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Does purchasing a game on GOG.com really grants ownership of the game and not a license to use it? (fedia.io)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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[–] 74 points 7 months ago (72 children)

What it grants you is the ability to download and install the game as you see fit with no DRM software getting in the way. You don't even have to use their launcher if you don't want.

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  • [–] 58 points 7 months ago* (9 children)

    Steam allows DRM and even offers its own. You also can't download anything without the launcher, even if the game is DRM-free.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    GOG also allows DRM, it's just not as common

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Can you please elaborate on and define what DRM is "allowed" on GOG? From my most recent understanding, you can still play offline and don't need to use the GOG launcher or some other launcher that requires an Internet connection.

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)
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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I get and respect that people have different places where they draw lines. But to me, it doesn't seem like they are abandoning the concept of DRM free in any real way. The majority of these have small bits of extra content, often cosmetic, like twitch drops that need the software to be online to redeem/verify.

    For the few games on that list that are actually unplayable or crippled in some way, I am disappointed. For additional free or giveaway content from the developer that is part of the original package distributed through GOG, I'm much more understanding of GOG if the developer failed to accommodate offline verification/unlocking of that content.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Agreed, but an important thing to note is that list of games is smaller than a couple years ago, and I believe many of the ones that were removed because the DRM was removed are listed at the end. A couple of those were just mistaken releases, but several were allowed on GOG by CDPR with DRM fully intact, most notably Hitman 1 with an always-online requirement, and several others had DRM fully intact and were removed only when enough people complained. My point isn't and never was "GOG is bad too, actually"; GOG remains the first place I look when I'm looking for a game, and I install it with the offline installer, which gets archived on the NAS once I've established it works and I reinstall the game with Galaxy because cloud saves and auto updates are convenient. My point was that, while ABSOLUTELY a rarer occurence than on Steam, GOG officially DOES allow DRM for single player games, and it's only vigilant complaints that keep that list small

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  • [–] 13 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    You can only download steam games from the steam app. You can download gog games from the site, without using their galaxy app

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    That is a fair distinction, but once it’s downloaded and installed they are effectively identical.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Some steam games might still have the steampi and steamworks dll's, so that's still 2 bits that need to be deleted before they're effectively identical.

    Having the installers can be important, not every game may work out of the box if you only copy the installed folder to a different machine, some important configurations that are set up in different folders, like in %appdata%, might be missing. Steam checks if DirectX and the proper MSVC versions are installed, I suppose the GOG installers do that as well.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago*

    According to the websites, you’re able to move it, and it provides those instructions on how to deal with those minor issues.

    So in the end, following dev instructions, they will be the same in the end.

    Edit Like so

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  • [–] 18 points 7 months ago (12 children)

    oh? how?

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (11 children)

    The exact same way as gog, download the files to your pc.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (10 children)

    huh? that's not even what gog sells itself on. gog offers offline installers. steam takes care of installation itself. you can't download a game from steam, put it on a usb drive, give it to someone else, and have confidence that they will be able to run it.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago* (7 children)

    That’s not true at all…

    Where are you getting your information from?

    Why do you need an installer when the files are its own folder?

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Installers deal with more than just unpacking files into a folder. There are often prerequisite shared libraries that are included in the installer that AREN'T in the game directory, which may or may not need to be installed along with the game depending on if your system already has it.

    So just double-clicking the .exe after copying the folder to a new computer is not reliable in the same way GOG's installers are.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (5 children)

    steam. note that i said "a game", not "a drm-free game".

    🤨 1
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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago* (4 children)

    And we’re talking about drm free games, which GoG only provides, which means it’s also drm free on Steam…. Steam provides OTHER games that of course have drm.

    Of course Steam has its own drm, I never said they didn’t. The picture also talks about this as well… did you not read it?

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    we are not. you are. the starter of this comment chain noted that gog guarantees, as part of their offer, that the games you download are drm-free. steam does not. your reply to that said nothing about drm, leading us all to the conclusion that you were saying "you can download files for games on steam just like you can on gog", rather than what you were apparently saying, which was that "for the games on steam that do not have drm you can download files just like you can with all games on gog".

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  • [–] 22 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    Steam's primary function since day 1 is literally DRM, you have no clue what you are talking about. Steam offers features like offline play but there's console-like caveats there forcing periodic logins and launcher usage.

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    yes there are drm-free games on steam. this does not disprove their point. steam's first role was as drm for half life 2. steam stops working if you don't log in periodically.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (3 children)

    ???? ??? ??????

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (2 children)

    If you’re buying a game on GoG, it’s because it’s drm free. Which means it’s also drm free on Steam. So anyone looking at those games, would understand the context that we’re talking about the same type of games.

    FIFA isn’t available of GoG, so of course we wouldn’t be talking about the same thing on Steam. You’re making massive assumptions dude. The talk has always been about drm free games, no one changed the topic.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago*

    The threads content…? The ones that are ONLY about drm free games? Except yours alone?

    You fucked up and are directing it, most other people get it, but now you double down, that won’t make it worse lol. Your provided false information, lied, provide no proof of your claims. I’m done now, you aren’t even discussing in good faith, and I’ve been patient and provided my sources to back my claims up. You can’t even be arsed to do the same.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    GOG lets you download installers for all your games that you can back up somewhere so that you can install and run their DRM free games without GOG or even an internet connection. It’s like back when games came on cd/dvd.

    Steam is DRM so in most cases you can’t launch any of your games without the Steam client. Steam does sell some games that are DRM free on Steam, but you still need the Steam client to install them.

    So the difference here is that you can use GOG to build your own library of DRM free games that don’t need GOG at all. if GOG ceased to exist, you can still install and play all your games on any device you want.

    If Steam ceased to exist, you’d have no way to install your games on any device so you’d only be able to play the games you currently have installed, and only if they’re DRM Free.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (28 children)

    So does GOG dude…

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago (9 children)
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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    Section 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. You have the personal right to use GOG content and services. This right can be suspended or stopped by us in some situations.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    1.3 Also, when we're talking about games, in-game content, virtual items or currency or GOG videos or other content or services which you can purchase or access via GOG services, we’ll just call them “GOG games” or “GOG videos” respectively and when we talk about them all together they are “GOG content”.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Their user agreement doesn't claim they can remove files from your computer. If your account gets suspended you no longer have access to the game you paid for unless you have previously downloaded and stored it.

    I bought Witcher 3 on GOG, but I don't currently have it saved anywhere. If GOG suspends my account, I can no longer access the content I paid for

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Their user agreement doesn’t claim they can remove files from your computer.

    Then GOG must be restricting access only to the service itself, not to your property, despite what the text says.

    If GOG suspends my account, I can no longer access the content I paid for

    You still own the copy of the game; it's hardly GOG's fault if you lost or destroyed it.

    Expecting to have continued access to re-download indefinitely is like buying a physical book from a brick-and-mortar store, throwing it in the trash, and then expecting to be allowed to swing back by the place later to grab another copy off the shelf. Sure, it'd be nice if the store let you do that, but it would be silly to claim that not letting you do it somehow meant you never owned your copy of the book.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (16 children)

    https://programming.dev/comment/23071365

    This isn’t quite right. You do not own the game, you are purchasing a non-transferable license, bound to you:

    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.

    3.3 Your GOG account and GOG content are personal to you and cannot be shared with, sold, gifted or transferred to anyone else.

    It’s simply a boon that they entitle you to download DRM-free binaries but technically, if that license is revoked by GOG, you are not legally entitled to use or store that binary anymore. Practically, however, is a different story.

    Source

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (13 children)

    No they aren't. Both mean that you don't own the game.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago* (11 children)

    Since when is a license owning the game?

    It’s right there, unless you make up new terms or ignore the established legal terms.

    They don’t offer games to buy, only licenses, so how can you ever own the game…?

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (4 children)

    Your consideration is being able to access the game.

    Edit: I brain farted, and think I mixed up terms. Aleatory contracts are still valid, the issuers just have to withstand higher scrutiny if challenged.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    And these are the terms of use for that purchase. If I sign a contract with a party magician for them to come and perform, and then violate the terms of the contract, they can stop providing their services without being in breach of contract. If those terms include that you don’t later publish videos of them on social media and then you do, you open yourself up to being sued, even though after the service has been provided you are no longer receiving an active benefit.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (1 child)

    And these are the terms of use for that purchase.

    That sequence of words is literally nonsense. There is no such thing as "terms of use for that purchase;" it is simply not a concept that exists.

    What part of the Doctrine of First Sale do you not understand?

    If I sign a contract with a party magician for them to come and perform, and then violate the terms of the contract, they can stop providing their services without being in breach of contract.

    We're talking about goods here, not services. A magician is providing a service, not a good, and is therefore irrelevant.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 child)

    There is no meaningful difference between a disc-based game

    Uhh… you can resell a disc based one, doing it do a downloaded one wheter still under license or not, is all hells kind of illegal. Because one’s a license, which can usually never be sold or transferred, but each specific contract you agree to specifies this. There’s also plenty of precedence for this, so don’t even bother trying to bloviate down that alley, it’s a dead end, sorry. We know your angle and game.

    You can’t even rip the disc and then try and sell that, so no, they aren’t the same thing at all, and your trying to claim they are just shows how dumb and ignorant on this matter you are.

    You really have no idea why you’re talking about, you’re using terms incorrectly and are ignoring your own examples.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    You could just go down the thread to see the links….

    DRM free games are movable, that fits your rant yeah?

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