People are torrenting Doom 3 BFG because it's a consolized piece of shit compared to the original Doom 3 on PC, the environment textures are in many cases WORSE, frames are locked to 60 per second, it's a mess of a game, but not surprising as Bethesda published it and Bethesda fuck up everything they publish.

The message is pretty clear, people pirate games when they hear on the internet that they are not worth buying.

Unless the system in question specifically allows resale (there's at least one digital distributor that allows resale, isn't there? Green Man Gaming, I believe).

I would call "copy protection" any system that tries to make it difficult to make a working copy (eg. those CD's that had bad data that were intended to make the disc difficult to copy correctly, and the game wouldn't start if said data wasn't there), and "digital rights management" any system that tries to limit what you can do with the copies you have (eg. installation limits or required accounts that are only given out with new purchases).

The only thing GOG's system does through technical means is hinder resale of single games, since they are permanently bound to the account - which, admittedly, does limit what you can do with your license (but not each individual copy). But that's just why it can be labelled as DRM-free (I believe, though it can be argued that the label is wrong, and I am inclined to agree with you), it tries to limit neither the copying or usage of copies (all right, the serials for some games do limit usage), it limits the transfer of licenses.

I don't. The last time I lost internet was when we had a blackout. And that was five years ago. And it's not like you need a constant internet connection. "Always online" is the DRM for only a handful of games anyway.

Again, only a problem with always online

While this is a theoretical possibility, I'm not factoring this into my decisions. Because the risk is so low (the only case I can recall, trident, was resolved by giving the affected Steam keys) that I am not willing to trade all the benefits Steam has for me.

If I would apply this logic to everyday life, I certainly wouldn't drive a car or a bike, because the risk of a fatal accident are significantly higher than loosing access to games due to DRM and much more severe. I'm not loosing sleep over this. Maybe I'm gambling, but I'm willing to make that call.

Well, their games are 100% DRM free, now question about that. (except for CD-keys, which I consider DRM. Yet another example of the vagueness of the term "DRM"). And this is what most people care about.

Sorry :/

GMG is slightly different. I don't use the service, but iirc you cannot directly trade games to other and you cannot define the price yourself. If I'm ever bored, I need to look into the legal mechanics of GMG.

Yeah I am actually thinking of that. In an environment where you learn how to make games these convos and get hair.

Wait... what? There are actually pro-DRM gamers out there?

There are probably a bunch of people at Steam that would argue that DRM is needed and that Steam isn't even considered as DRM. I also think there's a large majority that doesn't care as long as the game work.

Well, it all comes down to the definition of DRM. But a DRM that killed of the used games market in favour of a "massive sales" run market we have now? I'm in!

Also, with a Steam like DRM you can make fair worldwide prices. Now, 10$ for a game in the whole world isn't fair, imo. 10$ in US/Germany, 6$ in Poland, 0,5$ in Somalia (e.g.) is what I would call "fair".

You can only do that with regional restrictions, which are also "DRMish".

In the end, DRM is a tool. It's usage, either beneficial or detrimental are solely based on how it is used.

Edit: A more practical example. Those "free weekends" on Steam. Testing a game for free over the weekend is impossible with GOG games. While it never actually lead to a game bought by me, it stopped me from buying Red Orchestra 2. 20€ saved.

Good for you.

Once in a while, I'll lose mine.

Sometimes, it's the ISP, sometimes, it's the home network.

Until you want to install a game when you're away from home.

My hard drive cannot hold my entire gaming collection. My portable external drive does.

I'm talking about Steam going under and yes, it's a gamble.

It's not an ancient company that has been around forever and even ancient companies sink once in a while. Yes, it is big, but big companies make big decisions which causes them to fall down just as hard when those decisions turn out to be bad.

Furthermore, it is a gamble for which I don't see the upside.

I might get hit by a car when I go out, but I need to get out to interact with the outside world.

But I am supportive of DRM policies, because?

They make enough money. They can eat a couple of lost sales and use watermarking to scare off quite a few casual pirates.

Have you ever used Steam? Without it, I would have probably given up gaming by now. It takes so much hassle out of gaming that I no longer want to miss it.

Services like Steam are like dishwashers. Do you need them? No. Will you ever let them go once you had them? Hell no!

I hated Steam for solid 5 years. But after being more or less forced to use it, I started to see the benefits. Those, by far, outweigh the potential possibility of it going down under.

This. I used second hand only for a games that are unavaible in digital distribution.

It can be. One example is not exactly substantial evidence. For statistical reason one should have more than one example and account for different conditions (popularity, ...). Actually nobody in the world up to now and the foreseeable future was and will be able to present any conclusive proof on this topic.

That's why this person who is bothering you so much, probably doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. But also you should be careful. The good thing about such matters is that everybody can have an opinion and arguments supporting these opinions and most of the time no opinion is worse than others. It's just what arguments one is inclined to weigh more. A bit like believing and religion.

And even if he would be right, which I don't believe (I believe DRM can have advantages but probably often has not), he still can be an unfriendly person with whom one maybe doesn't want to discuss many things. Maybe you just want to stop telling him what you think about DRM and tell him to not tell you anything about what he thinks about DRM.

The ability to do second hand trades has nothing in common with DRM. DRM is about technical limitations, not legal ones. And you still get your product from GOG and are not hindered from redistributing it in any way. From my perspective the account system is a privilege that gives you the ability to get an infinite number of copies from the "shop" or "manufacturer", not some sort of protection that keeps others who did not pay for it from getting it.

I mean, you probably wouldn't say that it's DRM if you were legally free to sell your downloaded copy to someone else despite the current technical restrictions. That a legal change is all it needs to make it "DRM free" supports the idea that no DRM is in place.

Try selling a GOG game to a private person. After it is done, we can continue this discussion.