rodrigolfp
Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
It's not about what I need. It's about what I want and can do.
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Steam now tells gamers up front that they're buying a license, not a game
sainraja
Member
Older games on GOG obviously won't come with all the features that those games launched with (GOG stands for 'Good Old Games' and when they started, that was their entire identity) and why are we turning this into a GOG vs Steam thing?
GOG's entire existence is about being DRM free. It is like their mission. Steams isn't and it wasn't built for that so just because you are able play some games without DRM, does not change that (specially if you have to follow a specific way to avoid the DRM aspect).
Multiplayer games aren't usually the ones being questioned in discussions like this. Most people understand that those games won't be available forever.
And the point wasn't lost on me, and again, I said this in the first post you responded, the disclosure on Steam is simply requiring them to be more transparent. It hasn't changed anything and even if GOG allows us to download game installers to manage on our own, does not mean we get more rights to those games compared to steam in terms of ownership. The difference is, GOG is choosing to put their trust in us, not to do it, vs steam, which has measures in place to prevent us from doing it. That is what they [steam] offer to publishers willing to put their games there, also why not every game is available on GOG.
So going back to my main point, if you really care about this stuff, and this new disclosure has perhaps made it clearer, then we've still got GOG.
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Sentenza
Member
More specifically GOG *used* to be the acronym of GOOD OLD GAMES at the beginning, but it isn't anymore.
They changed the name of the company (a subsidiary of CD Projekt, for the few people still unaware of it) from "Good Old Games" in a more generic "GOG" *exactly* because they gave up on the idea of focusing specifically on older games and started to include day-one releases barely two-three years after the service started.
I know and remember because I was there from the beginning and I watched every step of this happen.
I am... not?
The second half of my very same post you quoted isn't even about GOG at all.
SweetTooth
Gold Member
We hate Steam now?
pudel
Member
I mean I bought the license to use a certain software. If Steam shuts down, I would guess they could provide me with a "final" functional copy of this certain software (similiar to GOG)....because I still want to use this software and I principally dont need Steam for it.
sainraja
Member
I was addressing your point of why certain games didn't launch with all the features. I don't know of any modern games launching on GOG that have features missing and if they do, specially from an online perspective, it is likely due to the fact of how games are distributed on GOG. And, if they have kept GOG as the name, it likely still means Good Old Games.
Well, it looked like that to me and I have edited my post to address the second half.
hinch7
Member
In the age of Netflix, Disney, Spotify and digital stores from Google/Apple etc.. I find that very hard to believe.
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DryvBy
Member
Have you talked to other people before? People still think mail-in rebates will make their product free.
hinch7
Member
Yes dumb people exist. But people have been buying and renting digital goods for decades. Even the less tech savvy and the average Joe would have picked it up by now.
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Senua
Gold Member
Speak for yourself
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I'm pretty sure that is duplicate and sell, not selling the copy you own.
We don't even buy it from the publisher either, the retailer does and then sells it to you.
Bojji
Gold Member
More like result of no disc drives standard. No one had BD drives and games were too big to fit on DVD. Digital future happened much faster on PC but it's also much better than one master company hegemony like on consoles.
MacReady13
Member
BUY PHYSICAL!
TheContact
Member
this is the downside to digital content. Amazon kindle books you purchased can be revoked at their will. Self driving cars that can be disabled without your consent…hmm
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TheAssist
Member
Is it too late to say that car companies are already selling you access to for example matrix LED lights despite the lights already being installed from the factory. Pretty much the same thing, you just buy a lcense to use certain features of the car, like nav, autopilot, advanced headlights, etc.Just wondering why not every other company/industry is doing this "license" trick. You can do it basically with every other product as well. "Sorry bro, you didnt buy that car! You just bought a license to use it!" And when everything is connected to the Internet nowadays....it would be even super easy to shut these products off at any given time.
Bonfires Down
Member
Yes, that’s cute and all. On the other hand a ton of console games would be unplayable without PCs unless someone was inclined to mess with ancient hardware and pay hundreds for used physical copies.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
The language they use own there talks about "buying" and "ownership", so you could reasonably construe it to mean that you own the game, whatever the publishers' intent might be.
But I hate when people get so wrapped up in the legal mumbo jumbo - the reason that GOG is meaningfully different is because *functionally* - not just legally - you have a copy of the game that you can backup or do whatever you want with, without any restrictions. Laws around copyright and digital ownership can and almost certainly will change and could render all of the current thinking around this moot, but at the end of the day, it's having a product that you control that matters.
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poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
You can continue paying for a storage locker for your VHS collection - I'll continue spending the money I save from not doing that on building my Steam library. The bastards got $0.75 out of me just last night for Portal 2.
Melon Husk
Member
I'm for it. Instead of "Buy" say "Buy license" if you're not providing an offline installer.
rodrigolfp
Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
There are infinite numbers between 8 and 80.
Guilty_AI
Gold Member
Nope, its explicitly about resale or transferring the license in any fashion. Someone posted a pic of it earlier in this thread, and you can find it on PS's website in certain countries like portugal and the UK:
But like i said, this isn't enforceable and people will do it anyway. Probably wouldn't stand in court either.
AeonGaidenRaiden
Member
And get a useless box with most games not being able to run without a day 1 patch or mandatory 60gb extra level textures? We have been digital for 10 years now, half the games on disc are just a part-time storage device thats incomplete without an internet connection. Unlike people playing 30+ years later Super Mario bros, Im pretty sure in 20 years you wont be able to download any of those required patches and updates from the PS4, onwards. They will just be useless boxes.
Solarstrike
Member
I bet Gaben is a trillionaire.
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Guilty_AI
Gold Member
Buggy Loop
Member
All those GOG comments ..
their own terms of service are no different:
2.1 We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'license') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This license is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this license in some situations, which are explained later on.
Legally what GOG is selling is the same as Steam: a license, not ownership, and one that GOG reserves the right to revoke.
You might have a local copy, but realistically, how many here with steam accounts would have the space to back their library if the option was given now? Hell some games on steam are entirely DRM free to the point you can have the game on an USB key and go play at a friend’s house with no steam account. Did anyone bother to back those? I would guess not.
Worse that happens if they would pull the plug (again, fear mongering, why would that happen), there’s always the high seas.
their own terms of service are no different:
2.1 We give you and other GOG users the personal right (known legally as a 'license') to use GOG services and to download, access and/or stream (depending on the content) and use GOG content. This license is for your personal use. We can stop or suspend this license in some situations, which are explained later on.
Legally what GOG is selling is the same as Steam: a license, not ownership, and one that GOG reserves the right to revoke.
You might have a local copy, but realistically, how many here with steam accounts would have the space to back their library if the option was given now? Hell some games on steam are entirely DRM free to the point you can have the game on an USB key and go play at a friend’s house with no steam account. Did anyone bother to back those? I would guess not.
Worse that happens if they would pull the plug (again, fear mongering, why would that happen), there’s always the high seas.
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Guardian Monkey
Member
The only company really worrying is Nintendo. As they give fuck all about digital ownership. Steam being the most secure in my opinion as they have redundancies and are the largest. GOG isn't the ultimate solution, what happens if GOG goes down in ten years? How would you get your games. You just going to download them all locally, 
. Microsoft would probably just transfer to cloud rights and Sony isn't going anywhere for awhile. As far as Epic games goes, LOL.
. Microsoft would probably just transfer to cloud rights and Sony isn't going anywhere for awhile. As far as Epic games goes, LOL.
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
It's not enforceable because it conflicts with the sale of goods act which by accepting an agreed sum payment for a physical item the seller must legally transfer ownership to the buyer.
It's one of the things they don't won't you to know like retailers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are legally required to repair or replace an item within six years of purchase if it's faulty or doesn't work as advertised.
But they never tell you that.
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Syphon Filter
Member
the way to do digital is ideally like gog, you get an offline installer so you dont have to rely on anyone's servers.
dmaul1114
Member
All fine by me. It’s been a huge rarity over my nearly 40 years of gaming to replay a game and I’ve never cared about collecting games, owning a game library etc.
I’d go full rental if there were better options, just like I long went full streaming for movies and music. I’m just paying to experience the content until I’m done with it (or bored of it in the case of music
I’d go full rental if there were better options, just like I long went full streaming for movies and music. I’m just paying to experience the content until I’m done with it (or bored of it in the case of music