You don't need a GOG account to play the games, just to buy them

The mtx shop F76 has is *completely* incompatible with your hipoptetical "online f2p version" on GOG, because it would to constantly check for that content, the only way it can ever get released is by removing the shop entirely and having the game run offline

There's no other way around it

Ah, the old "It's not water, it's Dihydrogen Monoxide" parody argument.

Not being funny but you sound like someone whose spent so long on online-only games you've lost track of what DRM is and what the underlying point of it is. Some genres may need to go online anyway (eg, MMO's), but "normalising" that doesn't make them DRM-Free, it just means the whole genre naturally isn't anyway. And yes in-game micro-transaction payment processing that forces the need to log into an account / always online connection IS DRM. That's the whole point of it - to Digital Manage Your Right to unlock & play content.

You do need a gog account, you couldn't buy them without it, you couldn't post on this board without it.
Even if you never give gog a dime and only get the free games / givaways you still had to make an account to put that in your library to download the game.

so let say theoretically they put it on their website for download.. no launchers just download install and "CONNECT" to play the game after you create an account that could store your payment information..

This is still DRM and gog would have no way of distributing it.. is that right?

To me DRM is

Dongles, Manual phrase checks, code wheels, media checks, and oh yes single player games with online checks.

I don't consider a online game that is also making sure im not ripping off paid content in the game as DRM.

Apparently everyone else here does so that's fine.. But in which case I'd say this entire thread is a waste of time because no online game that is not 100% free will ever meet your standards of DRM free, any game that has an online component should be checking to make sure player actions are consistent with the game (assuming it was competently coded)

I don't see why the distribution on GoG couldn't work if you had create an account on Bethesa for payments and to login.. The check would be done on the server side which is where all action takes place.

It's much like saying I can't equip a gun I don't' have the skill for because the server is checking my character stats.. DRM! DRM!

^ We gave you the benefit of the doubt but obvious troll is obvious (sigh)...

Why I would troll here.. I mean what would I have to gain? seriously?

But it's the internet so anyone you disagree with is obviously a shill.. or a troll. or some other thing.

I guess it depends on what you consider DRM, to me anything that's causing me annoyance or preventing me from playing a game that's DRM.. internet requirements on a single player game that would be peek annoyance and those servers wont' be around forever.

An online game that is useless without the internet and is simply checking if I paid my sub bill that month.. I really dont' see that as DRM.

But regardless it doesn't matter, nothing i say or you say is going ot change anything here.

So I'll leave you all to your circle jerk of despair.

You tell us because that's what you've been doing with "your credit card is DRM because you need to buy the game, your legs are DRM because you need to walk to the shop to buy a game" style dumb comments. You think we haven't heard this silly crap before (usually from DRM shills)?...

Your definition of being "annoying or not" is simply wrong. DRM is the *process* of implementing some access control check (and that comes in many forms, online and offline). Not what your "feelings" are towards it or whether you "notice it or not". Using your logic, if you don't find Denuvo "annoying" then Denuvo stops being DRM. It's a complete troll argument.

Same with always online MMO's - if you like them enough to want to ignore the DRM & online-only requirements, just be honest and say so. "This game needs an online-only connection and Steamworks DRM check and uses account-level DRM, and I hereby declare that it totally isn't DRM'd because I really like this game" is just self denial / trolling.

Welcome to real-world DRM-Free gaming where the entire f***ing point of DRM-Free is to not have them stop working when you go offline...

And I would call all but the online checks on that list as just basic copy protection, as only online checks can prevent me from continuing to play my games without something in my control first getting lost, broken or stolen.

On the other hand, when it comes to multiplayer support, I don't really see any point in trying to argue what should be considered as DRM, when it is far more easier for most of us to agree how DRM-free compatible any given multiplayer implementation is, as in the end it all boils into whether the answer to at least one of these questions is yes:

1. Can we set up our own dedicated server on an offline LAN and play together?
2. Can the multiplayer be hosted from the game itself by one of us on that offline LAN?
3. Can we play together offline on a shared screen?

No luck on Amazon Prime Gaming. The Fallout 76 giveaway is for Xbox and Microsoft Store.