GRRRRROOOOOOAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGRRRRRR

Now there's a guy who gets it. You tell 'em, Chewie!

It seems I have missed the gog.com email about this change. Either that or they didnt send one? If they didn't , that's seriously weird, as the default public profile functionality is such a major feature to introduce under the radar like that. Instead of receiving an official news email about it, I just bumped into it randomly as I happened to visit the site. Hmmh. Immediately turned everything off in the opt-out privacy settings.

no notification

subversive fuckers, they are

No it's not if we still have information shared with the world with no way to hide it.

I don't know if it bears repeating or not, but if this change causes you to start spending less money on GOG (the main thing that counts), consider letting GOG know why - message Support: https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?form=other

This is for sure already influencing my spending habits; I don't intend to buy any more GOG-galaxy dependant games in the near future anymore.

In Steam my profile is hidden as well. In GOG everyone can see how many games you have and Galaxy statistics.
Privacy is a lie.

https://www.gog.com/downloader
There are simplier downloader, if you don't want to use galaxy whatsoever. It don't disable your profile though, but still something.

Thank you!

It's still working, but nobody knows when they'll totally abandon it. Just to be sure you are aware of that.

There are alternatives, but none are officials (aside the client or the usual download with your browser)

Be aware aswell they pushed the cllent in some games and this version is proposed by default (no possibility so far to opt-out for the classic installer by default). As far i know there're working on an opt-out otpion (but since so long , now, i lost my trust in them)

Set everything I could to "me only" but I can't see a way to turn off showing if I am "online" or not! This is a massive annoyance of mine for even lots of web forums, etc. already. Is there seriously no way yet to hide when we are online or visiting GOG from being totally public?!?!

Also: the hours played seems pointless to display for non-Galaxy users anyway... it shows zero for all my games, of course (since I've never used Galaxy) but includes lots of games I've not even played and just bought either on a whim or by mistake. Certainly not stuff that would reflect what I actually play... I guess that's good in that it actually helps privacy in a way by acting as a smokescreen (someone trying to profile the type of games I like for sales info would be end up very wrong if they used this shown game list) but it makes the whole "show for non-Galaxy users anyway" seem even more pointless to me.

Not fully caught up in here, just posting to say three things:

- Filled a ticket (#244025) regarding the horrible job they've done regarding the non-communication and privacy violations. Made suggestions about needed changes and fixes. Also told them to offer more options to those asking for wider publicity. Let's see which ones they tackle first, if any.

- I want to publicly thank GOG for making me the recipient of friend invites from people I not only haven't heard before but with whom I have exactly zero mutual friends. All while I've got my social settings set to "only me", and the visibility check-box unticked. Keep up the great work, GOG, and give yourselves a pat on the back, you surely deserve it.

- I've created a community wishlist here requesting notifications for forum replies to be restored to their original place in the bell, and encourage people to vote for it, and if possible, to additionally file a support ticket.

Last but not least, here's also the link to the community wishlist entry requesting true privacy control for those who want it. A few hours before we hit the 48hrs since the launch of profiles, it stands at 319 votes.

In EU EULAs do have limited power. See for example:
[url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/bibliotheque/briefing/2013/130624/LDM_BRI(2013)130624_REV1_EN.pdf]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/bibliotheque/briefing/2013/130624/LDM_BRI(2013)130624_REV1_EN.pdf[/url]
At least in Germany companies can also get into trouble (getting sued by them) with consumer protection agencies just for adding potentially questionable parts to EULAs without trying to use/enforce them.

Edit: url forum cant handle the link so I removed the formatting.
Edit 2: It now automatically added dysfunctional url formatting.....

And one more thing before I had off - for those still not getting the issue with private profiles displaying total number of games, number of achievements, and hours of playtime, here's an analogy I've been thinking about, and a cursory glance shows that at least Telika made a similar one.

You go to a store in the physical world, pick any type of store, those selling a specific type of products like books work best. It doesn't have to be a type of product you'd necessarily like/prefer to be discrete about it, so let's not get there to discredit this example.
When you first visited the shop, they gave you a card with your name on it, which you use to shop there. You do so for years for x, y, and z reasons, and get award points for a, b, and c reasons related to the items you get there. For years, the number of items and award points you've gotten over the time you've been a customer there is your business and your business alone, and is one of the reasons you shop there.

Then one day, the store puts up a board to the right of the main entrance listing the number of items you've gotten and the number of award points you've accumulated right next to your name. Without asking for your consent, and without giving you the option not to be displayed on that board. And every time you'd make a new purchase, or get an item and/or award points, that data would get updated. They do this to all their customers. And everyone entering the store and getting one of those cards can see that info. They put a big sign advertising this in their display window that everyone passing by can see.

Some of you wouldn't mind, or care, others would and do. This is how private profiles are set up on GOG. The card is a GOG account, the items are one's games, the award points are one's achievements, the board is one's private profile, and the sign is all the announcements GOG has made, including this thread and postings on their social media.

Now also picture a bright green light turning on right under your name on hat board every time you enter that store, and following you around as you move within it.

Before anyone says but "online status has always been public", well if you weren't posting on the forum, nobody knew when you came on here and when you left, except perhaps those you chose to chat up in real time. Which is your choice, and still your business.
And since we're trying to make those privacy settings effective, why not make an effort to address a couple more, like mandatory display of online status in general, joining date, and location on the forum? Regarding the latter, while one can spoof their location, it's rather unreliable, and reverts to actual location seemingly randomly.
Emphasis on the the term "mandatory", anyone who wishes to display any of them should still be free to do so.