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Time4Tea: Why can't a boycott have multiple goals, if company X has made multiple decisions that are objectionable?
Because in this case it is not a "boycott" thread, it is, as I said earlier, a venting thread where peoples list all the gripes they have against Gog or CDPR.

By having multiple different goals and different peoples boycotting for different reason you dilute the impact of your boycott, it's no longer 120 peoples boycotting because of X, it become 50 something because of X, 20 because of Y, 40 because of Z, etc... you have the risk of it becoming intelligible discordant noise instead of being a clear message.


If you want it's like a support ticket, when you open one you do because for example "game X don't starts", you don't open a single ticket because "game X don't start 'and' game Y is slow 'and' you want a refund on game Z 'and' ...'and'...'and'...". Because if you do the later then your ticket will be ignored or rejected.
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Gersen:
We're going to have to agree to disagree, Gersen.

As I said, the reality is there is such a litany of problems with GOG and mistakes they have made over the past several years that it's not possible at this point to distill it all down to "fix this one issue and that will make everything better and everyone will come back". The situation is more complicated than that and I think you are over-simplifying.

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Gersen: By having multiple different goals and different peoples boycotting for different reason you dilute the impact of your boycott ...
Different people are boycotting for different reasons, because GOG has provided many different reasons for people to boycott and everyone has their own priorities. That is simply reality. I can't tell people what they should be boycotting for and what they shouldn't.
Post edited December 01, 2021 by Time4Tea
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Gersen: And while we can argue on the former, this "boycott" definitely totally lack the later; look at this thread it ranges from selling Devotion to unfriend Tim Sweeney on facebook , this thread is not a boycott thread it's a venting thread where anybody having any sort of grief against Gog or CDPR comes to vent.
This is why I didn't officially join the boycott when the whole Hitman 3 thing happened. I didn't want to hitch my wagon to some of the crazier things in the OP.
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Time4Tea: Why can't a boycott have multiple goals, if company X has made multiple decisions that are objectionable?
Because not all of those decisions are objectionable to all users. You reduce the effectiveness of the boycott.
Post edited December 01, 2021 by ettac orrazib si eman ym
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Time4Tea: Why can't a boycott have multiple goals, if company X has made multiple decisions that are objectionable?
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Gersen: Because in this case it is not a "boycott" thread, it is, as I said earlier, a venting thread where peoples list all the gripes they have against Gog or CDPR.

By having multiple different goals and different peoples boycotting for different reason you dilute the impact of your boycott, it's no longer 120 peoples boycotting because of X, it become 50 something because of X, 20 because of Y, 40 because of Z, etc... you have the risk of it becoming intelligible discordant noise instead of being a clear message.

If you want it's like a support ticket, when you open one you do because for example "game X don't starts", you don't open a single ticket because "game X don't start 'and' game Y is slow 'and' you want a refund on game Z 'and' ...'and'...'and'...". Because if you do the later then your ticket will be ignored or rejected.
The boycott is perfectly fine in what it wants to achieve, long distance runing generic set of complains, some of them incompatible between boycotters, the final interest is not really see them solved, but having a background and lore of suposed gog fails, mixing subjective ones with overreactions.

I said it in the past, but you claimd it as well. Even if GOG wanted to take note of these things they couldn't know where to start. Not mentioning some of them are unbearable maximums. But it is perfectly conscious. I fear.
I've been boycotting it since they have completely changed the website design in that 10th anniversary update.
The slow download speeds of offline installers didn't help either.

But mostly, when i typed into search Skyrim Legendary edition there are zero results, same goes for ParaWorld. So since i already own most of the games i wanted, i'm continuing with the boycott.
Anyone seen the new Eurogamer article yet?

Looks like GOG's idiocy is catching up with them.

"First and foremost, we've decided that GOG should focus more on its core business activity, which means offering a hand-picked selection of games with its unique DRM-free philosophy. In line with this approach, there will be changes in the team's structure."

There better be a good round of firin' if they're taking things seriously, because there are a lot of people working here that do not deserve their positions.
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ReynardFox: "First and foremost, we've decided that GOG should focus more on its core business activity, which means offering a hand-picked selection of games with its unique DRM-free philosophy.
I read that and immediately wondered if that's what they're refocusing on, in their minds what exactly have they been doing up until this point? What did they consider to be their mission statement if it wasn't "offering a hand-picked selection of games with its unique DRM-free philosophy"?
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ReynardFox: "First and foremost, we've decided that GOG should focus more on its core business activity, which means offering a hand-picked selection of games with its unique DRM-free philosophy.
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ettac orrazib si eman ym: I read that and immediately wondered if that's what they're refocusing on, in their minds what exactly have they been doing up until this point? What did they consider to be their mission statement if it wasn't "offering a hand-picked selection of games with its unique DRM-free philosophy"?
I'd assume the gog 2.0 was the main focus, getting Epic onto the service, I would assume trying to get other stores on too?

I take issue with their ''unique DRM-free philosophy'' DRM-Free was never there, nor is it only one storefront. They did not invest DRM-Free and the comment makes it feel like they see it as a niche only they can serve. DRM-Free has many ideals, consumer options is one of them, to not see that speaks volumes, sadly
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Gersen: By having multiple different goals and different peoples boycotting for different reason you dilute the impact of your boycott, it's no longer 120 peoples boycotting because of X, it become 50 something because of X, 20 because of Y, 40 because of Z, etc... you have the risk of it becoming intelligible discordant noise instead of being a clear message.
I disagree. The message is very clear and that message is: "You fucking suck, so go do something about that, willya?!"

Different people may have different ideas why they fucking suck, but there seems to be an overall consensuous: gog has been on an uninterrupted downward trajectory into suckage for quite some time now. It's not the users' fault that gog has handed them a veritable laundry list of reasons over the years why you wouldn't want to buy from them and it only seems to be growing. I think the current state of support would be another quite valid reason to add your name to the boycott list.

Gog, when faced with this laundry list, ought to be smart enough to prioritize: "Huh, we burnt the bridges with those Devotion devs, so that's out of the question. Timmy Tencent gives us sweet cash for selling Epic games via Galaxy, so let's not get rid of that avenue stream quite yet. But here's something we could do to show goodwill: We could remove the DRM from Cyberpunk! It's basically our own game, so having DRM in it sets a bad precedent. So let's change that!"

But gog being gog, they do: "I know! We need to reject more games and bring in some more visual novels and dating sims! Because that's what's kool with the kidz these days!" And while we're on that topic, I firmly believe that their overzealous "curation" has always been detrimental to their growth.
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Gersen: By having multiple different goals and different peoples boycotting for different reason you dilute the impact of your boycott, it's no longer 120 peoples boycotting because of X, it become 50 something because of X, 20 because of Y, 40 because of Z, etc... you have the risk of it becoming intelligible discordant noise instead of being a clear message.
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fronzelneekburm: I disagree. The message is very clear and that message is: "You fucking suck, so go do something about that, willya?!"

Different people may have different ideas why they fucking suck, but there seems to be an overall consensuous: gog has been on an uninterrupted downward trajectory into suckage for quite some time now. It's not the users' fault that gog has handed them a veritable laundry list of reasons over the years why you wouldn't want to buy from them and it only seems to be growing. I think the current state of support would be another quite valid reason to add your name to the boycott list.

Gog, when faced with this laundry list, ought to be smart enough to prioritize: "Huh, we burnt the bridges with those Devotion devs, so that's out of the question. Timmy Tencent gives us sweet cash for selling Epic games via Galaxy, so let's not get rid of that avenue stream quite yet. But here's something we could do to show goodwill: We could remove the DRM from Cyberpunk! It's basically our own game, so having DRM in it sets a bad precedent. So let's change that!"

But gog being gog, they do: "I know! We need to reject more games and bring in some more visual novels and dating sims! Because that's what's kool with the kidz these days!" And while we're on that topic, I firmly believe that their overzealous "curation" has always been detrimental to their growth.
We do want that though. The visual novel community and dating Sim community is growing, and to be absolutely fair, I think that visual novels have a place in the PC Market and should be respected. You may not like them, but there are definitely fans all over the world who want them without the DRM that steam provides. There's nothing like getting deep into the story and finishing a route only to find there's more to be uncovered and everything you thought you knew was wrong. Have you ever fought sleep because you wanted to find out an answer to a question that you'd been asking about a certain novel for days now? I have. There were times would I would get so entrenched into the world and characters that it kept my mind busy during a day at work. You'd try to figure things out in your head, try to see if you got the right answer or solved the mystery.

Again, you may not like these games, but there is an audience and I am a part of that audience.

As for the dating sims, they're mostly silly fun unless they become a psychoanalysis of the characters. Some may deal with real world problems like physical abuse, drug addiction, thoughts of suicide and other situations that can happen in real world relationships. They can be a simulation for what goes on underneath the veil of social media. People are complex, it's impossible to get them perfect, but enough is showcased here to prepare one for the unexpected in dealing with a person. In this case, art can imitate life very well.
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Shendue: Pretty sure the goal was crystal clear from the start: reinstate Devotion and no DRMs in GOG. There are some other points of discussion, but those are just to add to the general point.
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Gersen: That's already two totally different goals, that have totally different reasons for happening.

And what about the Epic deal ?

Boycotting Gog because you want Hitman removed that's a boycott with a clear goal. Boycotting Gog because you want them to sell a game, not sell another one, you don't like the front page banner, you want Marcin Iwinski to change his haircut, etc... etc... is not.
So what that it's two different goals that happened for different reasons?

That doesn't make the goals invalid, nor incompatible with one another.

Both issues:

1. GOG's banning of Devotion for political reasons (along with GOG's blatant lying to consumers about the reason why it was banned), and

2. GOG's willingness to infest its games and store(s) (the extra 's' is in case someone asserts "Galaxy is a different store") with DRM...

...are colossal debacles on GOG's part, and both of which demonstrate bad faith on GOG's part, and either one of which is enough to reasonably warrant a boycott in and of itself.

In both cases, they have a very strong theme in common, which comprises a common thread that weaves them together (even though their subject matter is somewhat different, like you are complaining about): in both cases, GOG did/is doing something very bad that should be against their principles.

There is nothing at all unreasonable for boycotters to demand that GOG fully remedy both of those issues.

As for your "what about the EGS deal" question: that is already covered under the umbrella of point 2, which the other poster had described in the words "No DRMs in GOG."

You are correct that there are many issues with GOG beyond just those two ones. But those two ones are major ones that are very big umbrellas which cover a wide range of the core problems with GOG.

Resolving those issues wouldn't make GOG become perfect and problem-free, but it would go a very long way towards improving things drastically.

They are therefore perfectly sufficient grounds upon which to base a boycott.

The main theme of a boycott need not cover every single issue that exists with GOG, although it's also perfectly reasonable for some of the boycotters to bring up those other issues (which they have done and probably will continue to do).

The other stuff you said about having the owner change his haircut or changing the GOG store banner; those are:

a) strawman arguments since none of the boycotters took issue with those things as a reason for boycotting and

b) for the point about "selling one game and not selling another"...yes there are other issues with GOG's curation beyond just the Devotion debacle...but, the important thing is that Devotion is the most scandalous curation-type debacle of all-time, other than perhaps the Hitman GOTY debacle...which had a similar magnitude.

That is to say, contrary to what seems to be one of the implications of that quoted post, Devotion is not just any game that GOG rejected, it's not akin to when GOG rejects other games that they shouldn't have; but rather, Devotion's banning is a unique & special case, over which GOG's terrible actions are now infamous for very good reasons.

Therefore, the Devotion case does deserve the special focus that the boycotters give to it.
Post edited December 01, 2021 by Ancient-Red-Dragon
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Look, the whole damn thread here is now a bunch of people venting over every little thing that GOG does. And to be fair, they really fucked up with Hitman. And they went back on it after a large response, which they should have done. They have been committed to releasing several games a week, bringing back many old cherished games from our childhood, finally breaking down the barrier of adult games and adding them.

So what's this about? Achievements? You fellas really need a game to pat you on the head, tell you how much of a good boy you are and give you a medal? Bah! If my life was so boring that I had to sit and get every achievement in a video game just to feel like I accomplished something, I would have jumped off a bridge a long time ago.

As for the Devotion thing, I don't even care. The game sucked to begin with and the ending wasn't all that great either. I get the politics of it, but China has made it pretty clear that they're not going away in the gaming world. Far too many people over there and too much money to be made. I feel the same about gacha, but that's not going away either.

GOG lost 2.7 million dollars. So evidently, your little boycott worked for a bit and told them that they need to retool things. It's not going to be perfect, but we are never going to be Steam and I really hope you would get that through your heads. I see a lot of "but Steam has..." complaints on various threads. Then go buy it from Steam. It's surely much cheaper on sale there anyway and I won't deny that.

We should at least be grateful that GOG is making some changes. They're adding more Good Old Games, which should actually help the platform. A lot of Steam users admitted that they go to GOG specifically for the older games that Steam doesn't sell. I think GOG realizes that. But they aren't going to just stop selling indies, AAA and third party if they're making a decent profit from it.

And please keep in mind that when Steam pulled Metal Gear Solid 2 from it's store, that it became the top selling game here at one time. People have reason to use GOG and they've gotten better over the time since this boycott was actually legitimate. I just can't support a boycott for a platform that I feel is making the necessary changes that people here have requested. It will never be perfect, but it's definitely much better than it was.
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ReynardFox: Anyone seen the new Eurogamer article yet?
This line from the article:
GOG launched in 2008 to offer a collection of older games without DRM. Since then, it's slowly morphed to compete with the likes of Steam and the Epic Games Store.
...is a ludicrous hyperbole. GOG is not even a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean that is either EGS and/or Steam (Steam which is a much bigger ocean than is EGS, but EGS is still an ocean when compared vs. GOG).

No way is GOG "competing" with them.
Post edited December 01, 2021 by Ancient-Red-Dragon
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And on CDPs website something which may be related to this: https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/investors/regulatory-announcements/current-report-no-42-2021/
Unfortunately I cant properly interpret this due to lack of financial understanding. It does however appear to me that Goldman Sachs has ~now potential control of >5% of votes of CDP.

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The_Puppet94: There is no indication for selling it off. It is the same unrealistic fear portrayed in these whishlists https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/do_not_get_bought_by_epic_games and https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/do_not_get_bought_by_ea

They are dumping a lot of money and resource into their client development. Even if thats not the development a lot of customers want to see, they wouldnt invest that much if they planed to sell it off.
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Zrevnur: None of that says anything about someone big becoming a major shareholder. And that does have an indication - the low share price. I just looked at EA numbers https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EA/financials?p=EA and compared them with CDP ones: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/7CD.F/financials?p=7CD.F . Note that the CDP numbers are in PLN but the site doesnt say that. While I am not sure the numbers are correct (such sites dont always have correct numbers) etc - based on this quick look I got the impression that CDP looks rather better per investment cost than EA. And EA has mostly institutional shareholders. So based on this evidence I do believe 'big institutional' major shareholder for CDP is a realistic possibility. And this may have major consequences on this sub discussion which obviously would also have major consequences for this topic.

Not that I do want to overly derail this topic with tangential discussion - I do think the "demonization" of this IMO realistic possibility by various posters here was out of line.
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One of the most perverse goals of this topic is trying to convince people that support GOG, use GOG as the main videogaing store to purchase things is the wrong thing to do. To support DRM free and to support GOG you need to boycott it.

It is demential, indeed. The sign of te times.