It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionAbout the trend of DRM for online multiplayer through GOG(11 posts)(11 posts)
(11 posts)
Pages:
1
This is my favourite topic
Posted March 21, 2016
low rated
As someone who has made multiple purchases through GOG and thoroughly enjoyed the service thus far, it has been disturbing with the last few releases to see that GOG has started putting DRM into some of the more recent releases, specifically pointing at Grim Dawn and Dying Light.

This is not necessarily something new (ARMA II through GOG also requires a key in order to play multiplayer), but as someone who has supported this site because of their DRM-free stance, I question this move to push for DRM. Is this the developers and/or publishers asking for DRM to be instated? Is this a move by GOG to try to force GOG Galaxy onto people?

I personally don't like the move at all, and I've begun spending far less money on here. I'm sure that one person doing that isn't that big of an issue, but am I the only one who is not liking this move? I do not want DRM if I can help it. I want to own my games and be able to play ALL aspects of them without the need for some DRM to log into.
Posted March 21, 2016
high rated
avatar
jakob187: Is this a move by GOG to try to force GOG Galaxy onto people?
You are aware that both those games have LAN play available that does not require Galaxy, right?
Posted March 21, 2016
high rated
avatar
jakob187: I personally don't like the move at all, and I've begun spending far less money on here. I'm sure that one person doing that isn't that big of an issue, but am I the only one who is not liking this move? I do not want DRM if I can help it. I want to own my games and be able to play ALL aspects of them without the need for some DRM to log into.
Well, It's nothing news, it was mentioned plenty of times years ago, about the fact that certain games required serial to play online, online activation (e.g. Two world), or even an account/connection to the developers servers (e.g. Age Of Wonders 3) and already then peoples were complaining that it was against GoG on DRM and that such games weren't really DRM-free.

Gog answer has always been that they guaranteed DRM-free only for the single player portion of the game only, that the SP would always be playable without any online activation, account or even mandatory client, but that they didn't make/couldn't make the same guarantee for multiplayer and that it was up to the devs.

The only thing that changed today is that before we hardly had online multiplayer in games, most of them were either using LAN or old and dead multiplayer sites/programs or has the multiplayer component totally disabled.

So no Galaxy is not Gog way to push DRMs into games, it's just an optional alternative for peoples wanting to have a way to also play multiplayer on top of the DRM-free single player.
Posted March 21, 2016
I think some form of protection (or DRM w/ever one wants to call it) is needed for multiplayer features, else everyone would just pirate it and be able to play multiplayer unrestricted.

The problem with Galaxy lies elsewhere, and that is Linux games not being released at all.
Posted March 21, 2016
avatar
Ganni1987: I think some form of protection (or DRM w/ever one wants to call it) is needed for multiplayer features, else everyone would just pirate it and be able to play multiplayer unrestricted.

The problem with Galaxy lies elsewhere, and that is Linux games not being released at all.
DRM does not stop piracy. This has long been established. Your premise is wrong.
Posted March 21, 2016
avatar
Ganni1987: I think some form of protection (or DRM w/ever one wants to call it) is needed for multiplayer features, else everyone would just pirate it and be able to play multiplayer unrestricted.

The problem with Galaxy lies elsewhere, and that is Linux games not being released at all.
avatar
Gilozard: DRM does not stop piracy. This has long been established. Your premise is wrong.
For multiplayer games only, yes it does
Posted March 21, 2016
avatar
Gilozard: DRM does not stop piracy. This has long been established. Your premise is wrong.
avatar
Nipoti: For multiplayer games only, yes it does
Even for them, it's just not nearly as effective as executives and DRM marketers proclaim. There's some impact but it's not straightforward, and we're just starting to get good data on these questions.
Posted March 22, 2016
I think it's safe to claim, that nobody around here wants DRM in any shape or form.
But as soon as we're talking multiplayer, with all due respect, expect an authentication of any sort.

No it's not because of piracy. As soon as we're talking about any sort of competitive play, ladders, match making, MMO and so on - we're talking about cheaters. Competitive play + cheaters doesn't work, at all. Now please tell me how you prevent that, without authentication.
Posted March 22, 2016
avatar
Siannah: I think it's safe to claim, that nobody around here wants DRM in any shape or form.
But as soon as we're talking multiplayer, with all due respect, expect an authentication of any sort.

No it's not because of piracy. As soon as we're talking about any sort of competitive play, ladders, match making, MMO and so on - we're talking about cheaters. Competitive play + cheaters doesn't work, at all. Now please tell me how you prevent that, without authentication.
Indeed. Multiplayer keys are not DRM, they are functionally part of how multiplayer servers differentiate one player from another. The idea that just needing to enter a key automatically makes something DRM is flat-out wrong. How that key functions matters. Is it required to decrypt, install or run the game? If no, it is not managing your digital rights at all, therefore not DRM.
Posted April 10, 2017
There is a problem for some games with multiplayer requiring internet. Let me put it this if I a game through gog and buy a second copy for my wife then we download it without galaxy because it is an optional client and then try to play over a local network then for some games such as 8-bit armies this is impossible. Instead it REQUIRES galaxy even for local network. This has nothing to do with ladder matches or competitive play but rather coop play with two legally purchased games having a form of drm and a required client.

It's not very fair to call the galaxy optional if by what you mean is your two options are use it or play single player.

Unless or until this has changed I won't be buying some games and yet if it does change so we can have offline play I would probably buy four or more copies for my friends, family and kids.

Before someone asks why you would want offline play:

When your internet connection is out
When some of your desktops don't reach the router or have wifi
because I bought the game and shouldnt have to ask permission to play
because if gog goes down or my account gets lost I could lose access to galaxy
A matter of prinicple

I try as best as I can to only spend money on drm free games for stability and modability as well. So for example I will not buy Diablo 3 from Blizzard as it requires internet. (Removed Sentence about grim dawn because I think I may have been wrong about that particular game.)

I humbly ask gog to change their policy (I will probably be emailing them again soon) but I also try to vote with my money. Developers should stop forcing me to ask permission to play a game I paid for by checking in with them online. For me it has nothing to do with piracy but only with paying consumer's. Vote with your money.

P.S. Of course for actual online competition you would need to connect to a server that is different then local coop.
Post edited April 12, 2017 by heromedel
Posted April 10, 2017
avatar
heromedel: There is a problem for some games with multiplayer requiring internet. Let me put it this if I a game through gog and buy a second copy for my wife then we download it without galaxy because it is an optional client and then try to play over a local network then for some games such as 8-bit armies this is impossible. Instead it REQUIRES galaxy even for local network. This has nothing to do with ladder matches or competitive play but rather coop play with two legally purchased games having a form of drm and a required client.

It's not very fair to call the galaxy optional if by what you mean is your two options are use it or play single player.

Unless or until this has changed I won't be buying some games and yet if it does change so we can have offline play I would probably buy four or more copies for my friends, family and kids.

Before someone asks why you would want offline play:

When your internet connection is out
When some of your desktops don't reach the router or have wifi
because I bought the game and shouldnt have to ask permission to play
because if gog goes down or my account gets lost I could lose access to galaxy
A matter of prinicple

I try as best as I can to only spend money on drm free games for stability and modability as well. So for example I will not buy Diablo 3 from Blizzard as it requires internet. And I will not buy grim dawn from gog because although single player is offline if I want to play with my wife then we must have galaxy installed and running and be online. Screw that.

I humbly ask gog to change their policy (I will probably be emailing them again soon) but I also try to vote with my money. Developers should stop forcing me to ask permission to play a game I paid for by checking in with them online. For me it has nothing to do with piracy but only with paying consumer's. Vote with your money.

P.S. Of course for actual online competition you would need to connect to a server that is different then local coop.
Its a sale technique:
Can you download the software without any other software - yes via browser.
Can you play a game without a connection to the internet at any point - yes, only single player.
So the games are DRM free for the game. If you then want to include something, which intrinsically needs a network then you start to need other elements, be it a man cable, client, online credentials etc. This has been know for years. That is the sale, single player drm free games, drm free multiplayer is a very tiny amount. Yes I cant stand galaxy either, but they are not going to get rid of it, they want to copy all the steam items.
Pages:
1
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAbout the trend of DRM for online multiplayer through GOG(11 posts)(11 posts)
(11 posts)