iamthetotFeb 23

"Game preservation only works if people care" As GOG doubles down on its commitment to saving old games, it's asking players "who give a s**t" to support its crusade

https://piefed.ca/c/games/p/545818/game-preservation-only-works-if-people-care-as-gog-doubles-down-on-its-commitment-to-saving

"Game preservation only works if people care" As GOG doubles down on its commitment to saving old games, it's asking players "who give a s**t" to support its crusade

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Show threadKiwiTBFeb 23
Seems the new GOG owner doesn’t care as they push AI use in the company
Show threadcircuitfarmerFeb 23
Something tells me the “double down” is to distract from that fallout
Show threadKiwiTBFeb 23
I suspect so… But not everyone knows so it’s still worth mentioning.
Show threadampersandrewFeb 23
I know it, but I’m not sure why one would affect the other. I still get DRM free games on GOG that I’m not going to find on itch.io or elsewhere.
Show threadcircuitfarmerFeb 23
Because supporting GOG now means supporting unfettered AI usage. If you disagree with such policies, the only way to voice that discontent is with your wallet.
Show threadampersandrewFeb 23
I suppose so, but even if that bothered me, it would still mean I’m not owning the games I buy when I shop elsewhere.
Show threadcircuitfarmerFeb 23

Depends on the game. As I mentioned in another thread, there are many games on Steam which are DRM-free and do not require the client. GOG’s advertising suggests they are the only method for getting such games, but as always, the devil is in the details.

Mostly it comes down to how much you feel about one issue over the other, but I don’t see how they can be unrelated if there’s a monetary transaction involved.

The big list of DRM-free games on Steam - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

Show threadampersandrewFeb 23
Considering games with no DRM can have it added retroactively, that Steam pushes updates I may not want with no option to decline, and that that wiki can’t even load in its entirety without erroring out for me and comes down to user submitted data, GOG’s DRM free promise is more than just advertising.
Show threadcircuitfarmerFeb 23
Maybe. If you trust them, though now… I don’t.
Show threadampersandrewFeb 23
The reason why this doesn’t concern me at all is that the very nature of the business they run means that I explicitly don’t have to trust them.
Show threadcircuitfarmerFeb 23
Does it? What recourse do you have if they change their policy and you don’t have local backups of your games?
Show threadampersandrewFeb 23
Undoing DRM-free quickly enough that I couldn’t download my remaining installers would be speedrunning the failure of a company faster than Unity, but other than that, they can’t take away what I and others have already downloaded.
Show threadcircuitfarmerFeb 23
Neither can Steam. Then the difference is down to those games on Steam which are not DRM-free.
Show threadampersandrew
The difference is that even with the convenience of a launcher, I can decline an update that would undo DRM-free rather than manually copying every vetted DRM-free game on Steam to another directory every time there’s a patch. And that’s only to entertain this apocalyptic what-if that would never happen because it would trigger false advertising law suits that would instantly destroy the company.
Feb 23 at 11:42pmWeb
Show threadcircuitfarmerFeb 23

I leave my Steam update settings to only update on Play. This allows me to pretty easily review what is being patched in to any particular game and choose when to apply it.

It’s also trivial on Linux to keep the Proton prefixes and game installs backed up automatically. This has the added benefit of making all game installs portable.

Unfortunately GOG still has no official Linux client, though there are workarounds. The “apocalyptic scenario” would ultimately kill either company, so you’re right to think it is moot.