They are obnoxious, they are merely opinions having little to do with the game itself, most of the nasty ones were left by non-verified buyers, they make a good game look iffy, and they make GOG not so much fun as it usually is. No website should allow itself to be used this way by either a small group, or one single lunatic with a dozen IDs. And the same people or person has flooded the YouTube LPs with the same nonsense. Thanx in advance - Rebecca

Being able to leave a review for a product you don't own was a pretty bad idea in general. Not sure why GOG went down this road.

If a company treats customers poorly the customers have every right to voice their grievance towards it.

If a company sells a poorly made product, the customer has every right to say what he or she felt about it.

Asking for censorship of everything you don't like, is bordering on fascism.

Personally I like that GOG is open minded enough to allow reviews from everyone - owners or otherwise. I believe very strongly in ethical shopping, supporting those companies who deserve it and shunning those who don't, so reading reviews on the company behind the games is vital to my purchase. At a guess I'd say (more than) 95% of the games in my library were purchased only to support Developers so I rate reviews on companies higher than reviews on products.
I've read many of these (hate) reviews but still purchased quite a few Beamdog games without ever playing a single one. After coming on and finding Planscape Torment (plus the OST) on sale I almost purchased them before I realised I had them already in my library. Maybe the version I have isn't re-mastered but the OST is certainly the same, so why the hell am I paying for it again.
And then there's Neverwinter Nights plus all it's DLC.
I'm not a hater but as of today I will not touch Beamdog's products again without some change in their marketing strategies, so while I respect your request, I sit on the opposite side of the fence regarding this issue.

^^ This.

Though I wouldn't call it fascism - it is totalitarian though, albeit by a corporate entity as opposed to a governing body. In this case by a corporation who will happily throw its weight around to get what it wants - which includes getting an older version of a product that they didn't even create removed, so people are forced to buy their remastered version; and quashing any dissent via censorship in their forums (and any other forum that will acquiesce to their demands).

And to top all of that off, their "corporate communication" is really something else. Himmler was likely more believable...

However, having said that, personally I'd prefer "reviews" to actually focus on the game primarily - the thing is, reviews are currently one of the best ways to leave feedback related to a company's practices, and if those practices directly relate to the game in question (e.g. forcing people to buy the "new" version since the old one is no longer sold separately), then they should definitely form part of the review.

By the OP's logic they should also remove all the positive reviews that popped up The day\two days after the Beamdog CEO begged people to post good reviews of their games. Most of the positive reviews popped up right after that.

The problem is that people who fear that the original developers of the game aren't getting paid are afraid for no reason...;) All of the original developers/publishers of the original games were paid out in full decades back for their right to the IP. They sold it--simple as that. They were all paid in full. Nothing is stolen--no one has been cheated. I like the fact that *somebody* is continuing to develop these classic games as the "original developers" stopped their interest and development when they sold the rights to their IP. So....the bottom line is that these games are still in development, and can use any mod made for the original games, as well as any mod that people care to make for them today.

Buying IP rights is just like buying a car--when you buy a car, you didn't build the car nor did you design it, but you *paid for it* and so now you own it. The manufacturer/dealer relinquished his rights to the car when you bought it from him. Both parties walk away satisfied--the nature of successful commerce.

Bioware and Black Isle never owned the IPs....WOTC owns everything Forgotten Realms.

The only thing Beamdog did, however, was make edits to a game someone else made - and tried their best to make it look like it was a game they had created in the first place.

OK let's say I buy a Skyline R32 GTS-T from Nissan. I now own it. Cool.

Then I modify it - get a bigger turbo, larger exhaust, lowered springs, front-mount intercooler, awesome stereo with huge sub-woofer in the back.

Then I decide to sell it.

So, I replace the Nissan badges with custom badges of my "company", e.g. "Smegmobile". Pretty sure that unless I modify it to the point it's no longer recognisable, that I'd still have to advertise it as a "Nissan" and not a "Smegmobile".

I'm also pretty sure that I couldn't contact all businesses selling second-hand Nissans worldwide and demand that they stop selling the "original" R32 GTS-T from Nissan, and instead offer only my modified "Smegmobile" - which is of course much more expensive than the stock R32. Even if I did bundle an extra stock R32 with it at no extra charge.

Here Here Waltc. It just sounds like falsely self entitled programmers or something that have no idea how property rights work in the bigger picture of really any business.

Some of these games came out before the internet did. Why should I need to buy another copy just to tell people how much I like it?

One can also get a legit copy of thses games at other sellers. Why should I need to by another copy here to tell the GOGers how much I like the game in question?

It can be hard to prove that you own a legitmate copy of a game that you purchased somewhere else. My default assumption when reading a non-veriffied owner review is that they purchased the game somewhere else and are posting there review here so prospective buyers do not need to track opinionss of the game across the far-flung reaches of the internet.

Unless I happen to be reading a review of a game owned/remade/whatever by Beamdog. They earned themselves a terrable reputation with their own actions. Everything from changeing a game so much so as to be an almost completely different game than what the remade, while claiming it was the orgional, to publicy deining responsability for something that a court of law would hold them responsable for. They earned that hate.

If I wish to only view those revews from those who are owners of a gog version of the game, I am only 1, count it 1 check box away from that wish.

^^^ Totally agree.

Reviews should be allowed from people who didn't necessarily buy the game here - more opinions is generally a good thing. It's generally easy to identify the people who actually own the game vs those "hate" reviews - unless one only looks at the score, in which case you're doing it wrong.

And yes, BD totally earned those "hate" reviews. Their "communication" is an example of the absolute worst, cringe-inducing, vomit-generating, customer-patronising-while-screwing corporate communications I have ever witnessed in my entire life. This is not an exaggeration, and I've been gaming for more than 20 years now. On top of that, I have worked in large companies with terrible cultures, where bosses had a habit of communicating the bad changes that were happening in a patronising and sometimes insulting manner - but nothing anywhere near as bad as this.

Someone who removes a cheaper/older version only to replace it with a more expensive modded version, and then on top of that, attempts to sell this idea as "helping the consumer" is... is... there are not enough explicit, revolting adjectives in the English language to adequately describe the utter revulsion and contempt I experience when even thinking about this company.

Which is a shame, since the "enhanced" version of PST is actually not bad, at least for modern systems - IMO.

some people own those same games on steam, or from the google play store.. i own most of them at steam, all of them at google that are available and a full library here at GOG as well, many places to get the games, so yeah it does make sense at that point.

on the point that they earned those hate reviews, i have to agree with that too.

i feel your hatred and share in it brother.

I will do no more business with Beamdog, Black Rock Studios, Bioware or Larian, they are all one in the same, why do peopel think they need 4 Legal Fictions? a company with integrity and goodwill would only need 1.

Hang on, Larian are part of the same group of companies?! Do you say this because Larian has employed some developers from one of the others, or because they are linked via corporate ownership?

It would probably explain why I thought Larian's stuff overhyped, so it's not like I was planning on buying anythings so far anyway, but still interesting to know these things.

when i pull this up Larian is listed as well at the bottom, is he on your end as well?
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS791US791&sxsrf=ACYBGNQeEbrpormj_1yXDmGG7aawwxJR-A%3A1581099615169&ei=X6o9Xr_vCY-u0PEPyICU0AY&q=beamdog+developers&oq=beamdog+developers&gs_l=psy-ab.3..35i39.6912.13441..13942...1.2..2.288.2847.24j4j1......0....1..gws-wiz.....10..0i71j0i10j0i20i263j35i362i39j0i10i67j0i67j0j0i131j0i22i30.Sn-kWqKuTTc&ved=0ahUKEwj_mqqHh8DnAhUPFzQIHUgABWoQ4dUDCAs&uact=5

notice the search term was "Beamdog Developers".

I just noticed he is a semi recent addition actually, but he is indeed part of it now.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/75682/was-larian-the-right-choice

might have to delete your cookies to access it if you have been treated the way they treat critical customers.

I haven't found anything special about anything he has done myself anyways, and I do own pillars of eternity.

now that he is part of beamdog he goes on my permanent ignore list as well.
Birds of a feather.. Flock together.