It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(917 posts)(917 posts)
(917 posts)
Pages:
1
10
18
19
20
21
22
30
40
50
62
This is my favourite topic
Posted June 06, 2014
Freedom of choice. Optional client. Cross-play. Coming soon to all gamers!

Earlier today (or was it yesterday for you?), during the [url=http://www.gog.com/news/cd_projekt_red_gogcom_summer_conference]CD Projekt RED and GOG.com’s Summer Conference we dropped the news about our next big step forward! GOG.com has always been home to more and more of the the best games in history (for Windows and Mac), both classic and new. Differing in shapes, flavors, and sizes they had one thing in common: they were mostly single-player, and our focus was mainly on the experience of a singular gamer. If that's your thing, nothing really will change. You can always enjoy your favorite games 100% DRM-free on GOG.com, with no need to activate your game online or remain connected to play your single-player title. Just like GOG.com has always been about.. But what if you want to play with your friends?

Today we are excited to announce GOG Galaxy, a truly gamer-friendly, 100% DRM-free online gaming platform that will finally provide the GOG.com community with the easy option to play together online. GOG Galaxy will allow you to share your achievements, stay in touch with your pals and get the updates for your games automatically. We've developed this technology to improve your GOG.com experience. We think GOG Galaxy really deserves your attention and we hope many of you will give it a try! But, here's the great thing: it is totally optional, so it's all up to you! If you do not want to play online, or use our optional client to access these features, then no worries, you will always be able to play the single-player mode 100% DRM-free, and download manually the latest updated version of your favorite title from our website. Now, for one more feature we call cross-play. We always believed in an open world for gamers, with no obligation to be tied to a specific platform or client; and this is why GOG Galaxy will allow gamers to play with their buddies who use Steam, without any need to use any 3rd party client or account, nothing, nada. We’re taking care of connecting GOG.com and Steam players, so just sit back, relax and give it a try.

See the outtake from the CD Projekt RED & GOG.com Summer Conference

Talking of which, we are proud to announce the soon-to-come launch of the beta phase for The Witcher Adventure Game, a faithful adaptation of the board game of the same title. It allows up to 4 players to play together, whether they use Steam or GOG.com. Cross-play at its finest! If you wanna get the chance to try it out, please visit and sign up to get in the queue for your beta access key. You can also simply take advantage of our amazing [url=http://www.gog.com/tw3]pre-order offer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which includes 2 beta access keys for he Witcher Aventure Game, delivered to you as soon as we start handing them out to public.

We believe GOG Galaxy has the power to provide the best of both worlds. Playing the single player mode of your favorite game, 100% DRM-free, while still having the OPTION to use our soon-to-come client for an enhanced experience (auto-patching, achievements, and much more) or play online with other GOG.com (and Steam) players if you so wish.

There will be more GOG Galaxy titles coming up this year, so stay tuned for more news and get the word around!
Post edited June 06, 2014 by G-Doc
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
npalsensei: Yes, what's wrong with it?
avatar
amok: It was a load of PR speak without substance and even factual wrong information. You do not own your games, you own a license to play them. Freedom of choice is not something "we call" as a new invention, it is something it is. "We give you freedom of choice" for example, is much better. "We call this FREEDOM OF CHOICE" almost implies that this is a gOg invention. and the share audacity to announce an optional client and then say "We call it the OPTIONAL CLIENT". It is like a bad comedy film. "I have made an mechanical horse... I call it the MECHANICAL HORSE"... and it is also not a gOg invention, Desura, for example, have had an optional client for years.
Yeah, but let's be honest here. Desura's catalogue is terrible.
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
amok: Someone must tell gOg you do not own your games, you own a license to play them.
So long as I Own that license to play, i'll consider the game owned by me. With other Digital Distribution Services like steam, users do not Own their licenses to play. These DDS's can prevent players from playing their games. And can terminate user accounts for whatever undisclosed reason they wish -with no compensation for games lost, no process of review, no option but game-over. The DDS decides when and if the player should be allowed to play. That definitely don't sound like ownership to me. GOG games however, do feel adequately owned.
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
JudasIscariot: It's still being developed so as of right now, no :(
avatar
Kristian: I am not sure we are talking about the same thing. Are you saying that currently it doesn't support downloading GOG games? I wasn't under the impression that it was ready to completely replace the GOG downloader RIGHT now. But I would be interested in beta testing its downloading features right this moment if possible.
It's not ready right now BUT you can sign up for a beta test of the GOG Galaxy client here:

http://www.gog.com/galaxy?par=1
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
amok: Someone must tell gOg you do not own your games, you own a license to play them.
avatar
WhiteElk: So long as I Own that license to play, i'll consider the game owned by me. With other Digital Distribution Services like steam, users do not Own their licenses to play. These DDS's can prevent players from playing their games. And can terminate user accounts for whatever undisclosed reason they wish -with no compensation for games lost, no process of review, no option but game-over. The DDS decides when and if the player should be allowed to play. That definitely don't sound like ownership to me. GOG games however, do feel adequately owned.
And that is perfectly fine, I have no problems with that. It is a matter of how you get access or not. Does not change the fact that all you own is a license.

edit - by the way - gOg also reserve the right to terminate your account without giving you any prior warning or reason. If this happens, you no longer have access to the games you bought license for here unless you have already downloaded them previously .
Post edited June 06, 2014 by amok
Posted June 06, 2014
Will this GOG Galaxy provide multiplayer services for older games too? For example, Empire Earth originally had multiplayer, but those servers were shut down. The only option left right now is LAN.

I could see actually using this service if it brought back the online components of games like that.
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
npalsensei: Yes, what's wrong with it?
avatar
amok: It was a load of PR speak without substance and even factual wrong information. You do not own your games, you own a license to play them. Freedom of choice is not something "we call" as a new invention, it is something it is. "We give you freedom of choice" for example, is much better. "We call this FREEDOM OF CHOICE" almost implies that this is a gOg invention. and the share audacity to announce an optional client and then say "We call it the OPTIONAL CLIENT". It is like a bad comedy film. "I have made an mechanical horse... I call it the MECHANICAL HORSE"... and it is also not a gOg invention, Desura, for example, have had an optional client for years.
All I see is

1) they're making a client that, unlike steam, will be optional to use and still DRM-Free. That sounds like taking Steam and tearing all DRM free out of it, which would be epic. I'm now using GOG Downloader for my downloads and updates, it's always on but it's very basic so a better client is welcome.
2) You can still download games and updates the old way, aka freedom of choice. You don't like the client, you don't use the client, you still get to play games, unlike Steam and Origin that CAN lock you out pretty easily. My net was down for a month, guess what games I could play. GOG games I already had installed beforehand. Origin? Nope. Steam? Nope.
3) Client will support multiplayer and online features like achievements and stuff, for games that support it. Still optional though if you want to play offline, you won't get locked out of the game from what they're saying. There's also talk about cross-platform communication, I'd love to see that happen.
4) I don't know about Desura, don't really care either, but if they had something like that, all the more credit to them for being the first I suppose? Nice to see GOG follow them I suppose? Or something? How's that bad?
avatar
Kristian: I am not sure we are talking about the same thing. Are you saying that currently it doesn't support downloading GOG games? I wasn't under the impression that it was ready to completely replace the GOG downloader RIGHT now. But I would be interested in beta testing its downloading features right this moment if possible.
avatar
JudasIscariot: It's not ready right now BUT you can sign up for a beta test of the GOG Galaxy client here:

http://www.gog.com/galaxy?par=1
Do I need to sign up if I have preordered Witcher 3 or will the beta keys that will be delivered eventually be enough?
Post edited June 06, 2014 by npalsensei
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
amok: It was a load of PR speak without substance and even factual wrong information. You do not own your games, you own a license to play them. Freedom of choice is not something "we call" as a new invention, it is something it is. "We give you freedom of choice" for example, is much better. "We call this FREEDOM OF CHOICE" almost implies that this is a gOg invention. and the share audacity to announce an optional client and then say "We call it the OPTIONAL CLIENT". It is like a bad comedy film. "I have made an mechanical horse... I call it the MECHANICAL HORSE"... and it is also not a gOg invention, Desura, for example, have had an optional client for years.
avatar
npalsensei: All I see is

1) they're making a client that, unlike steam, will be optional to use and still DRM-Free. That sounds like taking Steam and tearing all DRM free out of it, which would be epic. I'm now using GOG Downloader for my downloads and updates, it's always on but it's very basic so a better client is welcome.
2) You can still download games and updates the old way, aka freedom of choice. You don't like the client, you don't use the client, you still get to play games, unlike Steam and Origin that CAN lock you out pretty easily. My net was down for a month, guess what games I could play. GOG games I already had installed beforehand. Origin? Nope. Steam? Nope.
3) Client will support multiplayer and online features like achievements and stuff, for games that support it. Still optional though if you want to play offline, you won't get locked out of the game from what they're saying. There's also talk about cross-platform communication, I'd love to see that happen.
4) I don't know about Desura, don't really care either, but if they had something like that, all the more credit to them for being the first I suppose? Nice to see GOG follow them I suppose? Or something? How's that bad?
avatar
JudasIscariot: It's not ready right now BUT you can sign up for a beta test of the GOG Galaxy client here:

http://www.gog.com/galaxy?par=1
avatar
npalsensei: Do I need to sign up if I have preordered Witcher 3 or will the beta keys that will be delivered eventually be enough?
I think if you pre-ordered TW3 then the beta access keys are all you need and yes, they should be delivered eventually so keep an eye on your inbox and your spambox in case our emails are considered spam :)
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
JudasIscariot: I think if you pre-ordered TW3 then the beta access keys are all you need and yes, they should be delivered eventually so keep an eye on your inbox and your spambox in case our emails are considered spam :)
Ah, nice, thanks :D
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
JudasIscariot: I think if you pre-ordered TW3 then the beta access keys are all you need and yes, they should be delivered eventually so keep an eye on your inbox and your spambox in case our emails are considered spam :)
sorry for the randome quote ..

but i want to know if i'm able to add non-goggames to the libary of gog galaxy, for example snes games (bat to exe files i made to launch within steam) ..i know, eventually i will not use all features with these kind of games ( why should i even try to autoupdate an snes game :S ) but what is with all the other features?... what social features does it have? screenshots, community hub's?
Post edited June 06, 2014 by bell02
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
JudasIscariot: I think if you pre-ordered TW3 then the beta access keys are all you need and yes, they should be delivered eventually so keep an eye on your inbox and your spambox in case our emails are considered spam :)
avatar
bell02: sorry for the randome quote ..

but i want to know if i'm able to add non-goggames to the libary of gog galaxy, for example snes games (bat to exe files i made to launch within steam) ..i know, eventually i will not use all features with these kind of games ( why should i even try to autoupdate an snes game :S ) but what is with all the other features?... what social features does it have? screenshots, community hub's?
I don't know about adding non-GOG games to the client. I would recommend signing up for the beta and giving feedback about the features you like or don't like :)

As for the community features, that depends, somewhat, on what the community would like to see while testing the beta :)
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
JudasIscariot: I don't know about adding non-GOG games to the client. I would recommend signing up for the beta and giving feedback about the features you like or don't like :)

As for the community features, that depends, somewhat, on what the community would like to see while testing the beta :)
So, as far as you're aware the client won't take or is not intended to take games not available on GOG?
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
JudasIscariot: I don't know about adding non-GOG games to the client. I would recommend signing up for the beta and giving feedback about the features you like or don't like :)

As for the community features, that depends, somewhat, on what the community would like to see while testing the beta :)
avatar
Pheace: So, as far as you're aware the client won't take or is not intended to take games not available on GOG?
I don't know the entire feature list at this time but I am sure we'll have more information soon as the client gets closer to a public release.
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
JudasIscariot: I don't know the entire feature list at this time but I am sure we'll have more information soon as the client gets closer to a public release.
Looking forward to it :)
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
bell02: sorry for the randome quote ..

but i want to know if i'm able to add non-goggames to the libary of gog galaxy, for example snes games (bat to exe files i made to launch within steam) ..i know, eventually i will not use all features with these kind of games ( why should i even try to autoupdate an snes game :S ) but what is with all the other features?... what social features does it have? screenshots, community hub's?
avatar
JudasIscariot: I don't know about adding non-GOG games to the client. I would recommend signing up for the beta and giving feedback about the features you like or don't like :)

As for the community features, that depends, somewhat, on what the community would like to see while testing the beta :)
thanks for the fast replay ^^

i already sign up...

What i may already can tell, if you guys want to become a better client as steam (and all the others) you should rly made an option to add non-gog games + an ability to link these games in the client to features...

for example,
I have all my (4) snes games in the steam client (via an exe file) i can only use the screenshot feature, I`m not able to link to an community hub for snes games or set some RSS links and stuff like that. There is only the game and some screenshots.... it would be so awseom to customize these kind of games to get more out of an client, to get more socialize within these client...

another example
i have on steam "race 07" (awesome game), so, when i add it to the gog galaxy libary and customize the entry to set some costume links in it, steam community hub, some RSS links to stay inform about new mod's..etc...
And all i have to do to start this game is, running steam in the background...( raptr client already does this) and gog will start for me through steam this game....

at the end , all my games are in one place. i know, i can do this already with steam, even offline it would work (not with all games) But to know that there is an client who give me more of my freedome back, tells me that i should may shift my libary to that client!

(oh jeez, sorry for my bad english, it is not my native language.... )
Post edited June 06, 2014 by bell02
Posted June 06, 2014
avatar
amok: And that is perfectly fine, I have no problems with that. It is a matter of how you get access or not. Does not change the fact that all you own is a license.

edit - by the way - gOg also reserve the right to terminate your account without giving you any prior warning or reason. If this happens, you no longer have access to the games you bought license for here unless you have already downloaded them previously .
If the language of this usage of "ownership" must be defined in court of law, i am confident that in an uncorrupted court, a judge would rule the games as owned. We buy a right to use the product. Not as a rental but as a one-time fee for unrestricted and unlimited access. There are explicit exceptions, but for the most part games have a one-time cost.

steam has been blurring the line of ownership ever since they created a Terms of Service granting them effective ownership with full control of the usage licenses. From that comes talk of "ownership" and "licenses to play". Before steam there was not this talk of usage licenses, we simply owned the games we bought. The only legitimate leverage of the usage license, is to protect Intellectual Property Rights. Gamers own their games, but do not own the IP and therefore may have some restriction far as dissemination, modification, and/or monetization of the product, etc. But for the explicit purpose of the product (a game to play at will), there ought be no restriction.

_________________

GOG can terminate the account, but cannot prevent me from playing the games i have bought from them. Of course it is up to me to download and preserve the games. Just like it is up to me to not leave my discs in the sun, or otherwise laying around where they may be damaged. Is the same responsibility.

i would add that GOG also has a more friendly worded Terms of Service than does steam and others. And by friendly i also mean that GOG users have more power to refute company decision. More legal rights, less restriction.
Pages:
1
10
18
19
20
21
22
30
40
50
62
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(917 posts)(917 posts)
(917 posts)