0. I think no-DRM should be a bonus and a treat for the customer. If any company start to charge extra fees for free DRM copy, they're no different than those DRM that they hate so much.

I will pay nothing extra for no DRM. However, I buy them. In contrast, I do not buy any DRM-ed game.

If someone puts out two version of a game I want, one with DRM and one without, and they are at the same price, I'll buy the non-DRM one. If the non-DRM price is cheaper, I will buy the non-DRM one. If the DRM one is cheaper, I give them the finger and buy something else.

I'm not some hardcore anti-DRM activist or anything. I don't mind what Paradox do with asking for a valid serial number before I can access the game specific forums, for example. It's entirely possible that some of the games I bought from GamersGate at last year's Christmas sale have some sort of DRM that I didn't notice. But stuff like SecureROM, or even Steam, or worse, like Ubisoft's always on DRM? Heck, they can give it away for free and I still wouldn't touch them. There's something fundamentally wrong in treating no-DRM as extra-service that needs to be paid for. No, it's the default. Either give me that, or I'll find someone else who will, and you know what, there are plenty of alternatives out there.

In fact, I paid. Why do I need this DVD-boxes? Only as dust collectors, maybe.

I don't understand the people here that say they won't pay to have a game be DRM-free, but they don't buy games with DRM. That means you effectively are paying for a game to be DRM-free. I know it psychologically feels like you are paying for the game, but if you would not have paid for the same game with DRM, then you are paying fo have it not be present in the DRM-free version you purchase.

Likewise, with people that say that they will not pay for a game with DRM unless it goes on a good sale. That drop in price is the amount you are willing to pay to have the game be DRM-free (assuming you were going to buy the game at full price until you found out about its DRM).

It's not the same;

Let's say GOG released Anno 1233 for €60, whilst the same game was available at Steam for €50 though with a "three activations limit". I still wouldn't buy it on GOG, as I would see the DRM as exploitive towards me as a paying customer.

As for paying for a game with DRM if it's heavily discounted; I see it as renting a game. As they don't let me own it (i.e. play it whenever I want, on whichever computer I want, and in ten years time as well), I don't accept to pay a price that equals buying an alternative game.

What you could say is that if Anno 1233 was released without DRM (or light DRM, like Steam), I would contemplate buying it for something close to full price.

Hello,

i would not pay more for drmfree games. Drmfree should be the norm not a special feature to pay extra for. But i gladly pay digital download platforms like gog.com or steam for online libraries. So i can download my games when i want to. Its a rather convenient way to storage my games collection.

Have a nice day.

I buy games where they are sold at the cheapest rate. I don't pay full price for games anymore, so it comes down to whoever marks down the game to the lowest price.

The price difference would have to be miniscule (0 to 2 bucks) for me to go for the GOG version.

This I agree with. I bought a collection of games (90 pct sale, and I also had a 90 pct coupon) from Strategy First about a year ago. I had to download the games within a week or so (I don't remember the exact time window), and their connection was slow! Even though the price was good (better than anything I've ever seen before), I still wouldn't buy from them again.

Enough talk, I went with the promo (HOMM V + AC for $19.99).

I personally feel those two games are together probably worth that much, and as such it is quite irrelevant to me if they could be obtained for half that price by waiting for a sale from some DRM site, or trying to buy them unofficially from US Amazon from a sale that doesn't exist anymore, by lying about my home address. If the price really was that crucial, I guess I could have obtained them even for $0, right?

I mean, come on, yesterday I used around 100€ for groceries alone, and they don't last as long as DRM-free games do. :)

(And while I was at it, I also bought Might & Magic 1-8 from the weekend promo, completing my M&M collection from GOG. I've already finished MM6-8 before, but I've been thinking of replaying them at some point, and I'd rather not mess with the CD versions anymore.)

Uh no .. that's missing the point, or at least going on to something completely else.

Not really. From some comments it appears it is crazy to buy them from here for this price, when someone else got them somewhere else for $2.50 or whatever it was. Gee, if this is some kind of competition who is able to obtain it at the lowest price in some form (OnLive or whatever), yeah I guess they could be obtained for even less ($0).

But as I said, to me personally that is beside the point. I felt those two games together are (probably) worth $19.99, for a version where I alone control how and when I can play it. So that's what I paid for it.

I wasn't one of those paying 1 cent for the first Humbe Android Bundle either, I felt it was worth more even if I didn't like all of the games in the bundle.

Your OP said $60.00 and $50.00 so I thought you were speaking of New Releases. I do not believe the Amazon game is the Director's Cut. It also isn't a Digital Release and looks more like one of those cheap CD only type releases you see everywhere. So I do not think this as a fair comparison. Especially after adding in shipping costs. AC 1 is DRM Free no matter where it comes from I believe so that really is not an issue. If you look at other Digital Distributor's The Director's Cut is currently selling for $20.00 so GOG's pricing is on par and I think my point is made. You have given a one time shot on a massed produced retail item they are looking to get rid of. You will always be able to find these examples but the trend will always be to fairly stable pricing across the board.

Back to the GOG release - Currently with the bundle it is only $10.00 since you are getting 2 for $20, but I still am not interested at that price. I might go for $5.99 and will wait till it hits the price point I am will to pay. It really is not a matter of paying more for DRM Free its a matter of GOG releasing a game I want for the price I am willing to pay as I am not going to be getting elsewhere other than a retail box release which I can't get on GOG.

Call me a cheapskate or a freeloader or whatever but the question of whether I would pay $60 for a DRM-free version of a $50 game is irrelevant to me because I never spent that much money on a single game in all my life. I understand the creation of games costs a lot of money but from a customer's perspective IMO it's too much money to spend on such short-lived entertainment, at least if you're not a rich guy, and most games aren't that good. If I'd be really eager to play a game and/or support the developers, I might spend up to $40 on a single title, but it hardly ever happens.

That being said, GOG's prices seem alright to me. Even the new $19.99 point is still okay for a good game in my eyes (if it really is a good game, that is). Over here, it's more or less the price for a book, a cd or two movies at the cinema and that's cool for a game.

Regarding the DRM, I tend to agree with those other posters who stressed that DRM-free should not be a costly bonus but rather an incentive to consider buying the game at all. What I pay for a game depends on how much I think it's worth to me, and that applies to the DRM-free version regardless of the DRM version - either I think it's a fair offer or I think it isn't. Intrusive DRM decreases a game's value significantly in my eyes, so I'm very unlikely to pay the full price for it, if I buy it at all. So the actual question for me would be: How much less money will I pay for DRM?

I think I wouldn't pay more than $10 for a game that requires online connection or includes any other DRM that interferes with my preferences as an old-fashioned collector and threatens to further decrease its durability, as I'd most probably regret spending money on it later on. And I'd only buy it if I was planning to start playing it immediately and couldn't find a more attractive offer.

And that was the last time they heard from timppu for some time.

It's ... hard to argue with you that you won't be able to buy a GOG game anywhere else but GOG that's true :)


Won't be seeing him in the Gaming Deals thread anymore I assume since apparently a lower price is of no relevance ^^