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General discussionTransitioning from Steam to GOG+Physical Disc vs Digital Download(22 posts)(22 posts)
(22 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted June 11, 2015
I've been thinking about how much I dislike DRM and the fact that I'm merely renting my games on Steam and while you're still renting the license on GOG I feel like you own it more here than you do on Steam. I know many here originally purchased games from Valve and played them on Steam and so I was wondering how you guys made the transition.

Because it's another option, I was wondering if I should skip DD (Digital Downloads) all together and start buying physical PC disc? My only concern with that is that I'm not entirely sure if I'll end up needing to use a DRM program along with that. For example, I really want to play the new Star Wars Battlefront game as the older games were a large part of my childhood. I'd like to play that and obviously GOG cannot provide me with that, so would buying a disc allow me to skip the Origin DRM and play? I'd really like all my games in one place and so if buying disc allows me to skip DRM then I'll buy the bigger games that I can't get off GOG through that and support GOG by purchasing my indies and older games through here and then burn them onto a CD.

Thanks for you time,
-Caleb/Vilcus.
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Posted June 11, 2015
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Vilcas: I've been thinking about how much I dislike DRM and the fact that I'm merely renting my games on Steam and while you're still renting the license on GOG I feel like you own it more here than you do on Steam. I know many here originally purchased games from Valve and played them on Steam and so I was wondering how you guys made the transition.

Because it's another option, I was wondering if I should skip DD (Digital Downloads) all together and start buying physical PC disc? My only concern with that is that I'm not entirely sure if I'll end up needing to use a DRM program along with that. For example, I really want to play the new Star Wars Battlefront game as the older games were a large part of my childhood. I'd like to play that and obviously GOG cannot provide me with that, so would buying a disc allow me to skip the Origin DRM and play? I'd really like all my games in one place and so if buying disc allows me to skip DRM then I'll buy the bigger games that I can't get off GOG through that and support GOG by purchasing my indies and older games through here and then burn them onto a CD.

Thanks for you time,
-Caleb/Vilcus.
Hello Vilcas and welcome to GOG. Unfortunately, the vast majority of physical releases on PC are all now account-bound and need Origin/Steam/Uplay for activation, so you can't install a game like Skyrim for instance, without activating it on Steam.
Post edited June 11, 2015 by Grargar
Posted June 11, 2015
Physical disks not only often include DRM, it is also a dying medium. There are already many games that are never released physically and your only option is going to be digital more and more often going forward.
Posted June 11, 2015
For now, a lot of physical discs still require access to Steam, UPlay, or Origin (well, not Origin so much any more, I think). For games like that your best bet is probably just to skip the purchase, write a little email to the publisher telling them that you are a lost sale until they remove the DRM, and wait and see if they remove the DRM. It's a tiny thing, but it may be all you can do.

Skipping direct download probably won't turn out to be a valid long-term strategy, because it's much cheaper for a company to host a file server than it is to pay for game boxes and DVDs and such. Besides, digital copies aren't inherently much more DRMful than physical copies - and they're less likely to be bootlegs (unless, you know, that's what you were looking for).

tl;dr - If you want all your games in one place, stick with a digital store like GOG or Steam. If you want to avoid DRM as well, then welcome to GOG.

EDIT: so much ninjas ;_;
Post edited June 11, 2015 by OneFiercePuppy
Posted June 11, 2015
Well, nothing is permanent. The physical disks can crap out, and any given digital store can go tits-up. Not sure what to tell you on that one. I lean toward the digital store because you do get the cloud-like back-up so long as the store is around, you can still make your own back-up of the installation files in case the store does go tits-up, gOg does work to get these games working on both new hardware and newer OSes (it isn't perfect, but still), and a digital store makes a good repository for patches / updates all in one spot.

As for a physical version letting you skip, for instance, Origin? Doubt it. The box should tell you if that's a requirement.
Posted June 11, 2015
avatar
Vilcas: I've been thinking about how much I dislike DRM and the fact that I'm merely renting my games on Steam and while you're still renting the license on GOG I feel like you own it more here than you do on Steam. I know many here originally purchased games from Valve and played them on Steam and so I was wondering how you guys made the transition.

Because it's another option, I was wondering if I should skip DD (Digital Downloads) all together and start buying physical PC disc? My only concern with that is that I'm not entirely sure if I'll end up needing to use a DRM program along with that. For example, I really want to play the new Star Wars Battlefront game as the older games were a large part of my childhood. I'd like to play that and obviously GOG cannot provide me with that, so would buying a disc allow me to skip the Origin DRM and play? I'd really like all my games in one place and so if buying disc allows me to skip DRM then I'll buy the bigger games that I can't get off GOG through that and support GOG by purchasing my indies and older games through here and then burn them onto a CD.

Thanks for you time,
-Caleb/Vilcus.
Sadly buying physical copies on PC often means still having to be tied to a store/client. For example if you want anything by EA even if you bought it on disc you will need origin to play, same with Ubisoft which will tie you to Uplay, Valve = Steam of course, even CD Projekt is starting to do it where if you want the free DLC and patches for Witcher 3 you have to get them through GOG. Not to mention even games that aren't published or made by those guys will often require you to be tied to some service typically Steam.
Posted June 11, 2015
It's a shame that there is no way to avoid DRM and get the bigger and newer titles that don't come up here on GOG. As far as I'm aware, they've been adding newer games along with indie titles so I guess my best bet is to stay with them and home they'll eventually add some of the new games that I'd like to play. There are quite a few "new" games that I'd like to play such as Grand Theft Auto V but if I purchase the games then I'm going to be stuck with DRM. Gosh, sometimes it sucks that I'm so into freedom and privacy when the world no longer allows that XD
Posted June 11, 2015
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Vilcas: it sucks that I'm so into freedom and privacy when the world no longer allows that XD
You can have it, you just need to go to extreme lengths. XD I have it where I live and people say they are jealous, until they find out how much snow I get, among other things, at which point they pity me. :P
Posted June 11, 2015
avatar
Vilcas: It's a shame that there is no way to avoid DRM and get the bigger and newer titles that don't come up here on GOG. As far as I'm aware, they've been adding newer games along with indie titles so I guess my best bet is to stay with them and home they'll eventually add some of the new games that I'd like to play. There are quite a few "new" games that I'd like to play such as Grand Theft Auto V but if I purchase the games then I'm going to be stuck with DRM. Gosh, sometimes it sucks that I'm so into freedom and privacy when the world no longer allows that XD
A game like GTAV is going to have some kind of DRM no matter where you get it. Rockstar has its own "Social Club" built into its games that acts in many ways like DRM.
Posted June 11, 2015
Get games from GOG where possible, apart from the DRM free-ness, they lavish a certain amount of polish to many games in their catalogue, making the superior D/L version.
Posted June 11, 2015
avatar
Vilcas: It's a shame that there is no way to avoid DRM and get the bigger and newer titles that don't come up here on GOG. As far as I'm aware, they've been adding newer games along with indie titles so I guess my best bet is to stay with them and home they'll eventually add some of the new games that I'd like to play. There are quite a few "new" games that I'd like to play such as Grand Theft Auto V but if I purchase the games then I'm going to be stuck with DRM. Gosh, sometimes it sucks that I'm so into freedom and privacy when the world no longer allows that XD
Ya it’s tricky. My job requires me to go where the games are and use a range of services, but I share your mindset and actively avoided digital distribution for years before finally settling in here in preparation for my thousand year slumber. Wanting a piece of the pie, other publishers have built their own platforms and segregated games libraries till we've ended up with an inconvenient number of accounts. If you want something like GTA you may have to compromise unfortunately.
Posted June 11, 2015
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Vilcas: it sucks that I'm so into freedom and privacy when the world no longer allows that XD
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tinyE: You can have it, you just need to go to extreme lengths. XD I have it where I live and people say they are jealous, until they find out how much snow I get, among other things, at which point they pity me. :P
I've been going so far as to change everything I can. I've noticed that many programs bog down on my system, browsers spy, and so on. I'm also trying to prevent monopoly which both Steam and Windows are trying to achieve which Windows already has in regards to the OS. I've been switching a lot of things to more private alternatives where I actually feel safe/secure. I want to own the things I spend money on, but don't want to compromise my privacy and freedom for it.
Posted June 11, 2015
the only permanent way to own a game, is tattooing the sourcecode on your asscheek
Posted June 11, 2015
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apehater: the only permanent way to own a game, is tattooing the sourcecode on your asscheek
Even then, you only actually own it if you originally wrote the source code, otherwise you are just licensing it for display. I'd hate to see how they deal with DMCA takedown notice on a tattoo.
Posted June 12, 2015
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apehater: the only permanent way to own a game, is tattooing the sourcecode on your asscheek
And then you find out there's a game-breaking bug. Will you tattoo the source patch file on the other cheek?
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionTransitioning from Steam to GOG+Physical Disc vs Digital Download(22 posts)(22 posts)
(22 posts)