I dunno, sounds like something worth making a bleat about instead of shoving into a dark corner of the blog, seeing as I noticed this from a fourth party website. (A different forum.)

Why not put a link up?
https://www.gamespress.com/en-US/GOG-Joins-European-Federation-of-Game-Archives-Museums-and-Preservatio

Thanks for the link.

But how was GOG able to join?

The article says from Maciej Gołębiewski, Managing Director at GOG:

“GOG was created with video game preservation in mind”

It wasn't GOG was created to make older games work on newer systems. If that was true then we would of had original images made avaliable since GOG was created, and GOG would not be deleting files original files from ScummVM and other third party things so they don't run on original systems or DOSBox and you HAVE to use ScummVM.

The atricle goes on to say from the writer:

"The program’s launch received overwhelmingly positive feedback"

Did it? Alot of people including myself since GOG added unnecessary changes to Dragon Age Origins (along with other games) which broke the game for many people myself included then had to re-fix them and still have unnecessary changes made to Dragon Age Origins (the 4GB patch) which is not recommended to randomly add as not every system will need it.

Edit: Also they need to remove the Limited the game to 2 CPU cores thing from Dragon Age as that was was is what broke the game from me. FYI i've reverted back to before GOG 'fixed' it and I don't have their latest version installed, and back to working fine.

The article says from Maciej Gołębiewski, Managing Director at GOG:

“As a European company, we feel a responsibility to lead in preserving gaming heritage."

So then do that and add original versions of things and STOP adding things such as the 4GB patches to games which are undeeded and break the game for systems that might be running that game from your version on systms that do not need it, aklso STOP deleting files from games such as ScummVM games that have original .exes deleted so you cannot run them on DOSBox or older systems, and have to use ScummVM.

Sorry for the rant but the whole thing of them joing the European Federation of Game Archives, Museums and Preservation Projects (EFGAMP) is just absolute BS and to me makes the EFGAMP a joke.

And whilst i'm editing i'll add this note here I was very into updates but thanks to GOG's 'Preservation Program' I don't trust GOG's updates and don't update unless it adds something that I have encountered or am missing.

Chopping out multiplayer is also not preservation.

could be worse. you could be using steam and expecting their support to to actually care.

Did my sarcastic quip about "some dark corner of a blog" not resonate loudly enough?

Unfortunately this article doesn't provide sources, but most of the non-scrutinising world did. Media outlets, videomakers/streamers, etc provided surface level approval of the premise alone, mostly repeating the GOG declaration that "games will live forever" and "your gaming legacy is always in your hands." Most of the comments in these sorts of YouTube videos tend to reiterate approval of that message; "no DRM good!." So that's how the article can make such a claim. As you can imagine, with a little reading between the lines you get the real answer... it appears "overwhelming positively" when searching google for the GOG preservation programme, returning only the same regurgitated tripe.
Considering that it followed events of last year like the changes to the Californian digital licensing laws in October, it was bound to be received positively with little inspection of the finer details. At face value it seems well received, but perhaps a little less than this exaggerated article claims. I'd say that you and your fellows are in the minority of players, or anyone who frequents this dark corner. The vigilant and knowledgable RoboPond's and AB2012's of the world are in a saddeningly short supply.

The 4GB patch is a net positive even on older systems, it *can't* possibly make the game run worse (the 2 CPU cores limit is the real culprit of that) and it's really helpful if you plan to mod the game since that takes one step away from the process

And about the missing .exes (God, are some of you consumed by that lol) again, the point of preserving games is to make them run on modern systems out of the box, not on DOSBox, if you want to go the extra mile that's on you

"Preserving gaming heritage" doesn't mean "making sure games run on their original systems", just HOW can you come to that conclusion?

It's the reality of thing. Even ZP has to remove MP on some games.

The 4GB patch might not make the game worse, but it should be optional as its unnecessary (I run the game on Windows 10 & 11 without it and with loads of mods, and its fine for me) 4GB is really only needed it you use alot of mods other than that the game isn't really going to benefit from it.

Yes 2 CPUs is the real thing that GOG should remove, and as I editied to say that was what caused by game to stop working but things like the 2 CPU and 4 GBs should be optional as everyone runs a different system.

And also:

"Preserving gaming heritage" doesn't mean "making sure games run on their original systems", just HOW can you come to that conclusion?

Because the very definition of 'Preserving' means that:

Preserve:

maintain (something) in its original or existing state.
"all records of the past were zealously preserved"

The very definition of the word is something that GOG is not and has never done, so to even suggest they are now is ludacris.

The original version should always become archived in a unaltered condition. A new version which will be running on modern systems should as well be available in a updated version, of course. So, both versions are needed for a "true preservation". Somehow GOG does not take it fully serious, with some exceptions as usual.

Yes, the old Soul Reavers for example will not run on my modern PC, yet i still keep the old "original files" on my HDD, as a backup and preservation of the source.

Doom 1+2 was a good example how it was done well... i guess every possible version was included. Unfortunately, it does not count for every classic-game.

There's 0 logical reason to keep two different builds, one with the 4GB patch and one without it, when it doesn't affect *anything* in a negative way, also some games do run better with a 4GB patch regardless of mods (like Fallout New Vegas)

And the games are being preserved, to work on modern systems that is. You're stretching the definition there to include "systems" when that's not what's being preserved, you're getting the same game, the same *software* to play out of the box on modern systems.

Preservation obviously means something different to you and me, to you GOG are doing it and to me they are not.

I'm not going to comment any more on it as we will never agree, and I don't want to clutter up the forum anymore. Enjoy the rest of your night.

Given the choice, I would rather have the multiplayer removed than getting DRMed features in the games I buy. Even DRMed features I did not plan to use in the first place.