That could be mitigated by a few things:
1) more actual randomness in the queue
2) more rounds with smaller counts per round

You wouldn't have worried quite so much about missing an item while sleeping if it was likely to come up 5 more times rather than just 2. Though that would still leave the problem that certain games would still sell super fast - I know there were a few stretches I hesitated to go to the bathroom lest I miss it.

The only two superfast sales I jumped on were Grimrock and Nox, but I remember watching Vangers send 100 copies off the shelf in multiple rounds and counting my blessings I wasn't in on it.

Though next time I probably would be just to have an item in hand to gift or trade that some people who really wanted missed out on.

You are right, of course, that participating in any sale is entirely optional, and that GOG has plenty of other sales for those who don't like Insomnia. But on the other hand, the thing is that the Imsomina sale had a lot more games on offer than the average sale, it included more recent titles that hardly ever appear in other promos yet, and it had better discounts, so it's not as easy as saying "You don't like this sale, there are plenty of alternatives", because with regard to the actual offers, the other sales aren't as interesting (apart from the holiday sales maybe but it might be several months until the next one). So if you're looking for good deals on newer games now, there is no real alternative to the Insomnia sale for those who hate it, except for the alternative to not buy the games you'd like to buy and of course that sucks for many. I guess that's just the way it is, with so many customers apparantly liking the event, but it is a bit unfortunate that at the same time it has unhealthy effects on others (e.g. you yourself admitted to being stressed out by it and getting your wife upset, which is both your own responsibility but also a side effect of these marketing tactics).

Absolutely. I don't like participating in the sale. It is stressful. It makes me grouchy. In the end though it was worth a few days of mild discomfort to get the deals and games I got. It's a trade off. My wife was a bit upset, and still went out of her way to accommodate me because she is the greatest living being to ever grace this filthy mud ball with her presence. So there's that. Once I realized it wasn't worth stressing over though I started playing the sale like a game. And it ended up working out great for me. :D

All I'm saying is that of the deals were really simple to get, they wouldn't be worth having.

Sounds like you made much better bargains than me then. :D

I think this type of sale is probably a lot more exciting to customers with long wishlists and/or smaller libraries than those (like me) who are just looking out for a handful of games and already own most of the interesting titles. If I could just check the website at any time and still find something of interest, missing out on other interesting games wouldn't matter all that much, and I imagine it would be fun to see what comes up next and just try it. So, yeah, that's first world problems to you. ;)

I agree with everything you said except this. I guess we gamers sometimes think that shopping should be/could be a game too (the Insomnia sale is basically gamification). But shopping is not a game. It's just about paying the least. That's why people were upset when the promo ended prematurely. People couldn't get the cheap prices anymore because GOG had changed the rules.

Besides, waiting in front of a screen is not a very funny game.

Maybe I'm too old but I enjoy my shopping the classical way: comparing prices and values of different competitors and then choosing the best. I want to have influence on the price, not have it determined by a lottery.

I guess the best is not to spent too much time and effort on GOG Insomnia sales. Especially the time is probably very valuable. Don't believe for a second that GOG employees stared at the screen for any long time period, even if they make jokes about it.

But you're looking at it from the consumer side only. from the producer side, you have a deal with GoG that they will only sell x amount at this discount for y amount of time. The reason is lost revenue from possible full price or lesser discounts. Then you look at it from GoG's point of view that every sale made reduces their net profit a little as well. they're making more today, but losing a little down the road. Still, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

This was a fun event over all for many involved. Personally, I'd like to see a similar thought put into it like an auction sale, where gamers get the lowest market price possible. Real supply and demand at work. 50 copies of a game are up for sale and you're bidding on one of them against other purchasers. It really takes the "what's it worth to you" mentality to all new limits. But maybe that's me. I'm of the old school thought that anything worth having is worth working for, and this sale was no exception to me.

That would be interesting. Put up 50 copies of Vangers with a floor of like $1.75 and a ceiling of real cost (or no ceiling? this group can be a bit crazy) for 30 minutes and see what happens.

Announce the rough schedule in advance and give people who really want to bid on games a chance to be there. Slim chance they make less than just a straight $1.99 per unit, but good chance they actually net significantly more.

I had no idea that someone actually wanted a Keaning. :) LOL

With all the moans and groans on the forum, it slipped my mind that some people wanted it. Now that I think about it, I tend to go to bed when a slow seller comes up. :)

But what of someone who has only a limited amount of time each day, and a slow seller comes up just as they start. My scheme at least gives that person a chance.

I like the insomnia sales a lot. The community is the best I've seen in any forum so time seems to fly by, and you get a chance to get games at good prices. Not that I need any more games. I've got more games than I'll ever play in my lifetime. :) I guess we'll have to see what GOG cooks up for their next one. :)

You center the justification for the insomnia sales around the idea that the companies do not want everyone to have the good prices (and that it is fun).

Well if this is true then basically from a consumer point of view the price you get is pretty random, like in a lottery. I don't want an economy where the price basically fluctuates on a hourly or minutely basis by quite a high percentage. This destroys the whole classical competition thing which brought us such a long way. Therefore I should no take part in Insomnia sales and I never did.

It's certainly fun to some as form of a game, probably more than GOG would have thought. But to me, the gaming acitivity is limited to playing the games. Buying is not part of the game but also not part of the work. I worked for the money to pay already before and I do not want to do it twice.

It's okay as long as it makes fun to some, although to others like me it may mean that Insomnia time means to take a big holiday of GOG. The auction idea I actually like more than Insomnia. I wouldn't take part in it but I see the sense in auctions.

Actually I would rather write a programm doing the watching in front of a screen for me than waiting for myself. But then it would become meaningless, then the fastest internet connection would win. So it's really kind of a lottery only. That's the way I see it.

My point is technically true. Companies as a whole want to separate you from as much f your money as humanly possible so that it becomes theirs. It's the natural state. Not every company is like this. GoG for instance does stick to principles despite the impact it has on their ability to market and sell games. But at the heart of every business is the need to continue being a business and necessary to that purpose is your money.

Someone did this. It watches for game changes, or watches for a specific game and plays an alert when the criteria are met. It took a little of the fun, but also a lot of the stress out of the sale for me. But it ensured I didn't miss what I was after overnight.

I bet that weighing the time invested against the money saved could be quite disillusioning for some. By doing some real paid work in the meantime, one might have been able to afford the games at full price and more - in an idealized world where paid work is always available that is. I wouldn't compare participating in the sale as work in the old school sense, it's more like sacrificing a bit of your valuable life time for a few dollars discount. ;)

Questionable. I like the folks at GOG and their priciples as much as the rest of you, but we shouldn't forget that sticking to these principles affects their ability to market and sell games in a positive way, too - it's part of their business strategy. I doubt they could earn a lot more money by dropping the principles rather than by sticking to them.

If you assume that time is worth money. Or that there'd be anything ideal in it.
If you have time but not money, then your time is worth spending in any way that gets you something you want.
Not that they haven't dropped all but one of them already.

And each time they were afraid to boldly admit it up front, because they knew it was bad for business. They never went all the way, always tried to compromise and appease the community, and for good reason. And if they would drop the last principle, I dare say they would be doomed to join the ranks of all those rather irrelevant "other stores" besides Steam, instead of making a bigger profit.

Exactly. :) I did the same, in the hope that I miss as few games as possible this way.

I also did that for the 3rd round after missing a game I wanted already twice. Didn't know there was even a thread about it. But getting waked up several times during your night when you have multiple games on alert is still hard. And completely automating the purchase is above my skills and moreover, above my trust. I would not let a script automatically purchase things with my credit card data without control. :)

Edit: Wow, even a portable script. :) While mine was a quick hack which only runs on Linux and therefore wouldn't be useful for most of the people here.

...but wouldn't using a script be considered cheating?

The fact someone made this script to save time really says something about the promo itself.
It wasted many peoples time by making them have to sit at the screen hour after hour.
And [inserd your deity here] forbid you have to sleep, eat or perform any other bodily function as you will be punished for being a human and the deal is gone.

Like some others, I am not young any more either. I can't do it any more. I just wish there was a normal sale alternative with a 80% discount for the games I would have wanted. But I know it won't happen, GoG won't do that because they can't build up hype with it and they would lose a chance of making some people make impulse purchases and some people buy the game at full price out of frustration after the sale.

I missed Vangers and X-Wing Special edition every time because I could not subject myself to the sleep-deprivation torture.
Now I am still recovering from this sales-triggered Crohn's Disease flareup... Yeah, can anyone spot the problem I have with "Insomnia" sales?

Also, I don't think the critical hits were really truly random.