So then steam shouldn't be on there either....?
Ahhh yes...timed downloads.....

You dodged the question....

There are divided opinions about that, and this is not the first time such thing is debated. If you ask me or some others, I would say no.
But it is commonly accepted to consider DRM-Free something that has not additional any DRM included in the game's executable, regardless the requisites for installation. So everything depends on your idea of what DRM-Free is... :)

Talking about "installation" complicates the discussion unnecessarily.

Yes, it is true you need a client (which is connected to your online account) to "install" any Steam or Epic game the first time. That happens while (or right after) you download the game with the said client. To a common user it may be hard to tell the difference between "download" and "install", as they both take place automatically one after the other.

However, after that initial download&installation, you don't need the client anymore (for the DRM-free games). How do you "install" that same game to another PC then? By simply copying the files that you already downloaded (and installed) on the first PC. So at that point "installing the game" does not need a client, as it means just copying the game installation directory to the new PC.

Hence, when I talk about downloading a game in Steam or Epic, I am referring to the whole process of downloading the game files, and performing the initial installation. What happens after that determines whether I consider the game DRM-free, or not.

Since you are quoting a quite old post, I guess that I was referring to the profiles back then, that were public by default, until the outcry forced GOG to actually respect the privacy of their customers.

Actually, yeah - I suppose that makes sense, because that's equivalent of going onto here to login (ie steam's client) to download (in this case you go to your games library in your account and click those download links) and then install them and wait, no the installation wouldn't include any redistributables you might need for the playing the game so it might not be comparable to this analogy.....hmmmmmm....
But there was nothing on your profile to be worth hiding from anyways.....unless I'm missing something, please do enlighten me as to what privacy things you want hidden from the outside world....?

Bump for visibility. With GOG's move towards Epic and with their decision to allow DRM on parts of single player games, alternatives have become even more important.

Whether or not the game installer includes all the needed dependencies to run the game on any system has nothing to do with DRM. It has more to do with convenience than DRM.

GOG game installers don't come with e.g. NVidia Geforce drivers that I obviously need in order to play those games. It expects me to install the drivers myself from other sources. Does that mean GOG games are not really DRM-free?

So if your point was "GOG standalone installers are more convenient than downloading a Steam game with a Steam client and then archiving the game install directory for later use", I kinda agree.

If your point was "Steam games can't be considered DRM-free because you need a client to install them the first time and the archived install directory doesn't install DirectX and shit for you when you run the game the first time", then I disagree.

I don't even know what I was on about....but I think I was trying to compare how gog and steam installs their games. Since you can't install steam games via the website with download links that doesn't require their clients, I have to install steam games through the client which means I first need to download and install the client before being able to download and install any of my games. For GoG, I don't need the galaxy client, as I can access the website and download the game installers from there and then install the game. Last I checked, I don't believe GoG installers installs the required dependencies that steam does which of course has no effect on drm, I think I was merely pointing it out.

...but yeah, I think I was probably going for both of those two points you got...

Bump for visibility.

This is a really good post, providing alternative stores to GOG for DRM-free games. Zoom Platform looks quite interesting, although I have some questions about them:

It seems they have an unfortunate name that clashes badly with a major chat application. Even knowing it is there, I literally can't find their site with a web search, because if I search for 'Zoom platform games', the first 3 pages turn up results either relating to Zoom chat or 'platform games', i.e. Super Mario. They badly need to re-brand.

Is there indication anywhere of their level of commitment to DRM-free? I don't see the phrase 'DRM-free' mentioned anywhere on their site, as far as I can see. Also, under 'About Us', several of the owners seem to be ex-execs of quite large publishers (e.g. Sony Entertainment America). They don't exactly strike me as the sort of people who would be natural champions of DRM-free. What reason would I have to believe that, if they were to become big, they wouldn't just conveniently ditch the DRM-free stance and try to be (yet another) Steam or Epic?

In other words, do they actually have strong convictions about DRM-free, or are they just DRM-free at the moment, by virtue of being small and not having the resources/infrastructure to support DRM?

The old version of the site had "100% DRM-free" at the top, and their Facebook and Twitter pages still have that cover image (on virtue of being basically abandoned though), and in emails I exchanged with them before they repeatedly said DRM free is there to stay. But they also said they'll add Paysafecard and then changed their mind about it, and the removal of that badge off the site with this first stage of the redesign is a bad omen.
As for the name, when asked they tend to say that the store first launched in 2014, well before the other Zoom became popular, and while it's been largely dormant for most of the time since then, until these efforts at a (very slow going) relaunch this year, they seem to stick to it.

Doesn't itch have a DRM-Free option or tend to be so?

Hi, thanks for the info. It's encouraging to hear that they do have some strong convictions about DRM-free. However, it seems they do have a bit of a marketing problem, in terms of visibility and their name. Even if they technically had the name first, the Zoom chat app has become very large and mainstream, so the brand clash is not going to do them any favors.

Still, I will check them out and try buying some games from them. Thanks again!

itch is some what DRM free but does have its own client and some titles require it to update or be played at all.