Look up the word ownership... you do not own DRM'd games, you're given a license to play the game so long as Valve feels like it. Valve reserves the rights to remove items from your account as well because you don't own it.

Buying a DRM'd game doesn't get you a game, it gets you a permission slip to use Steam to play the game so long as Steam feels like letting you do so. You never actually own anything!


When you rent something, someone else owns it and you only have a permission slip to use it. Periods of payment have nothing to do with renting, the definition of renting is simply that you give money to someone else for permission to use what they own.

Public libraries have rental systems without payment also. At least in the US, it does.

It's my system that is boycotting Steam since currently still on win xp and one can't use Steam with it i think.
But i never really was into Steam much i probably have over 20 games there, which defenders quest was brought over here with gog connect.
Also there was already trouble way before steam decided to axe xp users from their client, like having times where you could not connect to steam with their client for some time, could have beaten the commandos 2 game again in that time, but i also own the gog version.

Gog is still better with their drm-free installers which can at least be downloaded and installed.
But can sometimes break game compabilies with xp which effects only the Fate series currently on GOG from what i own here since it was updated too much or something, but i bought that game anyway since i think it won't be discounted much anymore and i will probably get a better pc someday to play it then.

I do. I haven't bought a game there in three years or so.

I Agree

In fact, reselling Steam games was not possible until a French Court in 2019, ruled that "European Union law allows Steam users to resell their digital games, just like they can any physical product"

Valve's lawyers attempted to argue Steam was a subscription service. And Vave is still fighting the case, so it is not closed for now, if am not mistaken and no preventive measures here.
And neither is closed other open cause against the EU for something similar.

So it is very clear that Steam, in its own words, at least for now, and originaly, does not offer ownership, but some kind or subscription or rental service.

I do. I haven't rented a game on Steam for many years, and I'm proud of it. I mean come on, there are more than enough DRM-free games I haven't played to last me a lifetime, why would I have the faintest interest in renting DRMed games?

so if gog gives ownership ,how can i sell the games?
in practice, it just looks like most steam games need you to occasionally connect to steam server
while gog games don't

renting is like that xbox gamepass , you can play the games, but you cant after the subs ends

Since when is ownership absolute? I can't think of any object (real or virtual) that, when owned, you can (legally) use in ANY way you want. (murder being an obvious example)

In short, you own GOG games for personal use.

it is the murder what is forbidden not the tool used as murder weapon
or that would be a separate charge over the actual murder

Whilst I agree with you over the absurdity of store-front tribalism, the people "creating divisions based on launchers" aren't the gamers who dislike clients, they are the stores who normalized arbitrarily tying 3rd party games to the intermediary's proprietary compulsory software launcher in the first place (the equivalent of Walmart demanding CD's sold via Walmart be specially mastered to require a Walmart CD player). Which was basically Valve during 2004-2005 on the back of Half Life 2. The +25 years of gaming prior to this (late 1970's to 2004) for both PC, consoles (both disc & cartridge) & 8-bit micro-computers (C64, ZX Spectrum, Atari, Amiga, etc), most gamers genuinely didn't care which store they bought a particular game from as the discs / tapes / cartridges were all the same and the stores that sold them (Gamestop, Electronic Boutique, Amazon, local high street store, mail order, etc) never locked anything to themselves.

tl:dr - Stores that forced walled gardens onto PC gamers in the first place are the cause of the "stupid subdivisions". Complaints about clients / "all my games in one place", etc, are merely the ongoing symptom of that original cause.

I was always confused with the requirement to occasionally connect to steam servers thing. I used to live without an internet connection in my apartment from 2016 to 2018 and was therefore dependent on my steam games working without any internet connection ever. I never had a problem launching anything in offline mode during this time period, so i still don't get how or when you're supposed to be forced to connect to the internet.

Murder is forbidden = To use a tool for murder is forbidden
I didn't say that the tool itself is forbidden.

No, renting is when someone else owns the product and you're only given a license to use their service to access the product. Stop confusing things. It's all about ownership, not about a service ending.

I wouldn't say that GoG grants ownership either, but that what you pay for is the luxury of being able to download a specific game from their servers. Bitcoin and NFTs have more actual ownership than other digital products, since digital products can all be copied which makes their value effectively zero. You get the same game whether you pirate it or download it from GoG.

Try transferring those games to another/new computer and launch them offline. You're saying: I didn't experience something, so it doesn't exist.

hmm i think you were just lucky having games which can be run without steam client
there is a topic here on gog listing those games