Hi GOG,
Thanks for giving us advance notice of the update. I have to say, as a human being I appreciate these simpler "natural language" contracts, but as a lawyer they give me the screaming heebie-jeebies.
I have several questions/concerns about the agreement. I realize that some of them are extremely nitpicky and involve scenarios that are unlikely to ever come up or become an issue - bear with me, I'm a lawyer, which means that I'm a bit crazy in the brain when it comes to hypothetical problems. :p
(I am going to split this up over several posts, as I seem to be running up against the character limit.)
The User Agreement
3.1 To buy GOG content from GOG.com, you will need to set up a GOG account. This will involve creating
a password (which is encrypted so we can’t access it)
As written, this paragraph merely states that the password is encrypted but doesn't actually impose an obligation on GOG to do so. I would prefer some stronger wording here (and in the equivalent paragraph in the Privacy Policy) that makes it clear that you are promising that you
will encrypt the password in this way.
3.3 Your GOG account and GOG content are personal to you. You can gift GOG games and GOG
videos to other people (up to a limit of 5 per day and provided the recipient doesn’t already own the GOG game/video being gifted) however this might defer on a case by case basis, but you can't sell them or charge money for them.
"Defer"? What the bloogity blargh? Do you mean "differ"? Even if you do, I'm still not 100% clear on what the bolded portion is trying to say.
6.5 ... Store Credit will be credited to your GOG account in the currency in which you bought the relevant GOG content (e.g. if you bought a game in US Dollars, any Store Credit regarding it will be in US Dollars).
To clarify, does that mean that when I use store credit, I must purchase the item in the currency that the store credit was given to me? E.g. let's say I have 5 EUR of credit, and I want to purchase a game that costs 10 EUR but for some reason I want to pay for it in USD. Can I still apply the store credit, paying for the remaining balance in USD, or must I purchase the game in EUR in order to use the EUR store credits?
6.7 (b) Early Exchange: you can exchange validly purchased GOG content for a replacement GOG game or video of equal or lower value if your request is made within 30 days of the original purchase...
To clarify, does this mean that items can be exchanged on a one-for-one basis only? For example, if I want to exchange a game worth $12, could I exchange it for two $6 games, or only one?
6.7 (c) Money back guarantee: if you buy any GOG content and have significant technical issues with it (e.g.
there is a major show stopper bug in a game that prevents you from finishing it), we will give you a full refund if all the following requirements are met:
I would like to see more clarity in this paragraph as to what sorts of technical issues do or do not count as "significant". Does it have to be an issue that prevents me from finishing the game, or will problems that substantially impair my enjoyment of the title also qualify? For example, let's say that I have some weird bug where for some reason the game will only run in black-and-white - I can still play and finish the game just fine, but it's clearly not working as intended. Do I qualify for a refund? What about lesser issues such as sound stutter or choppy videos that might be unimportant to some people but a deal-breaker for others?
6.7(d) Withdrawal Right: we give you the right to withdraw from a purchase of GOG content without charge and for any reason within 30 days after you bought that GOG content, IF it has not been downloaded, streamed, activated or used in any way before then. If any of those things happen then your withdrawal right is lost.
What does "withdraw from a purchase" mean - do I get a full refund? How does this relate to my right of exchange under subparagraph (b)? Does this essentially mean that I have an either/or option of requesting a refund under (d) or exchanging the item under (b)?
6.8 Final sale: a sale is considered final either 30 days after purchase or when you try to download the GOG content or any additional/bonus content. Once either of those happens, you no longer will have any return, exchange or refund options unless you have technical issues covered by paragraph (c) above.
As written, this paragraph seems to override my rights under paragraph 6.7(a) regarding preorders. Specifically, if I pre-order a game that is not released until more than 30 days later, then the intent under 6.7(a) seems to be that I could ask for a refund at any point until the launch, but it looks like under 6.8 as soon as 30 days elapse the preorder becomes "final" and I "no longer will have any return, exchange or refund options..." unless I experience technical issues. I suspect this was an unintentional oversight, but I would appreciate seeing paragraph 6.8 amended to clarify how it interacts with 6.7(a).