No in between then, if there's no DRM for whatever SP it has and it even has fully offline MP.

I don't really see why anyone cares a whole lot unless it's some intrusive/obnoxious DRM like SecuROM

Then why do you shop here? Prices are higher, small catalog, generally way behind other stores in all aspects.
As for your example, all DRM is intrusive and deteriates the user experience. Online is nothing more than mass data capture/analytics and advertising. Privacy is a thing of the past. Online control of everything, money, media, history, communications etc. So yeah, why should anyone really care.
Sorry, I don’t follow? If SP and MP is possible, the as I say it’s probably ok, like with Witcher adventure game, although as built for multiplayer there is little value in it unless you use the multiplayer.

While SecuROM is bad, there are worse things than SecuROM. All kinds of always-online DRM. Denuvo (yea, yea, it calls itself anti-tamper, but it's only used to increase the negative impact of DRM).

The point is: your game will stop working, when the rights owner decides so. Or ceases to exist. You have no reliable and legal way to keep using the product you bought. DRM-free games are yours to play as long as you have (or emulate) a machine that can run them.

But something different: the new Axis & Allies online was discussed further above. But I couldn't draw a clear conclusion from the discussion and I don't have the game. So, perhaps someone who owns the game can answer:

Does it have a single player portion? And if so, can this single player portion be played offline? Without Galaxy? The release thread said, that no online connection is required for single-player. Is that true?

And what about multiplayer? Does that require Galaxy and a third party server registration? Or is there any form of DRM-free multiplayer present in the game? (LAN, direct IP, ... )

Agree. Any online-only component is DRM because the service controls your access. But if you can run your own server fully independent from online services, that's DRM-free. Unfortunately it seems uncommon these days to provide server code. It's fine if an option is provided to connect to a server from the game publisher or developer with anti-cheat, but it can't be the only option.

It's probably useful to make the distinction between online-only features that provide functionality to interact with other players (multiplayer, online leaderboards, chat) and online-only features that shouldn't require a connection at all like cosmetics, bonus levels, bonus missions and just about anything that could be modded to work offline.

I totally agree. The only way an MMO could be DRM-free is if the server application were made available, so users could set up their own servers, if they wanted to.

Nvm, wrong thread.

These people think an online login requirement for Warframe is the same thing as Denuvo or the login requirement for Peer to Peer game like Minecraft. You're talking to people who want all MMOs banned from sale here expect as server files. They do not regard things like centralized secure downloads, network security suites, item and trade verification requirements, all other measures done for meaningful purposes. These people want to be able to just host their own servers whenever they want, and care nothing for the massive security flaws that could create. Jesus Christ I feel sorry for any major MMO like Guild Wars 2 after if it's server code ever got leaked. But as said, these people don't regard any of that.

That's why these people care. They want a very specific and frankly naïve idea that you can just pure recourses and netcode into a long dead network system or have hosting files on your local system like that isn't a massive security flaw. That's fine for small games designed for hosting like Minecraft, but not for Gwent.

The point of this site is to have DRM FREE games... and the stuff you mentioned IS NOT.

Exactly. It doesn't matter whether someone's personal preference deems some form of DRM as intrusive or not. A DRM-FREE store should only offer games without any DRM. Otherwise it's not DRM-FREE.


Just like a vegan store can't offer fish and still claim to be vegan. Even if they claim that fish isn't really meat and therefore doesn't really count.

According to this post, it sounds like When The Past Was Around has an achievement-related bug that makes the game unplayable after a certain point if the game can't find Galaxy. Sounds a lot like Necrobarista's accidental DRM also caused by poorly implemented achievements, so I'll try to contact the developers in social medias to report about this potential bug.

Thank you, please keep me updated what they say and whether this is a bug that will be fixed, or whether they won't fix it and it will stay around as 'accidental' DRM.

Never played it. What kind of DRM was on it?

Someone with the manager, moderator and administrator roles on November 11, 1:59 AM (UTC):