5 ms·

GOG games are DRM free and typically show up on torrent sites immediately after release, so anybody who wants to pirate the game won't bother to go through the

GOG games are DRM free and typically show up on torrent sites immediately after release, so anybody who wants to pirate the game won't bother to go through the buy->download->refund flow with them.

hombre_fatal 7y ago
Almost all Steam games can be found on torrent sites. It doesn't stop people from buying and refunding Steam games.
- close04 7y ago
  The difference being that GOG games do not need a crack, a client, or use any DRM. The last part is the reason I buy from GOG instead of Steam. Also because I like oldies and GOG does a great job at making them work on modern systems (with notable exceptions) while Steam is more than happy to sell you a game that only works on Windows 98. One particular case I remember was the Commandos series that Steam advertised at the time as Windows 7 compatible even if it was absolutely unplayable. I returned it and bought GOG's version that worked just fine.
  - hombre_fatal 7y ago
    Gog has a tiny fraction of all games on the market, much less the AAA ones that people are playing. Steam has ~all games on the market, and ~all of them can be pirated. So it's not very convincing that Gog somehow has it worse or that there's some unique obstacle with Gog. Steam DRM clearly isn't the challenge people think it is. Yet people still buy and refund on Steam.
    - close04 7y ago
      It's probably called Good Old Games because it caters mostly for that market.
      - 4cao 7y ago
        > It's probably called Good Old Games because it caters mostly for that market. The name was changed to just "GOG" in 2012 because they didn't want to only be associated with old games.
    - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
      Steam DRM stops casual pirates that do not want to go to shady sites. GOG having no DRM and a big window for returning means people will abuse it. The question is how many will do that.
      - machiaweliczny 7y ago
        I doubt it will be many (from ones that are buying games right now). If you expect quality entertainment you should be willing to pay for it. (as with anything). It's kinda copy of Windows strategy. I was using pirated version od Windows as kid but as I got more affluent I can totally justify to pay for it and turned into customer. I don't know exact numbers but entertainment/games market should grow a lot as more of the world catches up, so it's worth to invest in capturing them. With current prices the big markets are basically US, Germany and China.
        MaxBarraclough 7y ago
        > I doubt it will be many (from ones that are buying games right now). If you expect quality entertainment you should be willing to pay for it. There's no question that video game piracy is huge.
        jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
        Given making an account is free, expect way more new "customers" now. This is not theoretical. There is a lot of people that enjoys not paying for anything, if they can get away with it. And no, I don't like entertainment industries that claim a lot of losses in the press and ask for subsidies or lobby for laws. But it is certainly real that there is a lot of software piracy.
  - billfruit 7y ago
    But GOG doesn't do as good as steam does with region specific prices, and ensure that gamers from poorer countries pay less for games than from richer countries.
mrlala 7y ago
Eh.. it's much safer and convenient to get it right from GOG instead of rolling the dice on a torrent site though.
e2le 7y ago
Pirating a game introduces concerns over malware, in some cases it might be low risk however buying and refunding would eliminate those concerns. I also consider DRM to be malware so GOG is the better choice in my opinion.
- earenndil 7y ago
  The game is distributed as an archive accompanied by an executable unpacker. The unpacker is signed by GOG, and it can verify the hash of the archive, meaning no malware concern.
moosey 7y ago
Inexpensive, downloadable, and DRM free games are what I always wanted. In addition, GOG keeps a store of all the games I own and I can download them multiple times. This is exactly the service that I would imagine other gamers would want, as well. It seems almost petty to torrent when this is available.
- scaryclam 7y ago
  Not to mention that the copy of the game you get from GOG is more likely safe to run, than something pirated from a torrent.
- bo1024 7y ago
  I think you're supporting the parent poster's point: Given that there are a number of petty people out there, GOG may be hoping those kinds of folks will just torrent instead of buy+refund.
- jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
  Inexpensive, why? I really do not want a world like mobile gaming where every game is free and designed to make you addicted to buy virtual coins. Games cost a lot of money to make.
  - starving_autist 7y ago
    I think games cost a lot of money to make profitable (i.e. appeal to the standards of most people). Even if all professional game designers/programmers/artists stopped getting paid and quit, people would still make and enjoy free games, and they would probably much better than whatever generic crap is greenlight by publishers. So I don't believe that the artistic value nor the quality of video games depends on the success video game industry, In fact I would say they are orthagonal to each other.
    - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
      I do believe the best indie games are way better than the best AAA games (gameplay wise). But all of them are commercial. In other words, there is no non-commercial game that I would consider the best at anything. There are mods that are better than the games themselves, but making the base game is what costs money and nobody does for free.

GOG games are DRM free and typically show up on torrent sites immediately after release, so anybody who wants to pirate the game won't bother to go through the buy->download->refund flow with them.

hombre_fatal 7y ago

Almost all Steam games can be found on torrent sites. It doesn't stop people from buying and refunding Steam games.

close04 7y ago
The difference being that GOG games do not need a crack, a client, or use any DRM. The last part is the reason I buy from GOG instead of Steam. Also because I like oldies and GOG does a great job at making them work on modern systems (with notable exceptions) while Steam is more than happy to sell you a game that only works on Windows 98. One particular case I remember was the Commandos series that Steam advertised at the time as Windows 7 compatible even if it was absolutely unplayable. I returned it and bought GOG's version that worked just fine.
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  Gog has a tiny fraction of all games on the market, much less the AAA ones that people are playing. Steam has ~all games on the market, and ~all of them can be pirated. So it's not very convincing that Gog somehow has it worse or that there's some unique obstacle with Gog. Steam DRM clearly isn't the challenge people think it is. Yet people still buy and refund on Steam.
  - close04 7y ago
    It's probably called Good Old Games because it caters mostly for that market.
    - 4cao 7y ago
      > It's probably called Good Old Games because it caters mostly for that market. The name was changed to just "GOG" in 2012 because they didn't want to only be associated with old games.
  - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
    Steam DRM stops casual pirates that do not want to go to shady sites. GOG having no DRM and a big window for returning means people will abuse it. The question is how many will do that.
    - machiaweliczny 7y ago
      I doubt it will be many (from ones that are buying games right now). If you expect quality entertainment you should be willing to pay for it. (as with anything). It's kinda copy of Windows strategy. I was using pirated version od Windows as kid but as I got more affluent I can totally justify to pay for it and turned into customer. I don't know exact numbers but entertainment/games market should grow a lot as more of the world catches up, so it's worth to invest in capturing them. With current prices the big markets are basically US, Germany and China.
      - MaxBarraclough 7y ago
        > I doubt it will be many (from ones that are buying games right now). If you expect quality entertainment you should be willing to pay for it. There's no question that video game piracy is huge.
      - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
        Given making an account is free, expect way more new "customers" now. This is not theoretical. There is a lot of people that enjoys not paying for anything, if they can get away with it. And no, I don't like entertainment industries that claim a lot of losses in the press and ask for subsidies or lobby for laws. But it is certainly real that there is a lot of software piracy.
- billfruit 7y ago
  But GOG doesn't do as good as steam does with region specific prices, and ensure that gamers from poorer countries pay less for games than from richer countries.

mrlala 7y ago

Eh.. it's much safer and convenient to get it right from GOG instead of rolling the dice on a torrent site though.

e2le 7y ago

Pirating a game introduces concerns over malware, in some cases it might be low risk however buying and refunding would eliminate those concerns. I also consider DRM to be malware so GOG is the better choice in my opinion.

earenndil 7y ago
The game is distributed as an archive accompanied by an executable unpacker. The unpacker is signed by GOG, and it can verify the hash of the archive, meaning no malware concern.

moosey 7y ago

Inexpensive, downloadable, and DRM free games are what I always wanted. In addition, GOG keeps a store of all the games I own and I can download them multiple times. This is exactly the service that I would imagine other gamers would want, as well. It seems almost petty to torrent when this is available.

scaryclam 7y ago
Not to mention that the copy of the game you get from GOG is more likely safe to run, than something pirated from a torrent.
bo1024 7y ago
I think you're supporting the parent poster's point: Given that there are a number of petty people out there, GOG may be hoping those kinds of folks will just torrent instead of buy+refund.
jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
Inexpensive, why? I really do not want a world like mobile gaming where every game is free and designed to make you addicted to buy virtual coins. Games cost a lot of money to make.
- starving_autist 7y ago
  I think games cost a lot of money to make profitable (i.e. appeal to the standards of most people). Even if all professional game designers/programmers/artists stopped getting paid and quit, people would still make and enjoy free games, and they would probably much better than whatever generic crap is greenlight by publishers. So I don't believe that the artistic value nor the quality of video games depends on the success video game industry, In fact I would say they are orthagonal to each other.
  - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
    I do believe the best indie games are way better than the best AAA games (gameplay wise). But all of them are commercial. In other words, there is no non-commercial game that I would consider the best at anything. There are mods that are better than the games themselves, but making the base game is what costs money and nobody does for free.