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Showing you how government works, in case yours doesn't!
Speaking from one organization that has had an unpopular shutdown to another: America. What are you doing? America? Stahp.

Shutdowns are never popular, and all of the polls show that this is not a big hit with most Americans either. Americans may be looking for something fun to do, since all their parks are closed for the moment. Thankfully your favorite purveyor of digital games is here to help. It occurs to us that one of the problems may be that there are people on Capitol Hill who don't know what a functioning government looks like, so we thought we'd help and point a few out with a special 24-hour 50% off [url=http://www.gog.com/promo/shutdown_promo_091013]Shutdown Promo.

The Guild: Gold Edition is a great place to see where the term "Machiavellian Politics" originated from. If you're looking to find a land where earning power was the key to success in the political arena, look no further. Meanwhile, in Capitalism Plus and Capitalism 2, you can get the best economic sims that money can buy half off and see for yourself how a demand economy functions. Tropico Reloaded is 50% off as a reminder of what can happen when governments go awry, and Alpha Centauri (with the Alien Crossfire expansion!) has more different styles of governments modeled than you can shake a stick at. So, really, these games are a quick lesson in civic government. Because we're concerned for you guys.

There has been a lot of furor over health care in America leading up to this shutdown, and we think it's a shame so many people are upset about medicine and how to treat each other. To help further our educational mission for this promo, we figured we'd put Theme Hospital in the sale as well, because that way you can judge for yourself just how tricky it can be to balance the needs of sick patients against limited budgets. Finally, for reasons entirely unrelated to who may or may not have been involved in shutting down the US Government, we also appear to have Redneck Rampage on sale 50% off.

Finally, we would like to express our condolences to everyone who's been furloughed by the shutdown. More than that, actually, we'd like to offer you the games pack of our special Shutdown Promo for free. Send an email to [url=]thanksobama@gog.com[/url] with your picture holding the official furlough letter you received, before Friday 11 October 2013 at 12:00 EDT and we'll give you The Guild: Gold Edition, Capitalism, Capitalism 2, Tropico: Gold Edition, Alpha Centauri + Alien Crossfire, Theme Hospital, and Redneck Rampage free.

We hope the games will keep you all occupied while you're waiting for someone on Capitol Hill to get their act together. Meanwhile, get The Guild, Capitalism Plus, Capitalism 2, Tropico: Gold Edition, Alpha Centauri + Alien Crossfire, Theme Hospital, and Redneck Rampage 50% off (or free if you met the requirements above), in our special Shutdown Promo! The offer lasts until Thursday, October 10, at 12:59PM GMT.
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ucfalumknight: Thank you GoG for reminding me how inane my government truly is. And in particular, thank you for choosing Redneck Rampage as a game to represent. I think I will go shove my head in a hole somewhere, why not, most American's do....
I think it´s hard to live in a country with such an indemocratic systems but with folks in the goverment who think they are the best guys on the planet!

But, well, I can´t be proud for the actual situation in germany anyways---nearly absolut majority for conservatives will give us four painful years of silly politians...
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Moonbeam: GOG you must never mention the word shutdown, it brings back "oh no" memories of your past evil deeds!
When I saw "Shutdown Special" I was thinking "Wait, is it the anniversary of the GOG shutdown? And are they celebrating it for some reason?".

I live in the damn USA and watch/read the news but apparently my brain has other priorities.
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CD Projekt RED,

Please quit involving yourself in our politics. I am a big supporter of GOG.com and own dozens of your titles, but you are sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.

Let me list the offensive garbage from your last GOG.com news post:
-America, what are you doing? (None of your concern; Poland, what are you doing -- as if anyone cared)
-People on Capitol Hill who don't know what a functioning government looks like (like the Polish government?)
-Machiavellian Politics (Have nothing to do with the politics surrounding the shutdown - read The Prince)
-It's a shame so many people are upset about medicine and how to treat each other (Did your five year old daughter write that?)
-Equating our right leaning opposition group involved in the shutdown to the characters in Redneck Rampage (Are you guys members of the Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe or what?)
-Using thanksobama@gog.com as the email address. (Yes you should thank him for creating his healthcare bill without a SINGLE vote from a party other than his own -- it will not stand)

Please refrain from writing about politics in countries other than your own.

Will Howard
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willz06jw: Will Howard
Welcome to the forums Will, even though you introduced yourself as a spoilsport. ;-p
Oh you glorious bastards.
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willz06jw: Will Howard
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Psyringe: Welcome to the forums Will, even though you introduced yourself as a spoilsport. ;-p
It's a very biased post concerning our politics -- I would not have brought up the German "Lotti the Snapping Turtle" problem!
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reaver894: I think this promo is in a bit of bad taste. From what I know of the shut down in the states 10's of thousands of people are not able to go to work or be paid for this time until the government pulls its collective finger out of its ass.
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Huehuecoyotl: The number that keeps coming up in the news here is ~800,000.

Also, the House has voted 407-0 (some abstained) to give back pay to federal employees who have been furloughed when the shutdown ends, and the White House has indicated strong support for the bill, so as long as the Senate passes it they'll be paid. Still not great as the furloughed employees have to find a way to pay the bills until the shutdown ends, but at least they'll probably receive pay in the end.
That is good news in the long run, I had not heard about that.
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willz06jw: CD Projekt RED,

Please quit involving yourself in our politics. I am a big supporter of GOG.com and own dozens of your titles, but you are sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.

Let me list the offensive garbage from your last GOG.com news post:
-America, what are you doing? (None of your concern; Poland, what are you doing -- as if anyone cared)
-People on Capitol Hill who don't know what a functioning government looks like (like the Polish government?)
-Machiavellian Politics (Have nothing to do with the politics surrounding the shutdown - read The Prince)
-It's a shame so many people are upset about medicine and how to treat each other (Did your five year old daughter write that?)
-Equating our right leaning opposition group involved in the shutdown to the characters in Redneck Rampage (Are you guys members of the Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe or what?)
-Using thanksobama@gog.com as the email address. (Yes you should thank him for creating his healthcare bill without a SINGLE vote from a party other than his own -- it will not stand)

Please refrain from writing about politics in countries other than your own.

Will Howard
Hahahahahahaha... Wait are you serious ? That's silly. Can't they just give some games to some people having a hard time because of politics without you arguing with them about it?
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Psyringe: Welcome to the forums Will, even though you introduced yourself as a spoilsport. ;-p
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willz06jw: It's a very biased post concerning our politics -- I would not have brought up the German "Lotti the Snapping Turtle" problem!
I have no idea what you're referring to, but I certainly hope I haven't lost my ability to laugh about the incapabilities of our own politicians. ;)

I get it that you don't like this promo. And this is exactly one of the reasons why I like GOG - their marketing is not of the "oh my god let's make sure that we're not stepping on anyone's toes" variety. That's why they are often genuinely funny. Of course, when someone's making jokes, there are bound to be some people who don't like them. That's okay. You can either ignore it and enjoy there next couple of jokes which don't touch your personal sore spots, or you can complain publicly and be a grumpy party pooper among a group of people who are laughing in good spirit. Your choice. :)
Post edited October 09, 2013 by Psyringe
Man, that thread subject scared the living crap out of me!
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willz06jw: snip
- I'm in pain, doctor!
- let me see the place where it hurts
- it's mostly my lower back area
- hmm... sir, it seems you have a giant stick up your ass!
Brilliant. Well done, GOG. Thanks for the laugh and the compassion.
Hum, already have Theme Hospital and Redneck Rampage. Capitalism and the Guild look too much windows/text to my tastes (I prefer management games like Zoo Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon) and never played a Colonization-like game. Tropico I already have in Steam....

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JudasIscariot: They do :) It just happens to be a pirated version :P
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keeveek: You sure they're not playing Tropico?
Who plays Tropico are Brazilian politicians...
Post edited October 09, 2013 by gandalf.nho
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willz06jw: It's a very biased post concerning our politics -- I would not have brought up the German "Lotti the Snapping Turtle" problem!
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Psyringe: I have no idea what you're referring to, but I certainly hope I haven't lost my ability to laugh about the incapabilities of our own politicians. ;)

I get it that you don't like this promo. And this is exactly one of the reasons why I like GOG - their marketing is not of the "oh my god let's make sure that we're not stepping on anyone's toes" variety. That's why they are often genuinely funny. Of course, when someone's making jokes, there are bound to be some people who don't like them. That's okay. You can either ignore it and enjoy there next couple of jokes which don't touch your personal sore spots, or you can complain publicly and be a grumpy party pooper among a group of people who are laughing in good spirit. Your choice. :)
Also, aren't the people who write up these promos Americans? O.o I don't know about CD Project RED, but GOG does have staff members who are Americans and as such, shouldn't they be allowed to wank about their own politics?
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willz06jw: CD Projekt RED,

Please quit involving yourself in our politics. I am a big supporter of GOG.com and own dozens of your titles, but you are sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.

Let me list the offensive garbage from your last GOG.com news post:
-America, what are you doing? (None of your concern; Poland, what are you doing -- as if anyone cared)
-People on Capitol Hill who don't know what a functioning government looks like (like the Polish government?)
-Machiavellian Politics (Have nothing to do with the politics surrounding the shutdown - read The Prince)
-It's a shame so many people are upset about medicine and how to treat each other (Did your five year old daughter write that?)
-Equating our right leaning opposition group involved in the shutdown to the characters in Redneck Rampage (Are you guys members of the Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe or what?)
-Using thanksobama@gog.com as the email address. (Yes you should thank him for creating his healthcare bill without a SINGLE vote from a party other than his own -- it will not stand)

Please refrain from writing about politics in countries other than your own.

Will Howard
Howdy, Will;

As the resident American at GOG, the guy who thought this up and convinced my European co-workers that this was topical, and the guy who wrote the above newspost, you can blame me for this one way or the other. I thought I'd just address your response with three points:

1) The foundation of a free society as Americans define it is free speech; to that end, encouraging satire, social commentary, and even contentious speech is fundamental to protecting the civil liberties that you and I both enjoy.
2) You may argue that my exercise of free speech above was poorly chosen. That's your prerogative as someone else who gets to speak freely. As long as you--and everyone else here--stays civil on these forums I'm happy to talk to you about it. One of the things you're most upset about is that you seem to think that this is an external audience laughing at you. I was born in Georgia and grew up in Florida and remain an US citizen. This is not the case that someone from outside America is pointing and laughing at Americans, though, and I didn't want you to think that this is mockery; it's light humor.
3) I understand that tempers may run high around this topic, but casting aspersions and using ad hominem attacks gets you nowhere fast except even more angry. This was a light-hearted jab at both political parties; it's much less scathing political satire than you would see on the The Daily Show or routines from Brad Stine or Tim Young. Please do what you can to keep your collars cool and your temper managed.

The same warning, by the way, applies to the rest of us. We're a global forum, and a global community, and we're pretty well known for being a civil bunch. Let's try to keep it that way. I don't want to have to start modding things like a madman here.