have a problem with just ignoring its availability?
Posted May 21, 2014
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kalmis666: No thanks. I have very limited time for my gaming and definitely not want to use that on unfinished games.
Don't buy it then?
Posted May 21, 2014
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Lord_Britania: If Early Access comes to GOG it won't bother me, i'm old enough and i hope smart enough to refuse or not buying something.

I don't like this system, the package about it is made to be sort of cool (yeah you get access to the game before it's release yowza !). I know it can help small indies compagnies, and that's truly the part i like, but in fact it's just a way to avoid hiring beta/alpha testers.
Before they paid people to test the game to make it good, now you pay to be a beta tester and almost no one complain about it, it's genius.

What's the next step ? Paying for a demo ? no wait there is MG : Ground Zeroes for that.
Next step will be to pay for a trailer!
Posted May 21, 2014
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Lord_Britania: If Early Access comes to GOG it won't bother me, i'm old enough and i hope smart enough to refuse or not buying something.

I don't like this system, the package about it is made to be sort of cool (yeah you get access to the game before it's release yowza !). I know it can help small indies compagnies, and that's truly the part i like, but in fact it's just a way to avoid hiring beta/alpha testers.
Before they paid people to test the game to make it good, now you pay to be a beta tester and almost no one complain about it, it's genius.

What's the next step ? Paying for a demo ? no wait there is MG : Ground Zeroes for that.
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Redfoxe: Next step will be to pay for a trailer!
And pay for screenshots.
Posted May 21, 2014
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pimpmonkey2382: I really don't like them here as they are getting gog off track of what it was supposed to be.
What exactly do you mean with 'what it was supposed to be'?

Old Games? They went off that track a long time ago already, even took it out of their name.
Posted May 21, 2014
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pimpmonkey2382: I really don't like them here as they are getting gog off track of what it was supposed to be.
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Pheace: What exactly do you mean with 'what it was supposed to be'?

Old Games? They went off that track a long time ago already, even took it out of their name.
Yes when I joined or discovered gog, it was only old games now they're like "Hey steams doing it, we can too!" route which is one I think they shouldn't take.
Posted May 21, 2014
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pimpmonkey2382: Yes when I joined or discovered gog, it was only old games now they're like "Hey steams doing it, we can too!" route which is one I think they shouldn't take.
King's Bounty: The Legend was released on GOG on June 2, 2010 with an original release date of April 25, 2008. That means it was slightly older than 2 years.
GOG never had an age limit for its games, despite what people may think.
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General discussion (archive)GOG please dont do Early Access games(110 posts)(110 posts)
(110 posts)