Multiplayer can only be played while connected to the servers hosted by the developers. You can not host a multiplayer game yourself. When the developers shut down the server, you can not play multiplayer anymore and the DLC you've paid for is worthless.

You know what you're buying. It's their choice to offer multiplayer only through Galaxy and DLC that is for it and your choice to buy it or not. If you're not interested in the multiplayer, you don't need to buy the DLC.

actually and technically no, it is not... It is just that the DLC only works with the online version. Different matter entirely, not DRM.

As far as I can tell this is the first and only DLC sold on GOG which is offering something exclusively for always on-line multiplayer. It's not something I, as a long-time customer on GOG, expect from a product sold as DRM-free. Every other item sold on GOG offers you something, that can be used without depending on third-party servers or being on-line.

Digital Rights Management. My right to use the skins provided in this DLC is managed by (depends on) a third party (the developer of the game).

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

No you can't because GOG has already made it clear Denuvo is considered DRM to them... so again were back to what GOG considers to be DRM and in this case they don't consider exclusive DLC for multiplayer as DRM.

As blotunga said, you know what your buying... and people who want that should be able to get that if GOG deems it appropriate for GOG's DRM Free stance.

You don't have a "right" to anything other than the content you pay for... how that content is used or how it can be used shall always be up to the developer. It is a design choice. Not DRM by any means of the word.

The game seems interesting and I appreciate the devs contributing to the discussion.

But Gremlins Inc. and its DLCs shouldn't be sold as is on GOG right now if we assume all games sold here should have at least its single-player portion DRM-Free. Then considering that just Gremlins vs Automatons should be available, with its own store page and description.

As is right now GOG indeed is not a DRM-Free store anymore. And anyone who hasn't done considerable research might purchase Gremlins Inc. assuming it's single-player experience to be fully playable offline, without Galaxy and that is just not the case. From what I read in this thread, the notice on the game's page is misleading ( "PLEASE NOTE: An internet connection and GOG Galaxy are required in order to access the multiplayer content in Gremlins, Inc." ) since you need and internet connection and Galaxy for singleplayer as well.

More discussion of the bigger picture of what is made available in GOG versus at what cost is, as always, necessary.

Right now at the very least there should be a big blue sign by the title of the game saying REQUIRES GOG GALAXY

Other people might have other definitions for DRM, but my definition is: can I still play, watch, look at, listen to or read the product I've bought in 10 years, when the producer of said product (in this case the game developer) and the store where I bought the product (in this case GOG) have both shut down and there is only me, my computer and the backup of my purchase on my hdd.

Up to now, this was true for every item sold on GOG, that I am aware of. There's always something I can still use from the backups of every item I've bought on GOG. Sometimes only single-player might work. Sometimes I might only have a crappy wallpaper to look at, but there is always something still usable contained in every item sold. The Gremlins Inc. skins DLC are the first and only items sold on GOG, which will be unusable once GOG and the developer shut down, so I feel like I only rent a time-limited right to use the contents of said DLC while the servers are still up. This doesn't fit my definition of DRM-free.

It wouldn't have fit GOG's definition for DRM-free up until a year or two ago...

You get both versions in the same purchase. The single player is almost exactly the same minus online item drops. Gremlins, Inc was built as a online game, after complaints the single player was stripped out and made offline in Gremlins vs Automatons.

If you want to play offline then you play Gremlins vs Automatons which is basically the same thing. This is why they are offered together. Had that not happen then yes this would be considered DRM by everyone here because there would be no way to play single player offline.

Agreed and I think that is not the case just for the DLC, what about the base game Gremlins Inc.? Is there even a standalone installer available for it? I would assume not.

That's good and all but still that means the base game Gremlins Inc. is online only and that is a problem.

So? What your complaining about then is semantics. It's the same single player in both versions, and the goal for most of us here on GOG is to be able to play single player free of DRM long after GOG is gone. This is true in this game, as it is in any other game on GOG.

Seems to me, at this point your making a mountain out of a mole hill.

My points are:

1) Gremlins Inc. and Gremlins vs Automatons are two different products:

2) The default Gremlins game is Gremlins Inc. with Gremlins vs Automatons being a side download

And thus

3) Gremlins is sold as a online-only experience by default with an offline experience by the side.

This is a problem if we still consider the store DRM-Free and the Galaxy client optional. The default should be DRM-Free. In principle, it's a similar issue with what happened with GOG considering to bundle offline executables of games to install Galaxy by default.

That is appreciated.

Not really. Hence why they are sold together and not separately. It may be listed as separate products but they are really the same game. If anything I don't think GOG makes this clear enough on the store page.

Again though you are basically talking semantics....

IF Gremlins vs Automatons was completely different and not the same game, and the single player was nothing like the one in Gremlins Inc then I would agree with you 100%. But that's not the case here, Gremlins vs Automatons is basically a fork of Gremlins Inc. and built specifically for people like us (DRM free and offline players) using the same mechanics/ content/ everything.

I would have preferred they just modified Gremlins Inc, but this was an okay compromise and GOG must have agreed. If they did that though, we wouldn't even be talking about this...

Yes, gameing itself is changeing.
It becomes more fluid, interconnected and especially fixed in time.
It can not be preserved like a book or a movie.. instead it is like a theater performance without a chance to adequate record it.

Good old Games was a place, where those wo love to collect, preserve and maybe somewhen pass along their cultural heritage of gaming buy their games. We didn't had to check or inform ourself about the game, we could be sure does whenever we installed the game we will have the best experience that could be preserved.

That has changed.. GOG is changing and adopts what gameing around it does.

Our hope was, if we make GOG financially successful, people would make games for us, that could be preserved and be sold on GOG. Instead GOG turned its back to us and has choosen growth and to do what every else does.

There is no place for us where we can buy our games to collect and build a heritage. I will go back to the underground and try to find and preserve what i love.

Please consider adding as much of what makes your game Gremlins Inc. so unique.. and benefits the gameplay itself.. into Gremlins. Automatons. It might be all that can be interactively revisited in the near future.