I mentioned what gog's principle was back then , i got over the principles as they dropped em one by one .

i am sure drm games can be preserved one way or the other , thats something like a cat and mouse game lock something down and someone unlocks at some time later.

Ignoring and not playing games just because of the drm is a huge waste of time , i cant imagine if i had skipped over playing monkey island 2 back in the day just because it had drm , i would not be a gamer today , or imagine if had skipped over gta or deus ex.

Let's take a look at GOG FAQ from November 2012 (I just picked a random date):

http://web.archive.org/web/20121120094954/http://www.gog.com/support/website_help/website_and_accounts

"2. What is GOG.com about and what are its features?

GOG.com is the new games-on-demand platform serving fantastic computer games at kick-ass prices. And no, it's not “just a store” - it's the site that's all about the greatest games ever and the people who play them. We've got critically acclaimed games for just $5.99 and $9.99, tons of free downloadable content and exclusive add-ons, no DRMs or intrusive copy protection and full compatibility with Windows XP & Vista. Most of our games are compatible with Windows 7 as well, and many work natively on Mac OS X 10.6 and above - it's all right there on every product page. And that's only the tip of the iceberg, as you may have noticed on our cool new splash screen on the main page.

3. Is GOG.com available in [enter-country-here]?
GOG.com available to everyone, everywhere and at any time (well “any time” minus any scheduled maintenance ;).

4. Do I need a user account?
A lot of nice functionality is available to registered users as well as guests. Without an account you can rate games, add comments and even post on the forums. So what's the point of creating a user account? First and foremost to purchase and download games: because your purchased games are linked with your account, you can re-download them whenever and wherever you need. You'll also have more privileges on the forums (creating topics, rating posts), access to our after-sales support, the option to post your reviews on the website and much, much more (and one more “much” for the things that are yet to come:).

5. So what's with this DRM thing?
DRM or Digital Rights Management is a kind of copy protection technology used by many companies to limit the usage of digital media. Although designed to stop pirates from creating illegal copies, in reality the only people who are hurt are the legitimate consumers, stripped of their fair use rights, such as the ability to make backup copies. We believe that a DRM-free world would be a better place and that's why you won't find any DRMs or other intrusive copy protection in games available at GOG.com."


DRM-free is point 5 in their FAQ while worldwide availability is point 3. DRM-free is also shortly mentioned in point 2, but only after quality of games, cheap prices and free downloadable contant and side by side with compatibility with Windows XP & Vista & Windows 7.

That doesn't really back up your claim that DRM-free has always been their true core principle. It was one among some others, but not the most important or the only one.

I didn't realise an FAQ was a mission statement.

It is not. But the order in which the questions are answered might tell you something about the importance.

Does it?

I would say so. But that's just my humble opinion.

https://banned-videogames.silk.co/page/The-Guy-Game-United-States

If we forget about "bound by law" restrictions (Germany? Australia? Saudi-Arabia? North Korea?) and concentrate on the "publisher just doesn't want to sell it to all regions because they are stoopid"... what such publishers are there, besides Japanese publishers?

So does this discussion narrow down to whether we want (more) Japanese games on GOG, or not?

I personally rather have regional-locked games here, than none at all. Even if some publisher chose not to sell it to my region, would not really be a good argument for me to not want anyone else to have it either.

Since some have asked "how about games with DRM?", it is GOG's decision. I personally wouldn't probably buy games with DRM from GOG as then the Steam version would be preferable most probably, but if there really are such people who'd like to buy DRM games from GOG instead of Steam... to each his own I guess. I just don't believe there are such people, hence the importance of DRM-free for GoG.

Also, movies. It would be interesting to know what movies GOG could sell DRM-free, if there were indeed region restrictions. Even some older AAA and XXX movies?

It would be DRM only if it was enforced during gameplay. Not if it is enforced during purchasing/gifting/downloading.

Not different from regionally blocked games on GOG already now, like those games that Germans can't apparently buy from GOG.

If it prevents me from downloading a game I paid for just because I'm in another region,it is very clearly DRM in my eyes. And it's quite different from the German situation at the moment. It's true that I can't buy the game myself, but when someone gifts it to me there are absolutely no restrictions.

Downloading your game (the installer) from a server to your home machine is similar to bringing a retail game from a store to your home. It is part of the delivery, not usage, of the product.

Do you call it DRM if a store won't sell a game to you because you are German, and prevents you from leaving the store with the game (for whatever reason, either because you are German, or because you didn't pay for the game (because you are a stingy German))?

To me it is meaningful to talk about DRM only if the restrictions happen when you try to use the product (which includes also installing it to your PC), not what happens when you are purchasing or delivering the game.

If I can download a game here in the Netherlands but can't when I'm in Germany that wouldn't count as DRM to you?

No, I wouldn't call it DRM, but in a retail store I would very clearly protest when they first take my money and then won't give me the game (which is what you described in your example).

Following your logic it would also be ok to enforce installation limits. After all you wouldn't protest when they won't let you see the same movie twice for your fee in a local cinema.

Nope. In the part of my message that you cut out for some reason (and I added above), I said installation is part of the usage of the product. So limiting installation is DRM. Limiting delivery (like downloading) of the game is not.

It would be shitty from GOG to sell the game to someone who can't then download it. The region-check should be performed already when trying to purchase the game, not only when trying to download it. Of course then there is the gifting which might get restrictions too due to that.

No, because I can still install the DRM-free game installer from my USB flash drive even in Germany. If the installer would refuse to work on German Windows or because the system has a German IP address, then that would be DRM, at least if the purpose really is to prevent the installer from working on a German PC.

That again is similar to that I could ask my game to be delivered from the store to my Netherlandsian address, but not my German address. It is part of the delivery service, not using the product itself (usage includes also the installation of the product).

Fair enough, By the way it would be a dutch address not Netherlandsian. :P

Yes but Netherlandsian sounds way cooler, "dutch" is me sneezing.