Not discussing the war itself, just going to leave my thoughts on the GOG Russian ban, if such thing is still allowed before this wave of hate towards EVERYTHING Russian in the west, reaching levels of xenophobia honestly.

Disclaimer: I am not Russian, yes my avatar said so, did it for the memes back then (reason is "Sickle" in my nickname), believe what you will, ok? good.

I believed CDPR always put the costumer above anything else, so it came in as a shock to me how this same company could do such a childish and short-sided move. We all know this will achieve absolutely nothing to change the war, this will not hit the figures responsible for the war.
What this will achieve is a good argument for piracy and the alienation of the Russian consumer who has nothing to do with this, perhaps even reinforce the idea to a few Russians that everyone here in the west is out against them, which is something counterproductive to what CPDR claims trying to achieve with this ban.

The romantic idea that this ban is somehow going to "inspire" peace or warever come out as pitiful and laughable, you are just jumping on a bandwagon CDPR, don't kid yourselves.

This was my favorite platform thanks to the no-drm and consumer friendly policy, but this just leaves me with a bad taste.
I will no longer buy games here, like the Russian players who also enjoyed this platform.

Yup.

Couple of days ago Israel attacked Syria, again, and the United States Of America attacked Somalia again. There are no repercussions neither the globalist media reports about these two current wars. It is all about Russia.

Together we are strong.

No, one platform doing this won't cause the people to rise up against a government which is attacking another country and killing civilians there. You are correct. It will not bring peace on it 's own and in fact it would be impossible to do so on its own.

BUT....

MANY platforms doing this might cause the people of the nation to have enough discomfort to rise up and get rid of their government leaders and replace them with others who will then cause sanctions and other things to be done away with.

I do not speak for GOG so I do not know if the same things apply from them as they do from everyone else. I can only speak of what I have heard.

If this is in line with the other types of Sanctions that are occurring against Russia currently, then it COULD be temporary (or so I expect).

I think the terms asked for are that either Putin steps down (or is taken down by his own people) and a complete withdrawal of Russia from Ukraine, or Resolve shown by the Russian government to right the things they have done by invading Ukraine.

I think the idea is that this does not just hit those who are in power, but also causes enough unrest among those who have supported or put those in power to cause them to take those people OUT of power.

There are people suffering on both sides (Russia and Ukraine) right now. There are Ukraine citizens that have lost their fathers and children have been killed by the Russian artillery and bombs. On the other side there are Russian soldiers that have not eaten in DAYS. They are being left to rot by their superiors. There are those protesting in Russia being jailed or worse. There are those that may suffer medically from lack of proper medications and other medical materials due to the sanctions if it continues longer.

This entire thing is tragic, War is a terrible thing and should not happen. Compared to what is happening in the big picture, this is a very small thing. It is done to be united with the other efforts to end the war that is happening.

One company may not be able to change anything, but many might.

Together they are strong.

As per GOG's Statement...

"While we are not a political entity capable of directly influencing state matters, and don’t aspire to be one, we do believe that commercial entities, when united, have the power to inspire global change in the hearts and minds of ordinary people. We know that players in Russia and Belarus, individuals who have nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine, will be impacted by this decision, but with this action we wish to further galvanize the global community to speak about what is going on in the heart of Europe."

Yes, if GOG wants to use "morality" as a reason to ban...

... then there won't be anyone left here to purchase anything.

Just remind the "least immoral" country to turn the GOG lights out when they leave.

Yeah, sure. People who say they won't protest out of fear will change their mind cause you don't let them buy games. What an absolutely stupid hypocritical bullhit.

Let's call "enough discomfort" what it is...

Killing and starving innocent people through economic means in order to coerce them into regime change. (BTW Stalin starved the Kulaks to get them to embrace Communism.)

And even then...

... what regime change using those methods has ended in betterment for the populace?

Reading through these threads is depressing. People are being led like sheep to destinations they don't even understand.

Honestly, "people" need to understand that all this is not about them or for them. It is about geopolitics, money and power and we all do not know what Putin knows. Neither you nor I or billions of other people are in that club which will make money from this.

The situation in the Ukraine is complicated, was already complicated for several years. I wrote a long answer for another threat, decided not to post it, but will not write it all again. Instead I'll link to Patrick Henningsen and his take. I think it is a good take on the situation we are in:

Henningsen, one of the few good journalists

I see GOG has it share of PUtin's useful idiots.

The Russian/Belarus ban is only going to hurt the russian/belarus gamers and it doesn't help the people of Ukraine in any way shape or form.
This ban is a knee-jerk reaction on banning Russians from everything. What are you going to do when the USA invades a country? Are you going to ban them to?
Just focus on gaming, GOG.

Exactly.

But actions done in the name of helping innocents is often anything but.

Why is GOG not donating to Red Cross or any of a million refugee and victims organizations?

The fact they are not leads toward other motives.

You cite a right wing crackpot website. Nice.

It cuts off a revenue of tax. Every sale puts money in the Russian Government's coffers. This is an extension of the sanctions already put in place by (almost) every other country in the world. Not to mention, GOG are based in Poland and Ukraine is right on their border. They have a vested interest in stopping Putin advancing further. What's next after he's done with Ukraine?

Quite a lot of nutjobs are on there. I did not want to use the original Facebook link, so I looked for another site. YouTube showed me crickets and BitChute showed me a hit.

And what he says is for sure not a right wing perspective.

See oil rise? Russia is making more record profits in oil revenue by selling to China, India, and Turkey. This incursion is actually making them money! $120/barrel oil today!

No, if GOG wanted to help people, it would have donated proceeds to Red Cross or other refugee organizations. That's helping people.

So why don't they do it?

One, they can't afford to ATM. Two, they are being pushed to create an economic blockade (and my guess is their Russian sales are low enough -- or they are being paid enough by "outside sources" -- to make this cut). That's why.