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General discussion (archive)Compete with steam? because im ready to try something else.(40 posts)(40 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 23, 2014
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marianne: I use GOG and Steam, altho the majority of my games come from GOG and are DRM-free. I prefer GOG's friendly forums and their excellent CS. However, I like AA and AAA titles and use Steam mostly for that.
Is it possible for GOG to have its DRM-free and also have a non-DRM-free section to entice Devs, either away from Steam or use GOG and Steam ? I'm not as knowledgeable as others re all this, but I'd sure like GOG to be able to do both.
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JudasIscariot: If we had a non-DRM Free section then advertising that we ensure that all of our games are DRM Free would be kind of pointless, imho :)
It would also cause more of an uproar than the regional price fiasco a bit ago. And it would literally end the DRM-free revolution. Both are points that should never be forgotten, by everyone at GOG, as well as it's customers.
Posted March 23, 2014
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amok: A good place to start may be the developers who sell via Humble Widget - http://calvein.github.io/humble-games/table.html

For any other, it is a matter of finding out the games and searching out the different websites for the games/developers you are interested. It is a shame that there is no collection like the Humble Widgets for games that use, for example, BTMicro.
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marianne: I used your link and what a great site. It's a new one to me...thought I knew them all. I bookmarked it. Right now I'm playing Pathologic and finishing up on Bioshock Infinite and Penumbra Overture. Loved Miasmata.
By BTMicro, do you mean stereo system or cassette ?
BTMicro is a payment processor :)
Posted March 23, 2014
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marianne: I used your link and what a great site. It's a new one to me...thought I knew them all. I bookmarked it. Right now I'm playing Pathologic and finishing up on Bioshock Infinite and Penumbra Overture. Loved Miasmata.
By BTMicro, do you mean stereo system or cassette ?
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JudasIscariot: BTMicro is a payment processor :)
Do I understand this correctly...It's a payment source for people/vendors selling and/or buying software ?
Posted March 23, 2014
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JudasIscariot: BTMicro is a payment processor :)
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marianne: Do I understand this correctly...It's a payment source for people/vendors selling and/or buying software ?
Basically, yes :)
Posted March 23, 2014
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marianne: Do I understand this correctly...It's a payment source for people/vendors selling and/or buying software ?
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JudasIscariot: Basically, yes :)
Thank you. I googled it. :D
Posted March 27, 2014
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Trilarion: Triple a is only possible if the big publishers agree to bring them DRM free here. I doubt that.

For example Civilizaiton 5 was only available via Steam and it runs there without big problems. But they never bothered to publish it without Steam. So I finally caved in and bought it there because I really wanted to play it.

Similarly GTA5 will probably not be available DRM free. Age of Wonders is already here and Dark Souls 2? Don't know.
It actually wouldn't surprise me if people who buy GTA5 have to travel directly to Rockstar's headquarters to play the game, and when they leave, they are ran through a machine that brainwashes all of the neurally recorded intellectual property from their brain, and only then after signing 300 10 page forms in triplicate and giving half of their blood as collateral.

On the upside, it wont be using Games For Windows Dead DRM. :)
Posted March 28, 2014
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Gandos: But anyway, it's not just up to the willingness of the publishers/developers; GOG too will need to continue to evolve and expand its service if it wants to get more of them on board. The two things that I would regard as the biggest priorities in that regard would be:

1. a better update system. One of the reasons both customers and developers like Steam is because it simplifies updating of games, which is a big deal when it comes newer games. If GOG wants to get more newer games on the service and close to release/on release, they need to create a system that handles updates better than what they currently have. An optional client or an improved GOG Downloader would help in this regard.

2. some sort of multiplayer API. One reason for Steam's success that often goes unstated is the fact that it makes it easier for developers to intergrate multiplayer features into their games. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that multiplayer games are pretty much Steam's bread and butter. And given that such games are very popular, it's important for GOG to provide some sort of support in this area if it wants to expand its customer base and be more attractive to publishers/developers. I'm not saying that setting something like that up would be easy or cheap, but I do think it's necessary to ensure GOG's further growth.
I agree with you on both counts.

In the second case though, I think was is really needed is a standard vendor neutral API, possibly presided over by sizable interested parties with some pull to make it happen.

Otherwise, it's just a repetition age-old debacle we've been treated so many times with hardware, vendor specific OSes, vendor specific programming languages and many other lower level offerings where everyone involved in the higher layers (from application developer to end-user) gets screwed over by various vendors' imperialistic desire to forcefully capture the market.
Post edited March 28, 2014 by Magnitus
Posted March 28, 2014
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Gandos: ...The two things that I would regard as the biggest priorities in that regard would be:

1. a better update system. One of the reasons both customers and developers like Steam is because it simplifies updating of games, which is a big deal when it comes newer games. If GOG wants to get more newer games on the service and close to release/on release, they need to create a system that handles updates better than what they currently have. An optional client or an improved GOG Downloader would help in this regard.

2. some sort of multiplayer API. One reason for Steam's success that often goes unstated is the fact that it makes it easier for developers to intergrate multiplayer features into their games. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that multiplayer games are pretty much Steam's bread and butter. And given that such games are very popular, it's important for GOG to provide some sort of support in this area if it wants to expand its customer base and be more attractive to publishers/developers. I'm not saying that setting something like that up would be easy or cheap, but I do think it's necessary to ensure GOG's further growth.
...
I couldn't agree more. This should be top priorities for GOG.

On the other side it still might not be enough to persuade the big publishers to come here with their big games. Maybe they just really prefer DRM. In that case GOG very probably cannot do anything and will be excluded from a considerable part of the video games market.

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marianne: I use GOG and Steam, altho the majority of my games come from GOG and are DRM-free. I prefer GOG's friendly forums and their excellent CS. However, I like AA and AAA titles and use Steam mostly for that.
Is it possible for GOG to have its DRM-free and also have a non-DRM-free section to entice Devs, either away from Steam or use GOG and Steam ? I'm not as knowledgeable as others re all this, but I'd sure like GOG to be able to do both.
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JudasIscariot: If we had a non-DRM Free section then advertising that we ensure that all of our games are DRM Free would be kind of pointless, imho :)
CDP, mother company of GOG, could just create another daughter which then has the DRMed section. That way you could still advertise DRM free.

For all we know it could already be the case that some of the owners of GOG (the shareholders of CDP) are also owners of Steam/Valve/EA/Microsoft/.... Because the shares of CDP are publicly traded that might be possible. And then what is the difference if the owners are the same or if the mother company is the same or even if everything takes place under the same umbrella company? ...
Post edited March 28, 2014 by Trilarion
Posted March 28, 2014
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Pheace: If it's indie games the developers often sell a DRM-free version + Steam key on their own site.
Indeed, and it might be worth GOG picking up the ball that Humble Store so infamously dropped. Now that Humble Store has become Yet Another Glorified Steam Key Reseller™, GOG could fill their gap and theoretically make Steam keys optional and DRM-free mandatory.

I personally wouldn't see anything wrong with them offering Steam keys - people have argued that it drives people to Steam, but when Steam is offering only a Steam version and another platform both Steam and DRM-free versions, the choice should be a no-brainer.
Posted March 28, 2014
IMO if one wants Steam keys they can go to Steam for them. We don't need to tether everything to the DRM mothership.
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General discussion (archive)Compete with steam? because im ready to try something else.(40 posts)(40 posts)
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