GOG In the Year of Our Lord 2017

The short answer may be a preference thing.

I have over a thousand games on Steam so I am clearly deep in that ecosystem but lately, when given the choice, I buy my games on GOG if they release there alongside Steam. I also buy second copies of GOG games that I already own when they go on sale. I prefer having a DRM free copy that I can play offline reliably even if my Steam version works fine.

I also like to support competitors to Steam to keep the distribution market as diverse and healthy as possible.

I’ll also add that while Steam works just fine for me almost all of the time, I can distinctly recall two instances where I was unable to start my game, and Offline mode did not work. No feedback from Steam as to why my game wouldn’t start, just a message, something like, “We’re sorry, but your game is unavailable at this time.”

Granted, both instances were only for one night each, and they eventually somehow fixed themselves, but just the very fact that a game that I had already paid in full for, was refusing to start for reasons I was not in control of, on one of my very rare nights when I could game, pissed me off so badly that I never want to be put in that position again if I can help it.

But Steam is so entrenched that if I want to game, it cannot be avoided. I “own” many games there. But if I have a choice, I’ll always choose GOG. And if a DRM’d game that I already own, and love, suddenly appears on GOG, I will happily throw extra money at them to get a clean copy.

I totally get that I don’t “own” any of my games. They are all licensed.
However, I do feel that while I don’t own THE GAME, I do own MY COPY of that game. I paid for it. I want to play it when I want to without asking permission first.

Steam does have its benefits though (the auto-updating is very nice, providing I can shut it off when I don’t want it to auto-update), and I do use it, but mostly because I have to.
Damn it. This always turns into a rant.

If GOG fails and you don’t back your stuff up you might have a hard time explaining to some people why you are re-downloading them from other sites, or over p2p, or proving that you “own” these games.

I’ve had that issue with Railroad Tycoon II on steam, as have other users. And there has never been a reason put forward as to why. I know what you mean.

I don’t know why you are replying to me on this. It is simple. I have a back up of games I downloaded from GOG under my own personal account that I’ve paid for. GOG Galaxy makes life easy when it comes to making game backups. I’m under no grand illusion that I own a game, that old chestnut gets tiring after a while if that is what you are alluding to. Provided I maintain my backups, I can go to an offline computer, install the game and have it run, excluding software/hardware incompatibilities. GOG games do not need to have an authentication step from a backed up copy. Conversely, while Steam also offers a Backup and Restore function, there is a requirement for that game backup to connect to Valve servers first. GOG doesn’t, that’s my point.

I don’t think anyone here has said that Steam is bad. In my case, it’s just that GOG offers a benefit to me that Steam does not offer, so I buy from both.

OMG OMG OMG. Dream come true!

Oh wow, for some reason that feels like a big get.

It is! Even more so since the online aspect of it (pawn hiring, etc) fully supports GOG Galaxy. That’s awesome.

Holy shit, that is huuuuuuuge.

GOG’s Summer Sale just started! Rebel Galaxy FOR FREE with your first purchase. :)

They’ve also added a bunch of about 40 games to add to your account via GOG Connect.

Yeah, I just got eleven! Woohoo!

Not to derail, but I’d really like to buy Heretic II through GoG. Wonder why that has never appeared?

Same here! 11! We must have the same Humble Bundle games that all suddenly got converted.

Either license or tech issues. I still have my CD (or DVD?) copy somewhere. ;)

Looks like their servers are under some heavy load right now.

Woo hoo!

I’ve been wanting to get Stardew Valley to play with my daughter.

And I’ve been wanting to get Rebel Galaxy.

Winning!

I think I have mine, but I’m not 100% sure. It was such a cool and unique game for the time. It’s a shame it’s not legally available on a service.

I’m sure I have Heretic II on a CD somewhere, but would it even install (did it have a 16-bit installer)?

Apparently!

I kinda wanna try this too.