I have accounts on Steam and GOG. They are the only two places from which I regularly buy games. (I also buy Humble Bundles but not regularly.) I really do not want to buy from too many different places and spread my games all over the Internet. It is a headache to maintain game libraries at too many different places, (i.e., I have made the mistake of re-buying from Steam a game that I already owned at GOG, and vice versa.) And most other online stores do not appeal to me anyway.

So I have recently started using Enhanced Steam, which has a built-in feature to show and compare prices at different game stores when I am browsing on Steam. I notice that GamersGate seems to consistently have the lowest prices for most games. Then I read that GamersGate actually carries more titles than Steam: GamersGate has about 5,000 games and Steam has about 3,000. (My biggest problem with GOG is its small selection of games; GOG simply does not have most of the games I want.) Moreover, GamersGate does not require a front-end client to install or run games. (My biggest issue with Steam: games bought from Steam are useless without the client.)

So now I am interested in buying from GamersGate. I am wondering what other people's experiences have been with GamersGate, compared to Steam or GOG.

The real advantage to GG is that, if you impulse buy & later realise you'll never actually play the game, you can gift / trade them as long as you have never downloaded or revealed serial key etc.

On the downside, a lot of their really old & cheap games do not work!
They don't do the whole "Let's make sure this works on modern systems" that GOG do.

But if you like steam, a lot of GG games come with steam redeemable keys, often cheaper than the same game on steam.

I use when there is zero chance of getting it here and it's not bad. I refuse to use Steam because for me it's just too intrusive (that isn't a slam, it's really a nice site just not my thing). I only have 3 or 4 titles there and while getting through the DRM for the initial purchase/download was a pain, after that everything was cool and most importantly I don't need to be logged on anywhere to play one of the games.

You may want to peruse this: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/what_do_you_all_think_of_gamers_gate

edit: I like GG because of their sales and DRM-free games, but they don't give you the installer for your DRM-free games, which is some bullshit.

Read the post here to find out how to get the installer: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/what_do_you_all_think_of_gamers_gate/post116

Oh! And blue coins, I like those as well. If something is available at a good/similar sale on GG and other places, I get it from GG for the coins, no jokes.

I haven't bought from them in a while, but the place was fine when I used it. I liked that you can build up coins and get them for things as simple as rating games. I only bought games that could be backed up with the copying installer trick, so once I backed them up they worked just fine later on when I wanted to play them.

Better than steam, less good than GOG.

Irritating manipulatory gamification of buying. I expect kids to spend money for the thrill of account "exp" and "levelling", and I find it really ethically nauseating.

Stupid pseudo-non-DRM DRM, forcing you to find a download workaround in order to make its pretend DRM-free games actually DRM-free.

Zero selection of game quality, so you'll find a lot of junk there.

Still, compared to Steam, it's fantastic, I suppose.

One of GamersGate's big things is gamification of the website - you get XP, levels and achievements for things you do on the site. Not something I care about one way or the other, but presumably some people like it, and if you don't then it at least doesn't get in your way. You also get store credit (blue coins) when you buy games, make reviews, or help out people who have problems with games, so effectively you get free stuff every now and then if you're a regular.

Some games on GamersGate are simply Steam keys - if you like Steam and the price is better than Steam's then there's no reason not to buy it from GG instead.

Other games are provided directly by GG (These ones that don't have "This product requires a third-party download and account" in the description). For GG games you download a small downloader program, which can be run to download and install the actual game itself (similar to how Amazon works). You have the option of simply keeping an installer rather than doing a full installation, but part of the installer is encrypted so you will need to be connected to the Internet in order for the installation to work. This is true even for games marked as DRM-free, although those games no longer have DRM once they're already installed.

It's not my favourite site (that would be GOG), but it is well-established and trustworthy.

:) Blue coins (good)
:| Trampoline downloader (YMMV - depends on personal preferences)
:( Phone home to run installers (bad)

"weird shit"? Are you insinuating that "Les Misérables" is an unusual idea for a game? :P

I've noticed that GamersGate actually sell many Steam games cheaper than Steam does, especially during sales.

Well, <span class="bold">this</span> is some weird shit (a bit more literal than I expected) alright. Also, they have gazillions of simulators. Garbage Truck SImulator? Check. Airport Firefighter Simulator? Check. River Simulator? Check.

Having said that, there are some very nice games that neither GOG nor Steam have yet, like Paraworld for example.

If "Goat Simulator" ever goes on sale I'm so there. I really just joined GG for "Chicago 1930" and I'm waiting patiently for it to drop at which point I might lose the URL.

If you don't mind using Steam, sure, knock yourself out (GamersGate only sells it as a Steam key).

I like it. As mentioned, they have a lot of more obscure games there, and the prices are generally pretty good. Barefoot_Monkey pretty much hits all the big points, but I will note that there are work arounds for the installers (assuming they haven't changed up their system). As B_M said, you'll get a little install wrapper thing that grabs the files from GG, once it downloads them, you just need to find the files (should be in a temporary folder in the same folder the wrapper is in), copy them to our backup folder or whatever, and then you should have the DRM-free, no wrapper needed install files.

Do note that the installer might need to be running (not actually installing, just showing the first screen or whatever) when copying the files, as the files are otherwise encrypted (or were, last time I used it).