If you move the content over and then start a new game and it says "please connect to Galaxy to use this content" then I would consider that DRM, absolutely. If the content just never appears... ehhhhh I guess. If they're there as long as you previously loaded the game through Galaxy, I don't think it's DRM.

I also think it's important to point out these are thoroughly useless cosmetic items you won't use long, if ever, but yes I know it's about the principle.

I believe they just never appear.

Wait what ??? what do you mean by that ?

You can save at any time in this game and you can have as many save as you want (at least I didn't reach the limit).

You can perfectly start a new game, save, start another one, save, then reload the first and so on, etc... how is it "some kind of DRM" ?

Anyone trying to use the "you only have to go online/use the client once" defense should try the same sentence on for size with "go online/use the client" replaced with "get kicked in the balls". See how well the argument holds up, cause the logic of it remains the same.

You can be as against clients as you want. You can even reject GOG and run for the hills if they start making it required. However you're never going to convince me it's DRM to use a client to download files that forever work without it afterward. Sorry.

Don't worry, I'm long past caring what I convince anyone here of. You can enjoy your "1=0" logic to your heart's content.

If you had any kind of reasonable argument why downloading through Galaxy instead of a browser creates DRM, I would listen to it. But you don't. You guys just scream about how much you hate clients, as if that creates DRM from nothing.

I already gave you my argument and I already had the discussion about clients, DRM and "one time only DRM" discussion here dozens of times. I got tired of it even back when the forum was worth a damn.

I already said what I wanted to say in my first post. If you don't get it - tough. So have a happy new year and don't expect another response from me. Cheers.

And since just WHEN is one-time-activation NOT a DRM?

I will reinforce your point:
Galaxy is a dependency-rich software that is very moody depending on environment (ergo: it used to be a pain to run in Wine until a certain point and it still CAN be since it requires some obscure combo of circumstances to run PROPERLY).
That fundamentally limits who can run it. It can even go as far as being unable to claim a "Galaxy-required" content for a game that would work on XP just because Galaxy would not work on XP (hypothetically).

The point here is:
as long as it is only required to download something THROUGH BROWSER it is not much of an obstruction.
Assuming website isn't some ridiculous over-the-top bleeding edge of a webdesign * it is just going to be possible to access the download ANYWHERE - on ANY system, be it Linux, Windows, BSD, or whatever else, even unsupported Wii legacy browser or whatever.

It just cannot be denied that Galaxy is pretty ridiculously unaccessible software compared to browser-based offline-installers' downloads.

* Since GOG is using TOO OLD software and also seems to totally cannot be bothered to fix it, they are unlikely to ever have one that is bleeding edge.
After all even their forum software is from dark ages of webdesign.

There is a very sharp difference between "DRM-free after installing" and "TRUE DRM-free".
The former is the case for a whole plethora of games on Steam, but it does not make them subject to be a part of the latter case.

Didn't you already agree above that the case of the CP2077 rewards is indeed "ehhhhh I guess" DRM, since it requires activation on every playthrough?

As requested:

I play my games on a system behind an air gap. This is why I bought the games I have from this site.

If I have to install any game directly from the internet, then I cannot install it. For a game to be operable, it must be downloadable as a file that can be transferred across the air gap (nota bene: not via WiFi) and installed without recourse to a host on the Interwebz.

This is a non-negotiable requirement. For any games that don't have this functionality I will not be purchasing, anywhere.

It's very simple. The requirement that can't be done without is to download the installer, so the user needs something that is capable of providing the proper credentials to the store's site and retrieve the files. That may be any browser capable of displaying the site or various other programs or user scripts that may provide similar functions, which have many other uses, not needing to be specific to this site, or to games, or to stores. It's not a limiting factor. (Though one may argue that GOG's reduction of support for browsers, making the site basically just for Chrome since the redesign, is in a way approaching DRM, if it's a specific browser required and not just any, but so far some others do still work, and some scripts or other programs as well.) If, however, they'd say that using a specific piece of software made for this purpose, in this case Galaxy, is required to download the game, then that's them using DIGITAL means to MANAGE what users have the RIGHT to do.
And that's even if the requirement is solely for downloading and not also for installing, because if it's "just" for downloading, the user can download the game on one computer, then move the installer to another that may not be connected at all and may not have the software (browser or whatever) used for the download installed at all, and install and play it there. If, however, Galaxy or something similar is also required for installation, even if not at all for actually playing, then that becomes entirely impossible, and the DRM is even more obvious.

I made it very clear: I am talking about downloading through Galaxy files which never need Galaxy again after you do so. There is no "activation" required and I don't know where you're getting that. If the dumb outfits need Galaxy again that obviously is not what I am talking about.


I don't even really know what this means, but you can download offline installers via Galaxy so there ya go.


There's two arguments going on here really. My main argument is that clients are not inherently DRM. I see no real difference between downloading offline installers through Galaxy and downloading offline installers through GOG's website on a browser application. It sucks for people who download games or work or whatever maybe, but that doesn't make it DRM. Some people think DRM free means client free, and it does not.

The second argument is "does a client that downloads and installs the game directly but doesn't require it to run them later count as DRM?" I would ague no for modern games, as they are designed to run without a traditional install process and therefore can be copied and pasted as a backup. I am sympathetic to people like scientiae above who have weird outlier situations that can cause problems with that, but I still wouldn't consider it DRM, as in a company digitally managing my access to the game after I acquire it.

However I would be upset if they got rid of the backup installers, so I'm certainly not arguing for their removal. I use them for anything older without ongoing support.

Good to know. :)

An "air gap" is a (SIGINT) technical term for the disconnection of an isolated computer; it means that a person must have physical access to alter the software content or configuration.

(I have never run Galaxy. It was automatically installed once, when I bought a game, but failed to execute because it couldn't reach the internet.)