I haven't read the whole thread, just your post so I'm probably repeating some things others have said, but that only adds merit to it. It's not a bad question to ask out of honest curiosity if one doesn't do it or find reason to themselves.

Before I answer, I'm going to take a few minutes to scroll through my list of games to determine which games I've rebought or otherwise acquired on GOG so that the answer is actual rather than just hypothetical...

<time passes>

Reasons why I bought/got some games on GOG I already owned:

Global reasons:
- DRM-free
- Already has latest game patch integrated so no need to hunt them down online or keep track of them somewhere offline
- No fumbling with umpteen CDs/DVDs/floppies
- No license key hassles (for single player anyway, and most multiplayer games also)
- Many games come with all sorts of bonus materials
- Many games come with all of their expansion packs
- Some games come with multiple historical versions of the game(s)
- All games tweaked and optimized to run out of the box on modern operating systems relatively hassle free except when they don't, however GOG forms and GOG support are often very helpful in getting them to work in that case, far better than trying to track down problem solutions for hours for an old game and set up DOSbox or whatever manually.
- With probably less than 5 exceptions in my catalogue of 335 games, I've spent less than $3 for each game, so the cost is negligible for the value provided from all of reasons on this list.
- Having to track down NO-CD cracks and other hacks to play games is a hassle and major potential security issue.

Battle Realms - came with an expansion pack I didn't have
Clive Barker's Undying - convenience of digital download over CD plus bonus materials
Dark Fall - Never got the original to work without crashing in Windows back in the day
Gabriel Knight 3 - got all of the GK games in a sale, have 3 on DVD.
IL2 Sturmovik 1946 - I didn't own the expansion pack and it was part of a bundle deal or something
Neverwinter Nights - my DVD version was missing an expansion and I got the entire GOG D&D set for $20 bundle discount
Tex Murphy Pandora Directive - The original is on like 8824793423 CDs!!! Noooo thanks!

Aside from those though, another reason is being able to discard about 100 or more ancient CDRs and the hassles that come with even trying to install any of those old unpatched games most of which probably wont even run in Windows 7 if they even install.

Pre-Summary: It's 2015 and CDs, DVDs, floppy disks all suck. Downloading patches from all around the planet sucks. Downloading cracks for convenience to not have to flip disks around every 2 milliseconds sucks.

Summary: Convenience. GOG has not been called "Good Old Games" for 3-4 years now since they revamped the site and business back then and expanded into newer games. The name is now historical only. So... why is a place called GOG trying to sell movies?

To promote the DRM-free concept to other mediums such as movies and expand their business and make money because they think it is a worthwhile venture and there is a market for it.

Because stars should go down as bright as possible. And that was basically a supernova. I hope your Fallout 1 now among friends in their CD-Valhalla (Sovngarde for our little users), they have drinks, feat on good food, and enjoying curvy floppies, walking around with dem hips. :)


Regarding OP, snowkatt, IwubCheeze, and skeletonbow already gave an answer: it is convenient, it works (so it's not stupid;p), and it doesn't costs that much. So it's that "service" everyone been talking about, but few really provide (blEAh, tookey, and Ubischrott, I'm talking about you). So let's have a toast for GoG long life and ultimate prosperity! Cheers.

I was first like you. I have many of the GOG classics as retail CD versions, and I didn't see the point of buying them again from GOG. But when GOG started selling them dirt-cheap in promos, I got busy checking how well my retail versions still work. Two games in particular that changed my mind and made me re-buy games I already have:

Return to Krondor: I checked my original retail version, and I couldn't get the FMV (video) parts to work on my semi-modern PC (maybe I was missing some old video codec or something). I assumed (correctly) that they work on the GOG version, so it made very much sense for me to buy the GOG version.

Descent Freespace 2: I was first positive I won't buy the GOG version, but when I checked my retail version closely, the CD had a small crack in it, in the middle circle. Maybe that CD still works, but it was a reminder to me that the game will live only as long as that CD lives. So, better to get a fully digital GOG version that is not tied to the deteriorating CD media. They also have only certain lifespan, fully digital DRM-free files are more future-proof.

All in all, at that point I got fed up going through all my retail CDs (I have hundreds of them), to check whether they work. I consider the GOG versions (or DRM-free digital versions in general) the ultimate versions of the game. A retail CD version with a copy protection is inferior to it. I even have one laptop which doesn't have a CD-ROM drive at all, which also makes the GOG versions far more convenient. (I guess I could buy an external USB DVD-ROM drive for it, but meh...).

Oh yeah, and when I travel for a longer time and want to bring some games with me (for my laptop), it is far easier to carry hundreds of GOG games on a small external hard drive, than trying to bring hundreds of installation CDs with you. I recall years ago carrying two thick and big CD "wallets" on my laptop bag, they took quite a lot of room in the bag; nowadays I don't need that anymore.

That said, I don't usually want to pay much for games I already have. I do that re-buying only in deep discounts, mostly.

Also, if I have an up-to-date DRM-free version of the game already, I don't see the point of buying it from GOG (unless it costs next to nothing, e.g. part of some bundle). For instance, the games I've bought from DotEmu, I don't really see the point of buying them again from GOG. For instance FlatOut 2, Cossacks games etc. I have them from DotEmu.com, and that's good enough for me.

For Steam games I have, I'm ready to buy the GOG version in order to obtain a fully DRM-free installer version. For games like Risen 1-2, STALKER series etc. I buy, but I might wait until there is a version containing all (important) DLCs. A GOTY/Gold/Legendary edition. The main reason is that I just don't have time nor willpower try to figure out which DLCs I should buy (separately). Easier to just buy them all in a bundle, it is probably cheaper that way too than buying a bunch of them separately. The same reason Steam sells non-gaming applications, or Humble Bundle sells digital books.

Also GOG.com is not strictly only "Good Old Games" anymore, probably because they heard a rumor that some people don't want to re-buy old classics that they already have. :) Better to expand the market then.

I re-buy games here so I have them all in a nice easily accessible place, also GOG patches the games a little bit extra sometimes to make them more user friendly.

If you never had the problem of:

1. Worn-out discs that are unreadable on any optical drive;
2. Failed optical drive that cannot read any disc and
3. Retail store that doesn't sell more than 5-year old games.

Then you just can't understand us :)