Can't see how a stringent morale can be so bad. Xyem doesn't hurt anyone. He just describes what he sees. Why can't we call DRM DRM? After all we are not making anything worse (or better) - it's just telling what's there. Why have so many people problems with it? (That's my impression)
They might think that they achieve something against the pirates. At least most other publishers have now a similar system. So I guess, they believe that it makes a difference.

In a way it's against their philosophy - never annoy the buying customers. The pirates might download a patched version, when GOG customers still download the vanilla version...

And it's not like this is the worst thing a game company has ever done, nor half as bad.
I didn't mean it that way. I meant that one's morals shouldn't unnecessarily hinder one's life choices in that extreme a manner.....as in ANY DRM(or what I see as DRM) or no sale is very extreme a stance to not buy a game over.

Like a lot of PC gamers, I'm pretty happy that we have the opportunity to purchase what looks to be one of the biggest PC games of the year from this site. For everyone who is leaping to condemn GOG, Don’t you think it would be beneficial to show a little foresight and actually wait and see what situation is when it’s released? If we, as a community, get screwed over then they have some serious explaining to do. But isn’t it reasonable to consider that GOG and CD Projekt might have worked to make something, that when compared to the mainstream steam/retail versions is much less restricted and tied down. The very concept GOG has been built on.

Whether this means it is completely free of any sort of DRM or simply a more accessible version, I see any improvement as a step in the right direction and a strong deciding factor in this purchase over other versions. And if a lot of people start moving their orders here, maybe even the opportunity for other publishers to consider this route as well.

If all the potentially useful publicity surrounding this release gets overwhelmed by the knee jerk reaction of a few strong voiced opposers demanding no restrictions at all, the entire thing will be written off as just another “We tried, but you can’t please them, pointless even trying next time” argument and we’re back to square one.

Tell me about it...

Yep. Also why is my comment above about Enigmatic giving us more info on Wednesday low rated? Hey Obama, can I borrow some of your sekrit service dudes and organize a troll hunt?

Sadly I can either buy it or not buy it, there is nothing in between. Maybe Xyem has other reasons why he might not want to buy TW 2 like lack of money, time, interest and so he is undecided and then every small detail could make the difference.

I must say, I feel a little cheated because I always assumed it will be the 100%! And it's technically so simple to make it 100%, it really only depends on the will of the people at CDP. So my expectations are not meet, my feelings hurt and I overreact. Nothing really serious, will be forgotten in a couple of days. However could have an influence.

The United States of America does not, nor has it ever, sanctioned assassinations. I don't know where you got that slanderous idea. Our cause is just and moral, the spreading of democracy to those less fortunate. I discuss this among other things in my book.

We must be reading somehow different threads. I don't see any knee jerk reaction - just cointinuously growing interest mixed with a little irritation. I would never blame the critical voices here for sabotaging the project, I have rarely seen more civil debates than here.

Btw, I am a strong follower of the GOG philosopy. I demand no restriction at all. :)

That's not really true. The launcher is nothing more than a tool. Instead of using Firefox or Chrome to connect and enter the serial on some page, you use the launcher. Instead of using the built-in downloader from the browser or an external one, you use the launcher. Besides that it also install it I suppose. But it's still nothing else but a tool. If the launcher would actually contain DRM (checking the serial) then it would be very easy to crack and such it would be useless. The check is most likely on CDP site.


Well that's not "entirely" true. It also depends on you being able to access CDP servers :)
And that depends on your computer, on your ISP. I know what you are saying but the emphasis bothered me.

And what I find a bit sad is that CDP's track record is good concerning DRM with Witcher 1. They took a huge leap of faith with releasing on GOG a DRM free (vanilla) version. And yet some people are not capable of giving them the benefit of the doubt. I believe in the end DRM will be removed even from other versions considering their track record and I believe patches will be available as stand-alone. Maybe not at launch. And what I believe is based on their behavior in the past, while what some people who assume the worst... I don't know what they are basing it on.

That is because it is.

My primary reason for buying (all of) GOGs games is to support the DRM free approach. And when I have brought them all, my give away is getting bigger so I will continue supporting them. I've pretty much voluntarily subscribed to GOG based on that one aspect. No DRM.

I can't even play some of the games because they either don't work at all (e.g. Second Sight, Bloodrayne) or don't work very well (e.g. Aquanox, Darkstar One) in Wine.

I'm doing what everyone says to do and voting with my wallet. I don't like Steams DRM, so I won't buy games from Steam (even if I want them and no, not pirating it either). The only reason I have Steam games is because people had codes and I could trade for them.. with DRM free games. Yes, I justified being subject to Steams DRM because in the process, I supported DRM free stuff.

Maybe, at the very least, my objection to this is more understandable now :)

Not really....you basically are saying you'll buy games you can't play because they're DRM free but if a game even has TW2's supposed level of patching DRM you won't buy it even if you want it/can play it/etc.

For me CDPR have the benefit of doubt enforced by their previous behavior: taking suggestions, supporting TW1 a long time with significant updates, releasing a mod tool and removing the DRM/disccheck/censorship from TW1.
Now they even try releasing it on GOG and afaik the original vanilla version of TW2 as delivered via GOG will have no DRM. the game will work even if you do not use the serial to unlock the launcher-updates/DLC whatever. I guess future updates will be included into the full GOGdownload, maybe not immediately but still.
Only thing bad is if you run into a gamebreaking bug and desperately need that update.
Then you will suffer "post-launch" DRM via serial+launcher-download.
At least that is how I understood it.
Or do they wanna seperate "critical bug fixes" from "free DLC" and "paid DLC" ?

I am a scientist and as such I doubt most things routinely and not trusting or believing has quite often proven beneficial for me. That might explain my attitude. :)

However I must say that until now there is no reason to assume that they will eventually include patches in the download. It might never happen because it would render the update server and authentification process useless and who needs two updating channels? However, if they would promise this I would immediately crawl back to where I came from. :)

Yes, pretty much. I won't buy things I don't know will work unless I am buying them on principle. I was purchasing TW2 despite not knowing if it would work because I thought it was DRM free. Now I have found out this is no longer the case (at least by my definition of DRM free...), I won't be buying it.

Dictating to legitimate customers when they can use the official patches is not a behaviour I'm going to support.