You have analog software?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Bifnordennomenclature.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Heathkit_Analog_Computer.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/AKAT-1.JPG

If denying a feature is enough to exert control and be DRM... then ever dang game has DRM rather if they really do or not. Developers exert control all the time in every game ever made by not always adding what we want and designing the game they want to design.

You can argue how you view DRM all you want, the definition of what DRM is to control or restrict software after it been sold to you. Denying you access to a server or controlling said server doesn't actually restrict or control the software that you bought at all since it an outside function that the software and you elect to connect too.

I done beating the dead horse horse though... we'll agree to disagree as this really isn't worth it anymore.

At least they're [url=http://funny.toadworld.net/~DOCs%20and%20HTMs/Office%202000_files/index.html]Year 2000 compliant[/url]. :)

I haven't bought the game and glad I didn't; this seems outrageous.

Be more specific what you find to be outrageous.

good for you.

This is beyond outrageous, it's bullshit.

And proves exactly what was being said around here during the regional pricing spat. Not only were they compromising on regional pricing, they were compromising on DRM Free as well.

Wish I hadn't bought it, and won't be buying anything else at gog until they really do come back to their roots.

ADDED IN EDIT: I can confirm that the patch does now allow settings, as well as save games, to be saved with no internet checks at all.

Insofar as single player goes, this game definitely now meets the criteria of DRM Free. One can install, uninstall, reinstall, play, save, and do everything without ever having to have another internet access again.

Well, I should qualify by saying I can confirm it through roughly 1 hour of play and maybe 5 game turns. I surely wouldn't think any game would ever do an internet check at some point later in a game, at least I wouldn't one claiming to be drm free would so such a thing, and so I don't think this one will.

The patch fixes the DRM Free issue IMO.

@BK-Gaming
Well..i can follow your argumentation but i have a different point of view at several of the things that are the basis of this discussion. Therefore it's very unlikely that we will come to some kind of agreement...it's like a cat hunting her own tail :)
Nonetheless it was a interesting exchange of views and i thank you for investing the time/energy while staying polite and objectiv.

Also on Steam, if you pay for the game you get multiplayer with DRM. Same on GOG, you get multiplayer but with DRM and that is a big problem.

Yes, is surprising and is not about the time required to create a account, why do I have to create that account as long as GOG advertised this as DRM free and why not LAN and other DRM free multiplayer modes? a GOG version of the game would've been without DRM so this game doesn't belong on GOG.
That does not change anything, the game worked on single player before, now they have just fixed some bugs, it was to be expected, but the DRM is still there and you still have to play as guest. It requires internet for multiplayer, 50% of the game HAS DRM. If they will shut down their server (and they will) than you wont have multiplayer at all.

Well, the patch fixed the issue of saving single player settings, whereas a single player user could not take full advantage of the game's ability to save graphical and other settings, and you had to reset them each time you played.

With the patch, one can take full advantage of single player play drm free.

And yes, I agree, MP is not DRM Free. I meant to, and should have been clear, the game can be said to be DRM Free in terms of single player only. You're exactly right with your multiplayer arguments, it doesn't get anywhere near DRM Free regarding multiplayer.

so your entire argument for this game having DRM is that you must create an account to play multiplayer O_o i some how in all my years of PC gaming fail to see how creating an account for online = DRM

and my first MP was age of empires 1 always been an RTS & TBS games fan but i still do not understand how creating an account that allows you to access multiplayer is DRM.

by that logic as i stated before so many games i own have DRM, the game currently does not have proper lan or PBEm support, hopefully PBEM comes in sooner or later. but seriously

creating an account to play multiplayer which requires a CD-key is not DRM and has been quite a commonplace practice since the 2000's i would say AVP 2 had that you needed a correct CD-key to even connect to the servers but playing offline single-player you didn't. by your logic purpl that game had DRM

Yea, yea, whatever. This game is so full of DRM, it was intentionally crippled to not allow you to play multiplayer at all without Triumph checking your serial key every time you want to play multiplayer. AVP2 (which, btw, is not sold by GOG) HAS DRM but has also other multiplayer modes like direct TCP/IP for online and LAN. I can say that AVP2 has less DRM than AOW3 even though both games have DRM.

Creating a account for multiplayer is not DRM but being FORCED to create a account to use features of the product you have bought just to allow the developer to check your authenticity of the product is DRM. I bet that even the "bug" that did not allow you to save your settings was intentional as it was the bug on StarCraft 2 that did not allowed you to play offline. That was a bug and it was also fixed after the hype has passed. Lets be honest, from a developer point of view, is easier to make a game save settings in a ini file than on a server.

Now I'm really glad that I didn't buy this one. Even though they fixed it, the fact that they even allowed this to happen is something that I find appalling. After all these years I would have thought that GOG had spread the message that no DRM = sales but this former scheme of this game's devs makes the case that GOG was drowned out by the likes of Blizzard and EA :(

I'll just play this game's predecessors and remember the good times, while trying not to think about what should have been.

It's really a bummer for me as well. I'm just glad I understand the situation a bit better. I'm not into compromises.

No problem, and think you for being sensible and looking at it from my view point as-well while staying polite about it. :)