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General discussionIntroducing GOG Wallet, the simplest way to pay (289 posts)(289 posts)
(289 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted August 30, 2016
Pay with one click, avoid additional bank fees, and track your gaming budget!



Today, we're rolling out the GOG Wallet, a highly-requested quality-of-life feature aimed at gamers who frequently face international bank fees, use pre-paid debit cards, or prefer the extra convenience and control over their budget.

The GOG Wallet is designed to be user-friendly and flexible: top-up your Wallet with any amount between 5 USD and 500 USD (or the local equivalent) using any payment method; if you're using a pre-paid card, or you're just a bit short on Wallet funds, you can easily combine GOG Wallet funds with other payment methods during checkout. It's easy, fast, and totally safe.

Additionally, any store credit earned with the Fair Price Package (if a product costs more in your country than in the US, we always make up the difference) will now be automatically added to your GOG Wallet funds. Nobody likes to take time out of their gaming to do math, so we're doing it for you!



To kickstart your GOG Wallet and learn about the details, make your way to <span class="bold">www.gog.com/wallet</span>.
Posted August 30, 2016
HOORAY!

This keeps getting better!
Posted August 30, 2016
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neurasthenya: HOORAY!

This keeps getting better!
lol, I like your enthusiasm. ˆˆ

Maybe gog emails somehow went to the Trash section of Alf's email, that's why he thinks gog doesn't send emails when a stranger tries to login with his account.

It always (really, always) did to me when a 'stranger' (me, in a different computer) tried to login. It sends a mysterious code to my email. Code that only I will know, since I'm a little paranoid and my password is a 'bit' exaggerated.

"Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another."
Post edited September 25, 2016 by almabrds
Posted August 30, 2016
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Epitaph666: we need a FALL INSOMNIA PROMO to check this new feature.

ASAP
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Matruchus: SECONDED
Third it.
Posted August 30, 2016
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Bookwyrm627: And cost GOG a couple million? On the flip side, if people did go buying money to spend the dollar, then they might have come out ahead.
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IAmSinistar: Doesn't cost them anything, unless there is a pathway to turn Wallet funds back into real money. Otherwise it's all virtual bucks on a non-physical product, and the worst case there is that they have to eat a little of the profit margin to pay residuals back to the publishers who expect the games to sell at full price. I imagine it would still leave a very nice net profit for GOG.
Actually, the worst case is that most of that money would be paid into dormant accounts and GOG would never see it again. That's why similar rebates/gifts elsewhere (say, at Ticketmaster-type companies) are typically a) time-limited, and b) based on coupon codes that need to be redeemed. Nobody just gives all their customers money straight-up.
Posted August 30, 2016
Guess this will make a good number of people happy. Though one has more than one GOG Wallet if more currencies are available to them.

And I see the User Agreement has been updated with Section 6.16-6.18, and Wallet FAQ #7 speaks of "in-game purchases".


From the Wallet FAQ [emphasis added]:
GOG Wallet funds provided by us as ‘Free Wallet’ combined with GOG Wallet funds purchased by you using real money: no expiry date until that total balance is reduced to zero (at which point the process resets again)
From the User Agreement [emphasis added]:
Free Wallet is valid for one year unless it is mixed with any GOG Wallet funds obtained with real money, in which case the total balance will not have any expiry date until that total balance is reduced to zero (at which point the process resets again).
Could a blue text shed some light how exactly this "combined" and "mixed with" works in practice?
Posted August 30, 2016
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Zeyes: Actually, the worst case is that most of that money would be paid into dormant accounts and GOG would never see it again. That's why similar rebates/gifts elsewhere (say, at Ticketmaster-type companies) are typically a) time-limited, and b) based on coupon codes that need to be redeemed. Nobody just gives all their customers money straight-up.
Again, it's not real money. It's a number in the system which causes $1 to be deducted from the next purchase. GOG doesn't need to put out any actual money, they only need to cover the discrepancy in the difference as to how much is profit to the publisher. For example, if the publisher gets $2 on the sale of a $6 game, and GOG pockets the rest, then GOG only gets $3 on a game where someone used the $1 gift, as opposed to their usual $4. You can see this as GOG out a dollar, or more realistically as GOG up three dollars.

Once more, this assumes there isn't a way to withdraw money from the wallet as real cash. If there is, then my proposal is indeed unworkable, as it theoretically means an outlay of real money for GOG. But if that's not the case then GOG loses very little by implementing my scheme.

All moot anyway, as they've debuted the Wallet sans free gift, so any subsequent act would probably garner less initial interest than pairing it with the launch would have.
Posted August 30, 2016
Thank you! <3
Posted August 30, 2016
Will there be GOG Wallet cards in stores soon? Because this is so close to what Steam Wallet does, but you still have to use Paypal for this, it seems.
Posted August 30, 2016
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Starmaker: Two people buying each other something preordered off the (probably virtual) shelf is a shitty practice. It doesn't need defending. It can't be defended from a rational position. Appeal to common practice is not rational.
I might agree or not based on whether you think being nice to each other is rational or not.
And how is saying that buying a gift requires some thought and effort put into it an appeal to common practice? Hardly a RATIONAL accusation.
Post edited August 30, 2016 by Taro94
Posted August 30, 2016
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HypersomniacLive: Could a blue text shed some light how exactly this "combined" and "mixed with" works in practice?
If your wallet only contains Free Wallet, there is an expiration date. If your wallet contains both Wallet Funds (aka you've specifically bought funds), there is no expiration date.
Posted August 30, 2016
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IAmSinistar: Again, it's not real money. It's a number in the system which causes $1 to be deducted from the next purchase.
I'm pretty sure GOG's accountants would disagree with you that it's not real money. Possibly also their legal department, because what you suggest sounds to me as though it would potentially violate a bunch of laws concerning how companies need to treat assets that technically belong to their customers. Again, there are reasons why such rebate promotions normally require active participation by the customer, and aren't just "let us put some free money into your customer account".
Posted August 30, 2016
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Zeyes: I'm pretty sure GOG's accountants would disagree with you that it's not real money.
They could have added it as Free Wallet (old Store Credit), which means it would have an expiration date of 1 year. That would cover most of the differences, since they are giving us "real money" when we do a specific task (buy a game that costs more than the US price). A good accountant/lawyer could argue that "Having an account on GOG registered before August 29, 2016" counts as a specific task.
Posted August 30, 2016
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Zeyes: I'm pretty sure GOG's accountants would disagree with you that it's not real money. Possibly also their legal department, because what you suggest sounds to me as though it would potentially violate a bunch of laws concerning how companies need to treat assets that technically belong to their customers. Again, there are reasons why such rebate promotions normally require active participation by the customer, and aren't just "let us put some free money into your customer account".
Okay, once again, the problem is in symbolically viewing GOG Wallet funds as analogous with cash. They are only so if I can withdraw GOG Wallet funds and convert them back into cash. If I cannot, then they are no different then me buying a handful of tokens at an old coin-op arcade. I have converted cash into a form of scrip which is only valid with a certain vendor. The fact that I have to spend money to "earn" tokens means it is real money for me, but it is not correspondingly money for the person who owns the tokens to hand them out. It represents at most a fractional loss of potential profits for them to do that, offset by the opportunity of actual profits. (If an arcade gives me a free token every time I buy four for a dollar, they aren't "losing" a quarter, they are motivating me to give them a dollar. At most they lose the potential costs incurred by me using the free token instead of buying one more.)

So, in short, if it's a two-way transaction (I buy GOG Wallet funds with money and can convert GOG Wallet funds back into money), then the problem is as you suggest. But if it's a one-way transaction (I buy GOG Wallet funds and they become electronic dollars that can only be spent at GOG and never turned back into actual cash), then my original proposal holds water.

I don't know how to make it simpler.

EDIT: typo
Post edited August 30, 2016 by IAmSinistar
Posted August 30, 2016
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almabrds: I get a new email every time I access my account in a different computer. I'm forced to insert a random code, otherwise I can't access my stuff.
Wouldn't I receive an email if someone else tried accessing my account, too?
It most likely would, the system doesn't know who is trying to login (unless Skynet is real xP), it would assume it's me, and would send me the code, by email.
I would change my passwords immediately after receiving this suspicious email. Pretty useful, in my book.
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JMich: Still, 2FA has nothing to do with the notification that your settings have been changed. 2FA does prevent unauthorized changes, unless of course you decide it's too much hassle and don't use it, in which case the only one at fault is you.
Ok, I get it. The system is useful if I can and want to use it. But could you please acept that there are people who can't or don't want to use it the way it exist (maybe I don't have access to my mailbox all the time). How exactly would it lower security if there would be an optional 2FA for password changes only?

That someone knows the password to my GOG account, doesn't mean he knows the password to my mail as well. It could still prevent a takeover of my account before it happens. It might not be as secure as 2FA for everything, but right now we only have the choice between 0% security and 100% security. How about some more options to make the system more comfortable for everyone?
Post edited August 31, 2016 by PaterAlf
Posted August 30, 2016
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JMich: They could have added it as Free Wallet (old Store Credit), which means it would have an expiration date of 1 year. That would cover most of the differences, since they are giving us "real money" when we do a specific task (buy a game that costs more than the US price). A good accountant/lawyer could argue that "Having an account on GOG registered before August 29, 2016" counts as a specific task.
Which would still require terms of conditions to be drawn up specifically for this one promotion, because the existing terms covering store credit clearly only apply to the case of games being bought. And I suspect on the accounting side it would still have to count as a bottom line-reducing liability even if there's a time limit in place.

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IAmSinistar: Okay, once again, the problem is in symbolically viewing GOG Wallet funds as analogous with cash. They are only so if I can withdraw GOG Wallet funds and convert them back into cash. If I cannot, then they are no different then me buying a handful of tokens at an old coin-op arcade.
Sigh. There's no difference to you as a customer. I'm suggesting that there are very real differences to GOG as a corporate entity, and they're very much non-trivial. If you're unable to grasp that distinction even now, I really don't know what to say anymore.


Edit: Incidentally, your coin-op example only serves to muddy the waters, because that's exactly the type of scenario I was talking about where the customers have to actively involve themselves in receiving the "virtual cash". It doesn't just materialize out of thin air as in the unworkable feel-good promo you were suggesting.
Post edited August 30, 2016 by Zeyes
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionIntroducing GOG Wallet, the simplest way to pay (289 posts)(289 posts)
(289 posts)