While I doubt that's true, judging from what I have seen on the forums, it was probably because they were incredibly profane, worthless comments unfit for public viewing. I'm not talking about posts like Wishbone's or Bron's or yours. I'm referring to the absolute trolls that make up most of comments on YouTube in general, let alone the anti-GOG movement.

I think it does. I don't think those who are angry at GOG are in the majority even within the site's original fan-base, and the incredible boost of traffic is quite likely mostly from people who just heard of the service through all the publicity.

BP's disaster harmed people. GOG's stunt was harmless. Whether or not a person shares their sense of humor, the fact remains that the stunt was harmless. Differing from someone else's sense of humor is hardly a reason to be angry, and if the original GOG user base has no reason to be angry, I don't see why millions of people should flock from "GOG's Back!" articles to sit on the site and steam (no pun intended).

Edit: Case in point:

@cwadge

Good post! Pretty much agree with you all the way.

@iAmGeek

I disagree, but good post and thanks for helping to restore some civility to the forums here.

I still think GOG made a huge blunder. And I spent some time searching the web and other forums and found the reactions everywhere definitely negative overall.

But, I, for one, am over it and just hope GOG has learned a lesson and will think twice before pulling such a boneheaded stunt again. I think it has hurt them more than helped (short term), but I think things will cool down and maybe all will be well in the long run. I hope so.

Be well!

I think adding GOG.com's specific game title site to relevant Wikipedia entries may help as well. I noticed GOG was listed on Baldur's Gate, but not in the external links. It isn't mentioned anywhere at all on Planescape: Torment.

Hey Cook!

I really love this website, and just last night I used REAL LIFE to spread the word! haha My friend was over and I asked him if he was ever into PC gaming, and as soon as he said yes, I showed him how awesome the site is. How its completely DRM free and the prices are awesome, the extras you get and also the cool shelf you can put the games on! He was impressed :) I just couldn't help myself. Long live gog.com!

If that's true, then I've recounted the closure page incorrectly. In that case, I recant what I said before and offer my apologies.

That's very interesting, because now, after visiting the GOG YouTube video in question once again, I don't even see the posts complaining about posts being removed any longer... very curious, no? Unless a bunch of users simultaneously had second thoughts about what they had posted and decided to self-police, it really looks to me like a bunch of the more highly-ranked negative comments were purged.

@Cook,

While you're investigating things...I ordered a couple of games just before the shutdown and on Sunday when I saw the notice, I sent an email asking what was going on (and saying I would reverse the charges if I could not get my games). Later I saw the follow up posts and figured it was a stunt and so did not reverse the charges. However, to this date, no one at GOG has ever replied to my email. That does not seem to be good business practice to me.

I know you are a small company and I sincerely wish GOG well. If you check, you will see I have been a big supporter for a long time and have made many favorable posts here and at other sites about GOG. I sent many new people your way. But, no big deal, I do not expect anything for that, you earned it fair and square with your great business model and great games with no DRM.

Anyway...to not answer a valid email question from a purchaser whose goods were being withheld seems to go over the line to me. And since I had many more games at risk (as a simple check would have shown), anyone could have seen that my concern was justified.

Of course, you're back now, so it does not really matter in my case, I will continue to do business with you, but I cannot, at this point, recommend your site to anyone and I am very sorry about that, as I love what you are doing and wish you all success. i just hope your management will, at some point, realize what a terrible miscalculation they made and offer something more than a cheesy video apology to those who were justifiably annoyed and disappointed in GOG's lack of good judgement (just my opinion, I know).

At a minimum, GOG should admit that some serious mistakes were made, and promise it won't happen again. Then I and many others will, I'm sure, be reassured that GOG "has a clue."

Thanks for listening.

very well said. I went from a huge GOG supporter to being very sad to hear they were closing. then when I found out it was a stunt it pissed me off. then when they acted stoopid in their "apology" video I got more pissed.

then when I read the managing director say "he'd do the same thing all over again given the chance" I realized they did not learn anything from the bad reaction to their stoopid stunt.

I have not bought one game here since this fiasco and honestly I cannot see me buying anything else here. I explored Steam today and found they also offer $5-10 classic games and while they do have DRM they have shown themselves to be business-savvy and mature enough not to do something so dumb. I also went to my local 1/2 price bookstore and picked up Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 complete, Aquanox 2 and Serious Sam 2 for $5 each. There are other options out there and GOG has given me the motivation to seek them out!

Oops - wrong thread, lol - don't mind me :D

You people need to realize that not everyone goes to Twitter, Facebook, et cetera, or has any interest in doing so. If someone e-mails you a question like that, ESPECIALLY to your customer support e-mail, you reply. End of story. Even if it's only to say that the ability to download purchased games will be made available in a few days. You don't have to let the cat out of the bag, but responding to support e-mails is a requirement, not an option.

I love GoG and I'm not one of the "OMG I WILL NEVER BUY GAMES HERE AGAIN" people, and I can certainly see why you would pull something like this - but I definitely agree that the execution was flawed.

Thank you for replying. I understand your point, though I may disagree with the decision. Since I have already commented many times on what I thought of the "stunt" - I won't say more. I'm willing to consider it a terrible, horrible misjudgment by an otherwise honorable, great company providing games and a service that I greatly enjoy. I'm sure you have learned something, as we all have, from the experience.

I remain a customer and continue to wish you success in your endeavors. It's time to move on and get back to gaming. Just don't screw with me like that again, GOG! ;)

And thanks again, Cook, for responding to my post.

read the interview with the GOG managing director to see if you still think they learned something. he says he would do it the same way again.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/27/gog-coms-guillaume-rambourg-explains-what-happened-last-week/

It does not. My word-reading skills let me discern that they will gladly perform more publicity stunts, but will avoid pissing off their user base to such an extent again. It's where he calls us "bitter", see?