Another advantage of GOG: you're typically launching the game from the desktop, rather than through a launcher that also serves as their storefront. There is far less temptation to acquire new games that you'll never play.
I'm glad GOG is getting some publicity. I much prefer them to Steam. The Steam client has always been clunky to me on all three supported platforms. I also don't like the social aspect. GOG gives me a downloadable game for easy transfer, gives me the ability to log in and re-download, their customer service is superb and it's pretty cheap. Come to think of it, I'd be more than willing to pay over the standard $10 for their games.
Ah I see your point now.
In that sense GOG is a godsend, admittedly as it’s name implies, more for older games. Although they could theoretically lock your access to your library (which as far as I’m aware they haven’t done) you’d at least have access to what you downloaded.
+1 for GOG. I don't play games much anymore, but I still collect some of the older ones I enjoy on GOG knowing that there is no DRM. I tried steam and purchased a few games, but honestly I prefer to just have the game flat out without needing a "client" to get them, so while many people praise Steam... I'll pass.
GOG is much better when it comes to games, although there are a very small number with issues (there is one they sell that is effectively only multiplayer and won't run without anti-cheat software installed). Almost everything works completely offline. The website isn't perfect but not that bad (quite a bit better than Bandcamp) and you can download from the website or use a client.
I've bought many many games on GOG for years because of this. Lately, GOG games come in installers made out of 20 or so parts which take ages to download manually. The only real way to download their games is by using their GOG Galaxy Client. Not that much better than Steam, which on the other hand has fantastic Linux support, while GOG can't be bothered to port their GOG Galaxy client to Linux.
Luckily Lutris allows me to somehow compensate for GOG's lack of interest in Linux, but still, I feel they really do not care about the DRM thing.
Different strokes, I guess. One of the main draws of buying games from GOG instead of Steam, for me, is the fact that I don't need an extra bit of superfluous software just to purchase and launch my games. I have a perfectly good application launcher already, which relies on standard .desktop files.
GOG doesn't focus solely on old games anymore. They sell new games as well but they still focus on good games though. And obviously they remain DRM-free and work with publishers to convince them to release their games without any DRM junk attached, which is praiseworthy.
It's good that they are attempting to compete with Steam more - we need that. But in order to differentiate, it's not enough to make the client optional - they can also open source it to improve trust. That would set them apart from Steam even more.
DRM isn't even worst for me, I can always use a fresh virtual machine for a game and wipe it out afterwards, but constant Internet connection requirement totally kills it, as I don't have time for games often and these rare moments I play something is usually on a laptop when I'm on vacation out of town with no reliable Internet connection. GOG is great, I can buy, own and play a game whenever I want, wherever I want and expect it to be playable many years in future, even when official servers are long dead.
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