Continuing from my
prior post on the subject, here are some specific things I wanted to talk about:
User tags for library: Having this option is a nice thing at a base level. Giving a game a certain specification can help with weeding through games while searching for them. Multiple tags per game is nice, too, something I don't see much of anything else do. That's at a base level, though. What it forces out is not just a disappointment, but an outrage.
Changelogs: I'm surprised such an option isn't mandatory for game sites nowadays. It seems like something so essential to playing modern games that get constantly updated, and even some older titles garnering new support. I share the same concern as many others about this new feature: what "the most popular, latest titles" means. Changelogs should be mandatory for
all games, regardless of how old or popular they are. It's important for consumers to be informed on what is going on with their purchased content. The system is overall an upgrade from what we had before, but age and significance shouldn't play a factor in whether or not a game gets a changelog. It should get one just on the principle of people needing to be informed.
Chat: I personally like the switch to a proper chat system. However, I understand why others liked the private message system. I like PM systems on other sites, too. Can't there be room for both to coexist? Many other sites have two different person-to-person message systems, so I don't see why this one can't, either.
I'm still waiting for one of my PM chains to get imported to the new system, BTW. Proper game versioning: I don't have much to say about this. I just find it amusing now whenever I see a game whose version number is "GOG[number]". Goes to show you how little certain developers care about keeping their games running well. This is a great feature to have for chronicling the development of games and is crucial for proper archival of the medium.
Pagination: Who is this group that "much requested" this to come back? And in a forced manner? This issue doesn't affect me because I haven't purchased enough games for it to come into effect. However, I feel for the many people here who have supported this site like no other and have purchased hundreds of games from it. We should always be allowed to have the choice to see all games in our collection at one time if we so choose. Just give us an option to configure how many games appear per page. Here are some good options:
25,
50,
100,
250, and
All.
Text titles: First off, I agree that games should be searchable with the "search" command in their given browser. It makes things more convenient. My focus here will be on its resulting effect: the loss of box art. I'm a guy who generally doesn't like box art on games. They don't tend to be done well because the people who make them often fail to properly convey the proper message of the game. This is especially true for someone like me who lives in the United States, where all box art has to feature a suite of characters with a weapon in their hands and their head tilted downwards to show seriousness because people here lack imagination. I thought it was impossible to get box art universally correct... until I joined GOG.com. Never before had I seen box art chosen so meticulously and properly before. Each box art conveyed the tone and meaning of each game while keeping whatever themes consistent that needed to be consistent. It was something that always put a smile on my face when I went to choose a game to play. It really was like my own personal game collection at home, but online. Now, you've taken that away by force. The new game look is, by comparison, bulky and unprofessional. We should be allowed to use game box arts if we want to.
"Manual sorting is no more.": Oh boy. Here comes the biggest problem. The claim that making a functional manual sorting system was "beyond [y]our reach" is a boldfaced, unabashed lie. It doesn't take much effort to make a manual sorting list. I even saw an example of how to do it on the coding end by an earlier poster! Maybe the issue is that your new filtering and tag system would interfere with it. Here's what you do: make "manual sorting" a toggle for people's libraries. If "manual sorting" is selected, ignore all tags. When searching for something in the search bar, show all games in order of relevance, regardless of what sort order is chosen. And here's the thing: tags will never recreate the same level of customization as manual sorting. Oftentimes there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the way people sort games except to oneself. Just like with a real collection, two games may be placed together just because a person feels like it, then may place one of those games elsewhere on their shelves on a whim. This is how a displayed game collection should be: whatever the user wants.
I miss manual sorting. By the way GOG.com team, I agree with the sentiment that many others have shared here. Please remove the "100% yours" claim in the first post. At this point, it's clearly a lie and false advertising. We have less ownership of the look of our game collection than ever before here. If anything, this claim is just taking the piss out of all of us users who have spent much time and money supporting you for all of these years.
The fact that you have failed to see what the users have wanted and have failed to properly communicate to us about our critiques on the site in a satisfying manner speaks volumes about the managing of the whole situation. I hesitate to use the word "incompetence" because it's clear that these features are meant to actually boost the user experience. The primary problem is that many new issues have popped up that never needed to occur in the first place. I know that me adding my opinion doesn't ultimately mean much as others have already spoken in great detail about these issues, but I hope that my opinion is still valued. Plus, the more people voicing their opinion on the issue with detail, the better.
There's still a chance to turn things around and fix the new problems with the account system. However, what GOG Galaxy once promised has currently become a great disappointment.
