🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 09:43:18 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>So, GOG.Com has this thing called GOG Connect, where you link your
>Steam account and GOG account, if GOG sees you have a game in your
>Steam account that they also offer, you can get a free copy on GOG.
>It's not available for every game, but it's not an insignificant
>number of games either.
>
>I guess the logic behind this is that players who already bought the
>game on Steam are unlikely to buy it again on GOG, so GOG.Com isn't
>risking sales while at the same time increasing the visibility of
>their own digital storefront and earning customer goodwill. The thing
>is, I /have/ often re-purchased games on GOG just because I like the
>whole "no DRM" thing. This isn't just a philosophical decision either;
>I like having the GOG version so I can install it on my laptop and not
>having to worry about whether Steam will allow me to play or not just
>because I don't have an internet connection at the moment. I've
>repurchased games on GOG that I already own on Steam just for this
>purpose.  GOG Connect means I don't have to do that anymore, which is
>great for me but means less cash for GOG.com
>
>I'm also actually less encouraged to buy /new/ games on GOG now too,
>since there's always the possibility that I'll get it for free on GOG
>later. And while I know visibility is important to companies, it's not
>as if GOG is really struggling there either; it's one of the major
>digital storefronts already.
>
>So as a customer I /love/ the idea of GOG Connect, but financially I
>can't see how it makes sense for the company. 
>

The irony of it is that since most games on Steam have no DRM per se
(only the authentication to the Steam server and requirement to log
in), allowing GOG to connect to Steam to see if you have a game (or
logging into GOG at all) is in effect the same thing they claim to be
free of.

On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 09:43:18 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote: 

>So, GOG.Com has this thing called GOG Connect, where you link your
>Steam account and GOG account, if GOG sees you have a game in your
>Steam account that they also offer, you can get a free copy on GOG.
>It's not available for every game, but it's not an insignificant
>number of games either.
>
>I guess the logic behind this is that players who already bought the
>game on Steam are unlikely to buy it again on GOG, so GOG.Com isn't
>risking sales while at the same time increasing the visibility of
>their own digital storefront and earning customer goodwill. The thing
>is, I /have/ often re-purchased games on GOG just because I like the
>whole "no DRM" thing. This isn't just a philosophical decision either;
>I like having the GOG version so I can install it on my laptop and not
>having to worry about whether Steam will allow me to play or not just
>because I don't have an internet connection at the moment. I've
>repurchased games on GOG that I already own on Steam just for this
>purpose.  GOG Connect means I don't have to do that anymore, which is
>great for me but means less cash for GOG.com
>
>I'm also actually less encouraged to buy /new/ games on GOG now too,
>since there's always the possibility that I'll get it for free on GOG
>later. And while I know visibility is important to companies, it's not
>as if GOG is really struggling there either; it's one of the major
>digital storefronts already.
>
>So as a customer I /love/ the idea of GOG Connect, but financially I
>can't see how it makes sense for the company. 
>
I think it's pretty half-baked, too. I have already comitted to using the
Steam launcher. Why would I want to use GOG's clunky installers? It is
nice that all their releases still appear in my Games Explorer, though.

GOG Galaxy doesn't work really well either. It seems as if they aren't
capable of imagining a successful software delivery system, which is a
shame, because I've repurchased games I already owned just to be free of
the DRM. Did that with the entire Infinity engine series, both
Neverwinter Nights, Far Cry 2, Far Cry, etc.

I also keep buying the Witcher games, even though I don't really play
them (Witcher 2 controlled like an elephant on LSD. Witcher was too
clicky and abstract, and more than a bit misogynist. I have Witcher 3,
but I haven't touched it). Mostly this is because I want to see continued
development in RPG, and I think these are good efforts, even if they
don't necessarily appeal to me.

GOG.com is a bit of an enigma. I'm not sure they have a clear 5-year and
25-year plan. I'm not sure they'll even be around in 5 years. What do you
think?

-- 
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 09:43:18 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:

>I guess the logic behind this is that players who already bought the
>game on Steam are unlikely to buy it again on GOG, so GOG.Com isn't
>risking sales while at the same time increasing the visibility of
>their own digital storefront and earning customer goodwill. The thing
>is, I /have/ often re-purchased games on GOG just because I like the
>whole "no DRM" thing. This isn't just a philosophical decision either;
>I like having the GOG version so I can install it on my laptop and not
>having to worry about whether Steam will allow me to play or not just
>because I don't have an internet connection at the moment. I've
>repurchased games on GOG that I already own on Steam just for this
>purpose.  GOG Connect means I don't have to do that anymore, which is
>great for me but means less cash for GOG.com

Just to clarify something here, you will need a working internet
connection to download and install a Steam game but if the game itself
is a single player game, it should work fine without an internet
connection once it is installed.

Spalls Hurgenson  <spallsh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>So as a customer I /love/ the idea of GOG Connect, but financially I
>can't see how it makes sense for the company. 

One of the limiting factors of that the GOG Connect thing is that it's
transient.  It only seems to be offered during the big sales and the
games being given away for free change for each sale.  So it's unlikely
the worse case scenario will happen, that people wanting to buy the
GOG.com version of the game over the Steam version would end up buying
the Steam version because it's cheaper and would still get them the
GOG.com version they want.

Fundamentally though it's not any different than how they just simply
give away free games from time to time.  In retrospect the money I spent
buying Neverwinter Nights Diamond on GOG.com a few years ago was wasted,
because they just gave it away for free and I've never gotten around to
playing it yet.  Sure, maybe this only encourages me to not buy games
and wait for them be given away for free, but I'm not the one they're
targetting this at.  The hope is that the free give aways will get more
people visting the site, more people using GOG.com and ultimately more
people buying games from them.  EA and Ubisoft do the same thing to
promote Origin and UPlay.  Even Valve has given away games to promote
Steam, as my copies of Portal and Left 4 Dead 2 can attest.

The biggest advantage of feature though is one that you didn't mention.
Having the games that you already own added your GOG account means that
you don't have to buy them again to take advantage of a bundle that
includes them.  This probably will result in me buying some bundle that
I otherwise wouldn't.

(Ironically, it kind of already has, except it was on Steam. They now
have a few bundles that work the same way GOG's does, and I was able
to get a free Steam copy of Borderlands from 2K Games because I had
the retail boxed version which used the now defunct GameSpy service.
I also have Borderlands 2 which meant I was able to buy the "Borderlands
Triple Pack" and get Borderlands: The Pre-sequel for less than it would
have cost to buy it unbundled.)

					Ross Ridge

-- 
 l/  //	  Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo]  rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/  http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/ 
 db  //	  

Zaghadka  <zagh...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I think it's pretty half-baked, too. I have already comitted to using the
>Steam launcher. Why would I want to use GOG's clunky installers? It is
>nice that all their releases still appear in my Games Explorer, though.

Well, that's fine.  Either you take advantage of their offer or you don't.
If you don't then it's cost them nothing.  If you do then maybe you'll
see an advantage of having the GOG.com version over the Steam version
(eg. a version that you can just copy to any PC you want, maybe not
even your own PC, without having to install anything else or sign in.)
Probably not, but anyone they can steal away from Steam like this is a
big victory.

>GOG.com is a bit of an enigma. I'm not sure they have a clear 5-year and
>25-year plan. I'm not sure they'll even be around in 5 years. What do you
>think?

GOG.come is probably in second place to Steam in the PC download market
and while that would be a distant second, I don't think they're going away
anytime soon.  It's not hugely profitable (about $1.2M on $17M revenue
for the first half of 2016 according to their financial statements),
but CD Projekt is sitting on about $130M in cash without any loans so
there's no financial pressure.

For what its worth, here's what they've released publically about their
5 year plan (as of the start of this year, so its a bit out of date)
for GOG.com:

	2016

	- Release of a AAA game developed by an unaffiliated entity
	  with full support for GOG Galaxy, concurrent with its global
	  release date.
	- Expansion of GOG Galaxy with new features and networking
	  technologies required by new CD PROJEKT RED products.
	- Support for pricing and payments in additional currencies and
	  new language localizations of the GOG.com platform.
	- Ongoing support for the "early access" mechanism introduced in
	  early 2016, important from the point of view of the platform's
	  ability to expand its catalogue with new games

	Later years (2017-2021)

	- Additional global releases of major videogames developed by
	  unaffiliated entities with full support for GOG Galaxy.
	- Technological support for new CD PROJEKT RED development
	  projects, including customized solutions for multiplayer gaming
	  and other online features.
	- Rollout of additional language localizations of the GOG.com
	  platform

https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/capital-group/strategy/
	
(And seriously, do you actually think Valve has a 5 year plan anything
like this?  Or are you assuming Half Life 2: Episode 3 is on the 25
year plan?)

					Ross Ridge

-- 
 l/  //	  Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo]  rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/  http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/ 
 db  //	  

Mike S.  <Mik...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>Just to clarify something here, you will need a working internet
>connection to download and install a Steam game but if the game itself
>is a single player game, it should work fine without an internet
>connection once it is installed.

In practice it doesn't seem to work all that well, based on the complaints
I've heard.  In particular you've missed one step that's required for
it to work at all.  You need to play the game once while logged into
Steam's servers for it work in offline mode.

						Ross Ridge

-- 
 l/  //	  Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo]  rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/  http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/ 
 db  //	  

On Mon, 5 Dec 2016 21:34:54 +0000 (UTC), rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

>In practice it doesn't seem to work all that well, based on the complaints
>I've heard.  In particular you've missed one step that's required for
>it to work at all.  You need to play the game once while logged into
>Steam's servers for it work in offline mode.
>
>						Ross Ridge

I was unaware of this. But if I am going to install a game from Steam,
I am probably going to run it at least once anyway right away.

Also, I am not sure why a game would give anyone trouble running it in
offline mode, but if it does, it does. I only have one Steam single
player game installed at the moment but it did seem to work fine when
I cut my internet connection. I'll try others just for my own
curiosity whenever I install them.