Uh, i have this friend who has an account here, and he let me have the account. I downloaded a few games from his account. Is that legal?

It may or may not be legal, depending on the copyright/Fair Use laws in your country, but unless you're in a state of severe economic distress, I'd say it's morally not very right. GOG and CDProjekt are one of the precious few companies out there who are actually trying to do right by their customers. They deserve our support. If you can actually really afford to (by which I mean, not cheaping out), you really should buy the games you got.

I see. But, he doesn't think it's stealing.

Legal? No.

But ultimately it's up to your own conscience. I personally don't see anything wrong with you testing your friend's GOG games on your own PC to check that they work before buying them yourself.

It's definitely against GOG TOS and game EULA.

You may download this game from torrent, it would be the same.

Unless in your country it's legal to borrow computer software to someone else (but when you use his software he can't do it at the same time), but as far as I know, pretty much everywhere it's forbidden.

Indeed, it isn't stealing. It is, however, a breach of the EULAs that he agreed to when he bought the games, and he runs the risk of having his account closed (not that I believe GOG would do that) if he is found to be giving out his account details.

http://www.gog.com/en/support/website_help/downloads_and_games

9. Can I install one game both on my laptop and desktop PC at home?
Yes. We do not limit the number of installations or reinstallations, as long as you install your purchased games on PCs in your household. So yeah, if you've got a render-farm in the basement, you might actually break the world record for the number of legal Fallout installations in one household. However, if you think about installing your game on a friend's PC or sharing it with others then please don't do it, okay?

whi is it so difficult?

9. Can I install one game both on my laptop and desktop PC at home?
Yes. We do not limit the number of installations or reinstallations, as long as you install your purchased games on PCs in your household. So yeah, if you've got a render-farm in the basement, you might actually break the world record for the number of legal Fallout installations in one household. However, if you think about installing your game on a friend's PC or sharing it with others then please don't do it, okay?


When you buy a game here, you can install it on any of your own PC in your household. An Account is bound to one single person. When you access his account to download a game, it is piracy. Fact!

Does this mean that he no longer uses that account?
If both of you use and share the account, then yes, it is agains GOG.com Terms of Service, as already highlighted above.
If he passed on the account to you, so you are now the only one with access to that account, it is another matter, which I am not sure is covered in the Terms of Service.
So, bottom line. Only one person may use a GOG.com account, and I'm not sure if the account ownership can be transferred to someone else.

"Let you have the account" as in "gave the account to you" or "let you log in to download games"? It sounds like the former. Doesn't your friend want his account anymore? Personally, I don't see that as a big problem but strictly speaking gog.com accounts are non-transferable. Whether it is legal really depends on the specific laws in Serbia.

It's definitely not stealing (not in the literal sense of the word) - if anything it might be breach of contract or maybe copyright infringement if he's keeping copies for himself as well.

I think the game copies themselves are more important than the account here. Did his friend already download all games from that account before passing it onto him?

EDIT: more of less ninja'd by Barefoot_Monkey.

I can't believe anyone actually asks this question.

Maybe not. But what do you think?

Regardless of the legalities, or the debates over what is and isn't piracy or stealing, the question, as I see it, follows this path:

a) Do you want to see more companies adopt customer-friendly policies by selling classic, arguably good quality old games, and/or developing high quality good, mature, new games?

b) If so, do you think these companies should be supported in the marketplace as much as possible to do more of that?

If you answered yes to both of these questions, then it's pretty clear what you should do. Or, how about a less wordy, more blunt line of questioning:

What do you support?

a) A company like GOG/CDPR that brings you good games, DRM-free, with unlimited downloads, no region restrictions, no regional pricing, generous sales, fair pricing, and countless additional bonus materials at no additional charge?

b) A company like EA, Activision or Ubisoft, that bring you derivative sequels and/or games with questionable quality, full of obnoxious online DRM, install limits, region restrictions, regional and inflated pricing, and exploitative day one/disc-locked DLC and/or blatantly overpriced "Collector's Editions"...and then use "piracy" as a way to blame their customers for lacklustre sales, while justifying all of the above?

It's entirely up to you, what you want to see more of. More games like The Witcher 1/2 and Cyberpunk, or more games like Diablo III (always-online DRM), Modern Warfare 3 (derivative PC-hostile port) and Mass Effect 3 (exploitative DLC). More companies that are focused on their customers' needs, or more companies focused on their shareholders' needs.

Ultimately, it's up to you.

As for the laws in Serbia. Here you can pretty much buy any game you want pirated. In the main street of a capital. I don't know the price, but it's probably around 1 or 2 $. And few years ago it was perfectly legal to own a CD club where you could rent pirated games to other people.

Well, i think companies should focus on their customers more.