Can't reach everyone sadly.

I find it extremely hilarious that as a youth with no money, I pirated everything I could get my hands on, and now my life is going to be bookended by me going back to pirating games because they just plain work better, and I can install them and run them anywhere I want

It’s not even that they work better. Repackers make far better installers which take a fraction of the disk space. Most sites also provide multiple download options such as part download, torrent, or direct. They are also able to provide changelogs, patches and such like in some circumstances. All of which gog are unable (read do not want to provide outside their client) to provide. At this point buying a disc off eBay, roping that to an image, and getting some mods is far better than purchasing anything from here anymore.

Spore owned by EA would require you to use Origin and have an account and be logged in, in order to play. Though when they initially put the game out you could only install the game 3 times as it had to 'verify' your game with the server... One of the more annoying DRM and i refused to buy it because of that.

Anyways, the extra features included a TON of user created content.

That would be terrible... if true. Let's look at the stated information on the game/page. Only the online missions seem to require internet... Looks about what i expected. Other than the escalation contracts everything is as expected.

Reminds me. Neverwinter Nights has something similar, the 'Premium Modules' that are broken in the game. According to the game you have to log in and purchase them; But the server isn't even up anymore and anyone not looking around wouldn't find out they put the modules for free after they closed the servers. Go figure.

edit: Think i got the client wrong; Origin, not Uplay.

Edit - Deleted: rtcvb32 answered just before I posted my question.

Please explain the nature of this DRM in a calm mater. Is it "I can't play the game without the Internet" or "I'm offended as the multiplayer requires online connection"?

Wow, another f*ck indeed.
Was this fixed or is still required?
When it was released? Did gogers complain?
That is another game that is not my flavor and I haven't played at all (like any on the hitman series) but I gladly would vote or make noise if the forum request it.

Escalation missions and elusive targets are basically the equivalent of "daily quests" from "games as a service" titles. You can finish the game without going online no problem but the online mod keeps track of your "assassin score" to wave you e-pingas at other players.

If you just want to finish the story campaign, nothing will force you to go online.

Correction, Origin not Uplay. Uplay is Ubisoft, my bad on that.

Glancing at steam it's worse, 1 registry per game... not 3.... But otherwise it looks like it's still draconian as ever. (EA's page says nothing at all)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/17390/SPORE/ GoG's version just pre-activates and assumes you don't try to go online.

You are omitting the fact that player progress, which is in itself a huge part of the game, also requires you to go online. Think of it as not being able to save in other games. Player progress has nothing to do with waving anyone with anything. Player progress unlocks more playstyles for the sandbox. Without them, you're basically restarting the game every time you boot it up with the default settings, akin to casual games like Bejeweled or what-have-you.

Please stop with the misinformation.

As long as the single player portion is DRM free that's all that matters. Its what they stated all along.

But it is not even close to single player portion DRM free...
You can check details here: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/if_youve_bought_hitman_goty_2016/post1

In this case the single player portion is not DRM free.

This situation is different from previous cases. A significant chunk of the single player experience is locked behind an always online requirement. Weapon unlocks, outfit unlocks, new starting locations.

Hitman is a stealth sandbox game. Replaying missions with extras is the bulk of the game.

When the serves go down, what remains is a very incomplete product.

The whole point of DRM-free is to avoid this kind of situation. It sets a terrible precedent for other games to be released on GOG with only a small slice of the gameplay actually being DRM-free.

Spore is a completely different situation. Servers where already down for years when it was released on GOG. All the original game content is available in the GOG version.

The Hitman situation is completely different. The game has draconian DRM and it was kept in the GOG release.

My forced philosophical optimism considers that this could be fixed with a bit of will and work.

I am relatively sure that even in this kind of games where the online/offline/community/single content features are so diluted in the base game, the developers should have some kind of plan B or backup where nearly the whole game content (probably except community content) could be offered offline. Even the online progression which is, maybe the soul, or the gaming sense of the campagn by design.

If a game has more potential gameplay and replay hours in a supposed "game+" than the basic campaign from scratch, then I must understand that the design and situation is different to other examples.

It is their design not mine. Their decission. They wanted to do it in that way, not me.