Both names seem to be correct. "Liberate Hong Kong" brings up results easily; "Karma" got released on itch.io: https://herstory.itch.io/karma/devlog/110824/karma-trad-chinese-version-released-karma

I'm just quoting that other bit since I want to clarify I don't see that strategy as evil. It is the best thing they can do to satisfy China's restriction fetish while leaving other countries alone. But their recent guidelines have still been confusing for quite a number of devs, especially if their game has anime aesthetic. It's like they want to confirm USA based companies don't want to give in to the "lewd". (In contrast, if I'm not mistaken, Japan is fine with actual lewd stuff, but really adverse towards explicit gore.)

Of course they didn't. That would be too risky for the business in China. ... actually I don't blame them that much for making that financially motivated decision (regrettable as it may be). But I do blame them for their ridiculously dishonest justification for that decision. That was just cowardly and shows that GOG is going to great lengths to avoid open communication with their customers. ... A point where they used to excel in, many years ago.

There are different levels of boycott.

Company does something bad, but you still wish that they could still redeem themselves, you will tell them why you are boycotting them. Maybe they will rethink what they are doing.

Company does bad things and you now wish them financial ruin - do just what you suggested, leave and let them die off (maybe) if you don't support them anymore.

Company does something evil enough that it demands that you boycott them and name and shame them publicly and wish that everyone else boycott them too.

GOG can still redeem themselves. No need to book plane tickets to Poland so that we can burn effigies outside GOG HQ. They might not be the good small guys anymore, but they are not entirely evil corporate yet either.

And just try to be a Nelson Mandela in China. You will end up in prison camp or dead pretty fast, or having to run to exile like Dalai Lama.

Thank you for taking the time to make this thread.

Although some pro-DRM measures from GOG that you mention are quite concerning, I don't think they have yet crossed the line in this regard... yet. However, their kowtowing to Chinese Communist Party goons was clearly beyond the pale, particularly as it was accompanied by throwing their legitimate customers under the bus ("many gamers", heh).

So, I was already doing a loose, silent boycott (this Winter Sale was pretty good for my wishlisted games, but I didn't buy anything), which I intended to suspend in the improbable event that GOG implemented "Action 1" (a Devotion release, even if it was locked in China), or some honest, good faith, explanation to its customers and an APOLOGY TO DEVOTION'S DEVELOPERS (arguably even more unlikely than a discreet region-locked release).

I wasn't sure how strict this boycott would be, considering the lack of options due the appalling state of western companies and general population (just see the dishonest, oblique criticism of principled positions by phony cynics in this and similar threads). But honestly I don't see me buying here in quite a while, if ever.

Heck, at least Steam has resisted some cancellation brigades thanks to Newell's wise "publish-anything" policy (that store will be utter garbage when that man goes away), but it seems like GOG folds whenever "many gamers" (virtual mobs) put their target on the political enemy du jour, stepping on their partners and customers without a second thought.

So you can put me in the soft-boycott team (even though I'm making a full boycott, I don't want to give the "PRC defense committee" here ammunition if my evaluation of a changing situation makes me stop it).

I don't believe this will change anything, but that's not the reason I'm doing it. Honestly tired of bankrolling people that spit on my principles.

I gel with the idea. I love DRM-Free gaming and hate that GOG is slipping into an entity controlled by a foreign government or it's supporters because of greed for money they may or may not even need. Most companies that capitulate to China specifically are just plain greedy for that bonus cash as they were making billions before the Chinese market opened to them.

I will not boycott because it is my prerogative. That may change if they slide further from their position. But I support you for this and thank you for acting now to try and enact change, however effective or ineffective that might be.

Well as they say, things often get lost or misunderstood in translation ... though you seem to be mastering the art, so kudos to you.

Alas things never stay the same for long, and it usually pays to move with the times, grow your pie, adjust your approach, etc. You can't please all of the people all of the time. GOG served a different demographic in the beginning to what they do now no doubt, even though many from the earlier group remain, albeit as a much smaller ever dwindling proportion. Objectives change over time. And you have to admire that they have lasted this long with the DRM-Free objective, which while popular amongst a lot of customers (especially old ones), is much less popular amongst DEVs and PUBs and the younger demographic.

The Lion's share of Gamers, seem quite happy with Steam, and that is where most of the money lies, and most of the youth no doubt. GOG cannot stay static or hope to survive if they take that approach, so often survival means compromise. The trick is staying true enough to yourself while doing so. While GOG still provide the greater proportion of their games DRM-Free, they are mostly staying true to their original aim, and while I am not happy about some GOG things, life always tends to be give and take and you need to be flexible. Sometimes you need to change DRM believers and supporters from the inside out ... lure them in and show them the benefits of DRM-Free ... like with China, that sometimes means meeting them half way ... diplomacy is what works, not war.

Certainly as a Gamer Society, more are used to and happy with Steam etc now, than they were 12 years or so ago ... most have just gotten used to Steam and not really known much else. That means as a percentage, DRM-Free lovers are now a smaller section of the Gamer Society pie. So it has become a much tougher sell in some regards. Maybe GOG hoped the situation would be far better by now, and so are taking a different approach. They may have the same ideal, but are taking a more devious way to get there, and because none of us are on a need to know standing, we just see and think the worst.

Well I feel I have already said what I needed or felt compelled to say. It is just responding to those who misunderstood or missed bits that keeps me responding now. The occasional thing needs further illumination. So hardly worth a PM over it, where we would no doubt just cover old ground. I prefer PMs to be less serious and more light-hearted ... like a chat between friends.

First off, there's no way in hell I'm abandoning GOG. As long as they adhere to DRM-Free policies. That's why I'm here. Humble quit doing it, sans a bunch of shitty shovelware they release on the trove. I'm sorry if someone here may have made those games, they're shitty and they're a waste of time and effort.

Yeah, they push galaxy a lot. I don't care, because I do not use it nor the steam client. In fact, I just buy games from Steam, hop on my ship and get a version without DRM that way. So the developer gets their money and so does steam, but I don't have to download the damn client.

Let me give it to you straight. I do not have an internet connection, I use my mobile for everything. So that means I also don't play anything online, nor do I care about PVP, multi-player or anything that isn't SP or couch co-op. I only download offline installers. I've experienced no real problems with most of the games, sans ancient titles that do not run well on Windows 10 to begin with. I just count it a loss and move on. Those older games are not very expensive anyway. Sure, it would be nice if someone could fix them, but that would come in the form of development, which happened with the Terminal Cuts of Bloodrayne 1&2 which fixed all the problems. GOG are not miracle workers, some of these games just aren't ever going to work properly no matter how many tweaks are added and some definitely require patches and such to be able to function. Now GOG could have added these, they added the fan patch for VTMB.

I have no idea what's going on with epic and I've just ignored galaxy. My offline installers don't even ask me to install galaxy, they just show games I can buy, like has been since the beginning.

I get the Devotion situation, but it is a really shitty game. I watched the playthrough of it and I have so many bones to pick with all of these developers regarding "survival horror games."
In a real survival situation, a person can and will use any object to defend themselves. I have been in those situations before, so I have experience. The first thing you pick up is what you will need to defend yourself. Even Resident Evil knew that a knife was "not enough for this mission." Yet somehow the creator of Penumbra (which I hated) gained fame through reaction channels on YouTube and was able to push crap like Amnesia which led to Outlast, where you are a grown man running around with a camera in a dangerous situation. I get that it is a game, but it doesn't make sense. I should be able, as a player to use anything and everything that I can get my hands on as a means of defense. Devotion interested me, until I realized that you can't just pick up the pot sitting in the sink and bash someone over the head with it. Laugh if you want, that is how survival works and I blame all these reaction youtubers for making these unrealistic survival games popular. Maybe if Taiwan releases something that isn't a knock off of Amnesia or Outlast, then I will be interested. And this is no troll. I would very much head to Taiwan, go to Red Candle Games personally and explain to these developers who have dealt with real survival situations involving China that this does not reflect true survival. And yes, the monster, demon or enemy should also be able to use items against you. This way, you aren't just walking around, dealing with occasional jump scares, or a moment of chase - rather you are armed and have a fighting chance against something that is equally armed and can use everything in the same area against you. That's true survival. Not running around with a camera like an idiot. But that's enough, I have already written a whole article about this on my website. Survival should be survival.

I've been a loyal supporter of GOG for a while, and there's really nowhere else I buy my games. Itch has a bunch of shovelware and woke garbage, aside from a few notable titles. You know, GOG even went back on their no visual novel policy and started putting them up. Now I'm not gonna forgive them about Senran Kagura, which was going to go up DRM-Free according to Xseed. I guess that fell through and I'd had the money ready for it. Damn, I was looking forward to some "ninja waifu combat clothes ripping action." I even asked Xseed about it and the publisher did not respond. Bizarre. But I got over it.

Ultimately, I'm here to stay as long as there is nothing else. I'd love for all PC gamers to just boycott all the companies and refuse new releases, even indie titles until DRM was removed and offline installers were mandatory for every game ever released on PC and I am not kidding. You can do this with adult hentai and porn games via MangaGamer, Jast and DLSite, so why do these big tech companies have to force their clients and
DRM when it comes to non-adult games? Heck, I'd rather it be like the old days, where you just enter a code to install the game that you would get in a manual (which would in this case be an email or a purchase message). But that's more extreme than the OP. Yeah, it can be a bit much to want all PC gamers to boycott every PC game ever released with DRM until DRM is no longer a thing, nor clients, but that's my dream. People are gonna pirate the stuff anyway, but hey - at least some people still pay for it.

So my demands:

- Keep it DRM-Free

- Add defensive items into Penumbra, Amnesia, Outlast 1&2, Soma, Devotion and every other "survival horror" game where I'm expected to run around like a defenseless idiot.

- Remove DRM from every PC game in existence and make clients optional. That is my ideal game shopping experience. Quit treating your customers like criminals. People buy things they enjoy.

This is the issue that is almost making me go back to Steam. If I am going to have DRM games anyway, why not the largest platform?This might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.First thing you said that I disagree with. Those incentives are for people to use the Galaxy. It's marketing. And trust me, you didn't miss anything in Cyberpunk 2077. Just some clothing (and not very good stats) that have the Witcher logo. And it's FPP so you don't see your clothes anyway. It's just fancy marketing -- "here's free stuff! It's shiny and sparkling! Completely useless, but it's free!" If it would be some bonus quest or something actually useful, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. But it's cosmetics in Cyberpunk 2077. It's cool to have, but you don't miss anything if you don't have it. Exactly the type of bonus that I am ok with in this kind of marketing.I did not know this. Agreed. Completely unacceptable if they want to keep the non-DRM reputation.Also a good reason. I am not interested in this game so I have not followed any news. Did not know about this, but if they are bending the knee to one country, they are probably going to be influenced by many others. It doesn't make sense. I can't play a game because someone in China doesn't like the game?Oh, that has opened already? And they accept registrations now? Cool. Haven't been there since it was just an info page.No. Good points, though. I do understand and even agree on all but one point (that those less than worthless marketing bonuses in Galaxy 2 would make non-Galaxy users any less valuable), but so long as GOG is not switching to Epic-style store and fill this full of DRM games, I am still going to stick with this.

But Steam is also bending the knee to China and is even creating a custom Steam app to conform to Chinese Censor laws.

Everyone do this. Sony, Nintendo, MS, etc.

At least steam does not remove games because "the gamers" say so.

Actually Steam has been accused of blocking games that the CCP would have issue with

https://gamerant.com/hong-kong-protest-game-china-ban-steam/

Didn't knew about that. Screw steam too, then.

The simple matter is, corporations have forgotten, that they are the property of the customers... We pay the salaries, but we dont get the product...

You know, like Twitter banning the sitting president from communicating with the public. Which is a federal crime, it is under law that the sitting president has the right to communicate by any means... But who does Twitter work for? Not the people who made it worth anything...
Uh no, I made a sound argument for why 'story telling' and 'engine mechanics' are not the same thing... And all people did was drone on and on about how they dont know the difference between 'narrative' and 'coding'

Its been a while, but i recall some retard saying 'the game was pulled in different directions by people in development' but i still dont see any schizophrenic behavior in the story telling... Its a fluid, well thought out narrative. But hey, you cant argue with drunks...

And if I respond poorly to people mocking me for having a thread with a stated purpose that was brazenly ignored by nearly everyone... Then that is still less abusive, then, a mob of mockers who are too stupid to understand what they were talking about...

I looked at Zoom. Definitely want to check the "About Us" section. Right now it looks like a knock-off of classic GOG, but I read some stuff at the bottom that says they plan to turn it into a vehicle for their own original media. A lot of former corporate heads in there too, so don't expect them to not bend the knee eventually, or get bought out entirely.

This whole banning thing is a product of cancel culture, which is truly the dumbest thing your generation ever came up with. It's also a bit communist and let me explain why. You're allowing essentially, a group of people decide what you can and cannot support. Instead of a man having his free will to do what he may, that good old rugged Individualism that my country was founded on, we have small and very loud groups of people dictating choices for everyone.

"You can't like that. If you do, then you are a bad person."

Speaking of China, that is the same rhetoric they used to push the social credit system. So it is pretty darn ironic that someone would want to boycott Steam and GOG and all these other platforms because they support a country that adheres to the same social strata that a person is using to boycott them. Just seems a bit ironic and rather silly.

Sure, you can continue to hassle GOG's forums and social media talking about how upset you are over the Devotion situation (Cyberpunk is in fact more justified, I understand the upset there) even though China is eventually going to be the next big world power after the US fragments, which many sources have predicted. Maybe Poland kinda realizes that and it hasn't really sunk in with a lot of other countries yet. Well, you'll find out sooner rather than later.

And you have to think about it this way - if China wasn't considered a threat to business and/or livelihood, we probably would not have so many companies capitulating to them. I know there's a lot of "screw China" and "screw the CCP" folks here and I understand how they feel. But maybe, just maybe, some of these large corporations know something that we don't and that's why they've bent the knee.

GOG silence continues, I would be fine with GOG saying that China threatened them somehow so that's why Devotion had to go, but still nothing has been said. Sigh.

So I went and deleted my entire GOG Wishlist.

Also appropriate Community Wishlist entry https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/tell_the_gog_team_we_arent_appreciating_their_work_anymore