I know there are tons of people who are satisfied with the way GOG packages the games they sell and I admit they do a pretty good job of that.

My reason for this post is I want to see if there are others who would be interested in obtaining direct ISO versions of the game they buy from GOG?

I am the sort of person who would actually prefer exact copies of the games I buy in ISO format...

I simply like knowing that I am getting the untouched version of the games.

Please try to understand though that this would require some technical knowledge of computers like mounting ISO files amongst other things so naturally this isn't for everyone.

I sent an e-mail to GOG asking for an ISO of one of the games I bought and was told they cannot do this, but I imagine if enough people wanted ISO copies they could in fact sell ISO copies.

Technically the whole thing about GOG is "DRM Free" and I am aware if they sold ISO copies that some of the original games they sell before they modify the packages aren't "DRM Free" so this creates a problem and is probably one of the reasons they don't sell ISO copies.

I just wanted to see what other people think about this is all.

Part of the reason I buy from GOG is to avoid all the hassle of mounting games on DOSBox, creating shortcuts, having to hunt down for fixes and the like so, no, I wouldn't be interested in a mere ISO of the game.

May I suggest that if you are going to ask for images, at least ask them in BIN/CUE format to include any additional tracks, or even a CCD/IMG and/or MDS/MDF to include any extra information, like bad sectors etc.

No, I wouldn't.

I couldn't care less for ISO copies as I primarily like to play with the games although I can see how that would be interesting for a collector; but of course I don't mind either if GOG starts providing them as long as it's in addition to the current installer packages.

However, I guess there might be a couple issues with your idea:

- first of all if the ISO is an exact copy of the original CD, it might be unplayable in a modern OS. Of course that would be less of an issue if the GOG installer is provided as well.

- GOG might not have access to the original ISO, I recall reading somewhere in the forums that in some cases they had to rely on pirated games or backup copies, can anyone confirm that?

You would prefer buying the original untouched ISO and have to get all the patches yourself ?
While being a proponent of manual patching, I would consider this scenario a hassle.

An ISO is not an exact copy. It's a copy of the file structure, so only one data track. You can't make an ISO out of an audio CD, you can't make an ISO out of a hybrid CD (Data + Audio). Or more specifically, you can, but it's not an exact copy. Not to mention that if the CD has sectors marked as bad, the ISO will not have that information.

I don't know, I wouldn't mind having a virtual CD as a bonus.
And I would definitely like getting the complete game, for example several of the Sierra games are missing the setup executable.
But pay extra? Probably not.

Didn't know that, thanks.
Still, what I meant is that GOG packages are customised with DOSBox and stuff, and if you just provide the game "as is" (whatever the exact format), it isn't different from what other digital stores do with old games, you would still need to make it work on your own.

GOG installers are *the* reason I buy games here and nowhere else.
Despite a couple misses at times, like the password encryption that came by lately, GOG wizards always manage to give us something very easy to tinker with and listen to our needs even when they’re about unsupported features (especially game data extraction on unsupported systems).

So no, I wouldn’t use ISO files if they were provided, apart maybe if I’m looking for a programming challenge.
I wouldn’t care if they were added at no additional cost, more options is always better, but I definitely wouldn’t pay for them.

----- I take a wild guess here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are simply not legally allowed to do this.

No ISO, please!

This has been discussed many times before.

Yes, I would prefer the original installation media, even pay extra for some of them (say, 9$ for the 5.99 games and 15$ for the 9.99$; depending on the game). No support, I'd get it running myself on older machines.

(of course assuming GOG gives a choice of getting their normal installer or the original installation media)

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like it would be possible to make this happen. Apparently the 2 main reasons are (1) Legal: GOG would have to get permission from original publishers, which might not be that easy and (2) GOG won't be able to provide support. And apparently providing it with no support is not an option because people would still expect GOG to help them run it on their new machines, even if GOG clearly states before buying that support won't be provided.

Good luck.

I might pay extra for disc/disk images (preferably, as JMich said, exact/full images, not ISO). As I enjoy collecting older machines, it might be fun being able to install and play GOGs on systems of a similar age to what they were originally built for. But, as has also been said, GOG most likely don't have licenses for that, additionally they won't sell anything they cannot support (and people WILL request support despite clear notices that none will be given).

Uhhhh, what is ISO?

In this context, an optical disk image. Not to be confused with International Organization for Standardization.