GOG going back to their roots a little here with the announcement of the GOG Preservation Program, with an aim to ensure various games get to live on forever.
Good on GoG and I do genuinely love most of what they have done.
But the “buy here and you own it” bullshit is a real laugh. It is still just a license that can be revoked at any point. And the “just download it and have it forever” is untenable for larger libraries and… the French Monk Debacle already demonstrated why.
For those not aware, in the first year or so of gog’s existence, they pretended they were shutting down the website and told everyone they had like 48 hours to download everything. People lost their shit, hug of death, etc. CDP immediately apologized and then put a “fun” character in The Witcher 2 that referenced that.
But… that is the reality. If the site goes down, you are only getting a fraction of your library, if that. And GoG have always been horrible about letting you know when a game is updated if you use the standalone installers. So, regardless, you are pirating shit when the site goes down. Same as Steam.
How else would you do ‘buy to own’ for software, though, that is not downloading and storing it locally?
Every website and service will inevitably go down eventually, hence there is literally nothing else coming to my mind.
I wouldn’t for anything where I don’t 100% own the license and rights in perpetuity.
Because GoG has already lost the right to sell many games (I want to say they lost Interplay two or three times?). And it is a matter of time until a publisher demands a game be fully revoked (which has happened on Steam a handful of times?).
Don’t promise things you can’t deliver on.
As for something where I do own the license and it will last the lifetime of my company? Bare minimum, I would provide a way to be properly notified of whenever an installer is updated. And I wouldn’t have quite so many “secret” serials required for games (like UT or OFP or whatever).
You’re unreasonable. Getting an installer that installs a fully working game is perfectly fine. Where you store your boxes or files is your problem, GoG won’t build a garage for you for your boxes, neither will they send you a data crystal that’ll keep your data integrity for a million years.
Right. So, no software ever, then. Even if you have a license that grants you perpetual usage rights, that doesn’t extend to anyone else shouldering the responsibility of perpetual hosting.
Your right to use software does not give you the right to expect others to store your digital junk for you.
Sell software. But customers need to understand they are being sold a license with terms. That was the big controversy on Steam semi-recently and that will continue to be a big controversy because people always forget because nobody wants to think about it
And yes, I do think providing offline installers is good (it is why I still re-buy games on GoG). But unless people have massive amounts of dedicated storage, they are not going to keep all their games downloaded. AND, because there is rarely a notification of an update, they are going to not even be keeping all their games and will instead have “launch” versions of some.
And, as GoG themselves demonstrated, when the site goes down you aren’t getting all your games out in time.
So… you have a license with terms and you are going to go download some torrents when the service shuts down. So… what is the meaningful difference against a Steam or EGS game (assuming there are no additional DRMs on top)?
Or we can just get angry and yell at each other because someone… said they liked your favorite store? Do I need to say why that is fucking stupid and self defeating?
There are many tools to download all your games (I’ve even created one), you can download your games regularly. Sure, you need the space for it, but you need space for everything you own, be it physical or digital.
Good on GoG and I do genuinely love most of what they have done.
But the “buy here and you own it” bullshit is a real laugh. It is still just a license that can be revoked at any point. And the “just download it and have it forever” is untenable for larger libraries and… the French Monk Debacle already demonstrated why.
For those not aware, in the first year or so of gog’s existence, they pretended they were shutting down the website and told everyone they had like 48 hours to download everything. People lost their shit, hug of death, etc. CDP immediately apologized and then put a “fun” character in The Witcher 2 that referenced that.
But… that is the reality. If the site goes down, you are only getting a fraction of your library, if that. And GoG have always been horrible about letting you know when a game is updated if you use the standalone installers. So, regardless, you are pirating shit when the site goes down. Same as Steam.
How else would you do ‘buy to own’ for software, though, that is not downloading and storing it locally? Every website and service will inevitably go down eventually, hence there is literally nothing else coming to my mind.
I wouldn’t for anything where I don’t 100% own the license and rights in perpetuity.
Because GoG has already lost the right to sell many games (I want to say they lost Interplay two or three times?). And it is a matter of time until a publisher demands a game be fully revoked (which has happened on Steam a handful of times?).
Don’t promise things you can’t deliver on.
As for something where I do own the license and it will last the lifetime of my company? Bare minimum, I would provide a way to be properly notified of whenever an installer is updated. And I wouldn’t have quite so many “secret” serials required for games (like UT or OFP or whatever).
You’re unreasonable. Getting an installer that installs a fully working game is perfectly fine. Where you store your boxes or files is your problem, GoG won’t build a garage for you for your boxes, neither will they send you a data crystal that’ll keep your data integrity for a million years.
Stop shitting on great because it’s not perfect.
Right. So, no software ever, then. Even if you have a license that grants you perpetual usage rights, that doesn’t extend to anyone else shouldering the responsibility of perpetual hosting.
Your right to use software does not give you the right to expect others to store your digital junk for you.
That is not at all what I said.
Sell software. But customers need to understand they are being sold a license with terms. That was the big controversy on Steam semi-recently and that will continue to be a big controversy because people always forget because nobody wants to think about it
And yes, I do think providing offline installers is good (it is why I still re-buy games on GoG). But unless people have massive amounts of dedicated storage, they are not going to keep all their games downloaded. AND, because there is rarely a notification of an update, they are going to not even be keeping all their games and will instead have “launch” versions of some.
And, as GoG themselves demonstrated, when the site goes down you aren’t getting all your games out in time.
So… you have a license with terms and you are going to go download some torrents when the service shuts down. So… what is the meaningful difference against a Steam or EGS game (assuming there are no additional DRMs on top)?
Or we can just get angry and yell at each other because someone… said they liked your favorite store? Do I need to say why that is fucking stupid and self defeating?
Not pluralized. We don’t say “4 managements”
So glad you contributed that.
Also: Be involved with an acquisition or a “pilot program”. You have multiple managements.
What exactly is their alternative supposed to be? You do own it more than with Steam.
There are many tools to download all your games (I’ve even created one), you can download your games regularly. Sure, you need the space for it, but you need space for everything you own, be it physical or digital.