That's because of the on-line pawn system in Dragon's Dogma. Galaxy itself isn't included in the game (I have DD installed on my machine, but there's no Galaxy), but Galaxy registry entries are part of the game install due to that optional on-line component (you'll have to install Galaxy f you want to share your pawns or hire other peoples' pawns).

See the two attached pictures. Where is the blue easier to see, in the dot or in the user? Thus why I believe that a post by a staff member is easy to identify at a glance, even from a distance you can't read the letters themselves.

I agree its easier to see on the right, but that's only if you're actually looking there. Like adamhm, I don't tend to look at the poster's name of a particular thread unless the thread title seems to be something I might be interested in looking into. So it's not nearly as obvious as it may seem in those two comparison screenies. I scan the thread titles and don't look to the far right of the screen unless, as noted, the thread looks like something interesting.

See these two attached pictures:

https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2017/07/19ea3d790d824618d1f788b4f8ca819ff3f61eac.png
https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2017/07/71053b240d565ae3e20ef8895a4c0ac6092a21ba.png

The dot/icon is much more visible/easier to spot (as it's right next to the post title, which is where you'll be focusing on!), plus there's the bold text to make it stand out further.

Oh and as an added "bonus", the "announcements as regular forum posts" can be downvoted and low rated which means they always show as read, further reducing their visibility.

And here's another two examples:

https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2017/07/67f400d1babffd01102ffe017baae470bff49c9d.png
https://www.gog.com/upload/forum/2017/07/edadd8cb8f3ada724442e9fbaaea977637134b8c.png

Which one stands out more at a glance?

First one. I cannot say at a glance if the second one is a game release, an article about gaming, an interview, a DLC, a pre-order, a "Coming soon" or a twitch event. While the first one is something rare enough to make me take a second look at it.

And what about people who don't use the forum regularly and won't necessarily know that? What about people who mainly pay attention to thread titles rather than who the posters are?

The second one stands out above regular threads as an official announcement post, and reading its title tells you exactly what it is. I find that much faster and more natural/obvious than first looking towards the right hand side of my display to see who posted, then looking back, and then reading the title.

Also what about the majority of users, who don't use the forum at all? They have no chance.

Edit: Also it's very easy to see what the announcement threads are about just by reading the first two or three words in the thread title, which can quickly be skimmed over along with the rest of the forum threads.

Aha! Teraz już rozumnie!

Galaxy to nowa przyszłosciowa platforma Mikrosoftu.

Then mark it as NEWS. Jesus Christ.

Yeah, because the notifications don't fucking work. But I guess that too somehow isn't GOGs fault in your world.

Yeah. I don't think vital information about the games you own is "spam" and the fact some people turned the emails off doesn't mean GOG should send them to anyone. What in the actuall fuck.

I sure would pay more attention to it if it contained important information about the working of the site and my library instead of some random articles of news about twitch streams or something. But I guess somehow filling the Headlines section with innane bullshit instead of important info justifies not putting inportant info there. Because that's logic.

And of course you've ignored totally the simplest solution I've been advocating this whole time, clearly spelled out in the post I linked, that is to ut the information about the Galaxy-less installers on the download page for everyone to see when they want to download the game. Seriously, the lenghts some people will got to justify GOGs every crappy ecision fascinate me. Why do so many customers defend decisions that are obvously, blatantly anti-consumer? This isn't even about what we think of Galaxy, or the direction of changes on GOG or any complex issue. This is about the simplest thing possible- do everything you can to keep the customers informed. It's their damn obligation. How can customers here be against that? What is wrong with you?

Moreover, It's I don't want this, how about this? So actually:

This thread = "Sensible adult discussion/suggestions about Galaxy"

(Insert rude unnecessary comment).

change of heart

For me it's the blue dot. Like GR00T, I don't look at the name of the poster, unless I'm interested in the thread title. But I always scan for the blue dot, because I don't want to miss official news or announcements.

But in my oppinion it don't have to be either or. Why can't it be official announcement made by a blue one (so we get both)?

Play those games you bought and enjoy them ;)

Before you pack up for good, do note that as of yet you can still get Galaxy-free installers. They're called 'classic installers' and can be found under the 'MORE' tab on the game page. GOG has indicated they'll provide these 'classic installers' for any games that have Galaxy bundled with the installers.