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GOG has lots of marvelous games, not all of them yet:)
It's fun, and you get to watch spam bots fights. Who you will get rid of them
the fastest?
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: As for point 4 in the OP, I regard that as only a semi-valid point. Yes it's true that if Steam goes out of business, then you would not be able to download your games in a DRM-free format. However, the chances of Steam ever going out of business in actual reality are very close to zero.

And in addition to that, one also must consider that in some ways a Steam library is more secure than GOG a library (granted, point 2 in the OP contradicts that in other ways), because GOG's long-term future is always on very shaky ground, whereas Steam's is not.
I wouldn't call Steam library more secure. When Steam removed Agony Unrated from my library, their support were completely indifferent and have not resolved the matter to this day. GOG staff at least act like they're apologetic and sometimes they fix the issue. I have lost a lot of respect for Valve that day. Madmind made it right at the end, but if they were also indifferent, all customers would have been screwed.

Sure GOG had its fair share of removals and negative patches, but at least we are given the ability to hoard our own games on our own hardware. And that, is the whole selling point for me. The only "library" that I trust, is my own.
Post edited May 08, 2023 by SargonAelther
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Pheace: Rofl
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AB2012: Assassins Creed Origins did exactly that in the past though. Two layers of virtualization (Denuvo + VMProtect + obfuscation (filling the CPU up with junk instructions to make reverse assembly hard to understand) as Ubisoft love to do obviously isn't 'free' unless someone has invented a 0 cycle CPU. Overpowered 600w desktop rigs regularly hide what becomes easily visible on a 25w laptop. In many cases Denuvo actually hits startup times more than frame-rates : "Game starts up about 40 secs faster without D sooo yeah Denuvo kills performance especially when you are using two Denuvos in one game" but since few people test for that, it remains ignored by most people who still claim Denuvo "has no impact" based solely on over simplistic frame-rate comparisons.
Well yes, bad implementations of anything will lead to horrible performance. Even without Denuvo many games have horrible performance these days. If they pull off something dumb like stacking several systems I imagine it's far worse.
Post edited May 08, 2023 by Pheace
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kuruma0day: Why purchase in GOG instead STEAM
GOG doesn't give fat tax $$s to Putler
There are many arguments of why its better to own GOG version of games than Steams, but since everyone around here tend to be already experienced in the DRM vs DRM-Free topic and they may answer you with their opinions with better technical knowledge than I ever could, I will just give you my personal case:

Steam launcher is a pain to deal with, invasive and the worst way someone could ever think to manage DRM in my opinion. If you're a 'pc gamer' of this generation, which never disconnects, ever sending Valve servers data of your PC usage with Steam open 24/7, yes, it would not bother you, for sure.

But for people like me who...

- Mod games
- Tend to play only SinglePlayer offline games
- Tend to backup game states after personal customizations
- Wish to just install the game there and be able to open it, modify it, uninstall it fast without further processes

...Steam is a nightmare. Don't get me started with forced updates when you spent months modding your game and see your folder of backup mods become outdated in one day.

To me Steam is only useful today to backup games I bought there before coming to GOG and learning what truly DRM-Free is.
As explained, this is why for me I buy on GOG and not on Steam anymore.

Wishing GOG catalogue gets older AA, AAA and some good indies only available on the competition though, which is the negative of this store compared to Steam.
Post edited May 08, 2023 by .Keys
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.Keys: But for people like me who...

- Mod games
- Tend to play only SinglePlayer offline games
- Tend to backup game states after personal customizations
As someone who qualifies for modding and largely prefer single player games I'd argue I'm perfectly capable of doing these on Steam. Heck, I've modded some games far more than I probably ever would have without Steam because of the Workshop I imagine (the horror of finding/installing 600+ mods after an update without the Workshop). And it backs those settings up for me.

Granted, not entire games but most modding I've done is usually selfcontained within certain config/mod folders so still pretty easy to backup. Granted recently I think the biggest games I've modded were Battletech/Rimworld/XCOM2/Battle Brothers. The first and latter not entirely through Steam. (*)

...Steam is a nightmare. Don't get me started with forced updates when you spent months modding your game and see your folder of backup mods become outdated in one day.
This I can imagine, though a good game that has substantial modding usually seems to have a beta branch of the previous big versions available. I tend to jump on the new patches quick though, it's usually a good point to start over and clean up my mod list. (just the way I do it, not saying it's not a bother if it'd prevent you from continuing a save/modlist)

(*) Damn, that reminds me I need to try out the latest patch of Starsector
Post edited May 08, 2023 by Pheace
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Pheace: (...)
As I do understand many of the things I said were personal, I have no problem with what you said, but one thing:

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Pheace: I've modded some games far more than I probably ever would have without Steam because of the Workshop I imagine (the horror of finding/installing 600+ mods after an update without the Workshop). And it backs those settings up for me.
As stated in this Forum post talking about User Agreement when using Valve's Workshop feature of Steam:
(I can't post links to other Stores/Forums here anymore because the terms of use of this Forum, search those if you will)

Incomplete link to source thread:
/discussions/forum/7/492379439668097181

"You grant Valve and its affiliates the worldwide, non-exclusive, right to use, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, transcode, translate, broadcast, and otherwise communicate, and publicly display and publicly perform, your User Generated Content, and derivative works of your User Generated Content, in connection with the operation and promotion of the Steam site."

...and...

"You understand and agree that Valve is not obligated to use, distribute, or continue to distribute copies of any Workshop Contribution and reserves the right, but not the obligation, to restrict or remove Workshop Contributions for any reason."

So you do understand that basically your mod on Steam's Workshop isn't really yours anymore, while it stays there, right?

- Steam Workshop and mod creators deleting mods problem:
Incomplete link for Steam Forums thread:
discussions/forum/0/3821910883997012071/

Which is understandable through a mod creator point of view but unnaceptable ethicaly in my humble opinion.
So this safe view of "I will always have my mod on Workshop" is an ilusion. Thus, I recommend you to take steps to secure your mods installed in your games through Steam Workshop sooner or later, before you lose access to them.

- The case of Valve trying to allow modders to sell their mods on Workshop:
Incomplete link to IGN's article:
articles/2015/04/28/5-reasons-why-valves-paid-mod-workshop-failed

And:

- Creators Club of Skyrim situation:
Incomplete link for Forbes article:
erikkain/2015/04/23/valve-and-bethesdas-monetized-skyrim-mods-give-content-creators-a-raw-deal/

---

There's also the problem that mod creators that post mods only on Workshop exclude users from other Stores from playing their mods.
Steam Workshop Downloader website used to allow users to download mods from workshop and play them on their games outside Steam's environment but Valve gave them warnings about this, forcing them to stop serving this free service.
Now they've changed their site with a disclaimer saying that you can only use Steam Workshop Downloader if you agree to delete files downloaded through it within 24 hours.

If all of this isn't a problem for you, I don't know what is problematic for modding scenario. :(
Post edited May 09, 2023 by .Keys
My issue with the Steam mod workshop is the same as with Steam Games themselves. I have no control over them or any sense of ownership.

Valve or the mod maker can pull any mod any any point and I'll have no say in it. If there is a mod I like, I want to preserve it on my hard drive. The only reliable place. That way it's not gonna disappear for any reason.

I mean you could try and figure out what did the workshop actually change and try to back that up, but there's usually no guidance as to what files the mod affects, unlike traditional mod sites, like Nexus. On Nexus I can get the mod file itself and instructions for how to use it, without having to rely on any 3rd party, which has proven to be unreliable.
Case in point some Mount & Blade Warband mods that were discontinued and disappeared. I have them backed up with my install files for Warband. Modding on Steam (back when I did it) wasn't bad because for a while you could tell steam to not update. That's been gone for a while, and it was the first thing to get me thinking about ownership. Steam could have been such a powerful positive force for gaming on PC but they'd rather make money selling other people's games and loot boxes/crates, fucking knife skins and other bullshit.
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Pheace: Rofl
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AB2012: Assassins Creed Origins did exactly that in the past though. Two layers of virtualization (Denuvo + VMProtect + obfuscation (filling the CPU up with junk instructions to make reverse assembly hard to understand) as Ubisoft love to do obviously isn't 'free' unless someone has invented a 0 cycle CPU. Overpowered 600w desktop rigs regularly hide what becomes easily visible on a 25w laptop. In many cases Denuvo actually hits startup times more than frame-rates : "Game starts up about 40 secs faster without D sooo yeah Denuvo kills performance especially when you are using two Denuvos in one game" but since few people test for that, it remains ignored by most people who still claim Denuvo "has no impact" based solely on over simplistic frame-rate comparisons.
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: and/or unless you have multiple different physical storage devices that all have a full backup of your entire GOG library and also that are stored in many different physical locations (which would be a pain to manage).
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AB2012: No more of a 'pain' than what plenty of photographers, content creators, eg, do everyday with large non-gaming storage needs. I get that not everyone wants to backup their GOG collection, but those that don't often overblow the "hassle factor" and if you 'backup as you go' (copy the files to a backup drive after you've already downloaded them anyway to play) it becomes virtually an automatic 'no brainer' habit.

As for "do we really own GOG games or are they licensed", if you have them in your possession and can keep them backed up (potentially for life) it's as meaningless as arguing whether that 1982 CD that's been sitting on your shelf for 40 years is 'really' yours because somewhere on the back in size 2 font they may have used the word "license". If it works, will continue to do so and can't be taken away, the "you can't possibly own a book if you're not the author" argument that keeps doing the rounds on these forums is mostly artificial and not what people refer to in common language (keeping something they bought in their possession without owning the underlying IP).
Perfect explaination of digital ownership. :)
Post edited May 09, 2023 by Dhonavin
Steam is shutting down my games in a few months. Can't stop them. All I can do is buy them again from GOG.
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Darcaan2022: Steam is shutting down my games in a few months. Can't stop them. All I can do is buy them again from GOG.
Which games are those?
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SargonAelther: Which games are those?
All th the played on Windows 7 so far.
He bought them to use with Windows 7 and now he has to crack once the Steam client will stop working with Windows 7
Downloading a standalone installer file for a game is a magical experience in this day and age.
Because I like to own my games, not rent them...