I add my cheers to the others, but in a hands-in-my-pockets, not overly over the moon kind of way.

Thirteen years. But as of late, if there is a game I'm interested in, I've taken to waiting for reviews or user comments to see if there is DRM in any form attached. It saddens me that it has come to this.

Once again, so well-put. Are you in communications as a profession yourself?

This is why for me, personally, it's a relevant discussion:

I registered at GOG in April 2011, when it was about 2.5 years old. I registered because I was blown away by the interviews the founders gave, which basically said, "DRM brings discomfort to those who pay and doesn't bother those who download warez - so why punish the good guys? And we believe there are enough good guys out there."

As of today, I have 851 GOG games on my account. That means I've spent thousands of Euro here over the years (out of my Czech pocket, which isn't particularly deep), sometimes consciously buying at a higher price than elsewhere, simply because I wanted to support the good thing. Every single game that I first had on Steam that later came here, every bloody single one of them I either bought again or it's on my wishlist. Again, because I've wanted to support the good thing. I wanted to support the good-guys culture, the mutual-trust-o-nomics, if you like.

I remember GOG as a toddler, with Wednesday (I think) being the only day new releases came. I've seen it turn 3, 4, 5, ... and now 13. And I feel like its grampa, or maybe an uncle. I've seen it grow up, I've loved it, given it as much money as I could afford, like grampas blindly loving the grandchildren often do. Every single year I was happy to see GOG get older, because it meant the good thing business model was viable.

GOG is now a teenager. No one knows what will it become when it grows up. Maybe it will be this family type, middle manager with two kids who will still love their grandparents. Maybe it will be a fierce and successful businessman who will divorce twice or thrice, not having much time for the grampas and grannies anymore. Either is fine. Maybe for the current generation of customers, DRM isn't a big thing anymore.

But I think it's fair to ask, without being aggressive or anything, whether we grampas and grand uncles are still "supporting the good thing" or GOG has found new friends that they like better. That's all.

Congrats GOG! Great job bringing Blood Omen legacy of kain!

In honor of GOG's anniversary, a poem:

I used to love this simple store
I had such passion, such emotion
But as of late, I'm sad to say
You're testing my devotion

It's true that things were never perfect
But I gave your flaws a pass
I stuck with you through thick and thin
And being second-class

Others said it wasn't worth it
But despite that I could see
If you could, I knew you would
Give me the galaxy

I said I didn't want that though
You said that that was fine
All I wanted, what you gave
Was games to play offline

But now you don't communicate
You haven't for a while
It feels like when I give an inch
You always take a mile

You let others get away with things
Support them as they do
And as I've watched, I've wondered
What is happening to you?

I hope that things get better
But for now I must condemn
You promised not to hit me
But you did, with DRM

Happy Anniversary, GOG - and THANK YOU for allowing me buy both Elvira games...I was never able to get a working copy on my C64...I also purchased Blood Omen but truth to be told I would rather pick Dark Omen :-P

This is absolutely immaculate.

Happy 13th birthday!

Can't wait to purchase more censored, DRM premium pre-register DLC early access regional priced products!

And people say 13 is an unlucky number, hahaha!

Anger doesn't help. What we need to communicate clearly is, "If you stay true to your roots, we'll stand by you; if you don't, you'll sure find other customers but will lose your original customer base." It's a business decision after all. If GOG wants to leave their niche, that's fine, but they'll lose (some? / many? / a significant part of?) us niche customers with that.

It is relevant as the page for Hitman GOTY Edition specifically states the following:

DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.

This is a lie as this game has DRM that requires an online connection. While it was put there by the developer, the only thing that GOG had to do was not put this game on its storefront and tell the users that you've rejected this game due to DRM.

Now if you look at my purchase history, it's 90% RPGs where the occasional action game also being an action RPG, and a few 4x games. The only thing close to Hitman that I own is XIII because GOG was giving it away free and cool art. Even someone that avoids games like Hitman because I don't play that genre knows about this game and its DRM issue. This is how much attention it is getting.

As someone who won't buy Hitman (due to the genre), I'd suggest pulling Hitman off the site completely, refund everyone that tried to buy it and offer them a free copy of something else for good will.

Saying all that, I'm not boycotting GOG just because it would mean having to purchase Supergiant's awesome games off Steam and having Steam DRM in games that otherwise don't have any DRM. While I'm on the subject of Supergiant, hey why isn't Hades on GOG?


edit - fixed a few typos, no other changes made :)

I think the message is quite clear through the hundreds of people saying their part. Also should be noted I am still here after 10 years when I made this account. When I finally give up on this place, I simply won't return. No need of more words, just eternal silence.

The lack of communication and "brand" mismanagement has been a great complaint of many, yet there is no sign of better days, as if waiting for its final moment without any attempts to save themselves before then.

Copying description of games from Steam and pasting it to GOG store, releasing censored games, plopping a DRM ridden title just before company's anniversary... just how foolish those people can get before the fire they start won't go away on its own and tears this place apart.

This is not a plea for a change, only to return into original state of things, instead of this distasteful downfall.

you know, 47 wanted to join the party and congratule you. but sadly he got locked out by an always online requirement

It's really sad that you have a multitude that ignored your request for them to stop spamming this thread with topic irrelevant Hitman talk when you clearly pointed them to the correct thread for that.

Happy Birthday! and more luck in targets! :D

I wasn't going to say anything in this thread about the horrendous DRM mess that is Hitman but GOG has been naughty and doesn't deserve to go to it's birthday party, it should go to bed without any supper instead!