I've always loved the idea behind GOG Connect, but I don't think it is very useful. You can only get a GOG game at a certain time if you own the Steam version, but during this time I've rarely seen a Steam version discounted. I prefer GOG games, which means that my Steam library isn't as big, which means that GC isn't as effective for me. It also limits my GOG spending in order to get the Steam release on the slim chance I can use GC. It's a catch-22; I'd like to have both versions, but I prefer GOG, and I've stopped buying too many GOG games because I want to use the GOG Connect feature. Does anyone share similar sentiments with GOG Connect?

It is great ! but only on the very rare times when it actually is something worthwhile to actually add to your library although it seems to me that it gets rarer and rarer to see connect come up and even more rare to add some of the better games from the developers who offer it.

Most games that are available are not especially interesting save for some, there's the issue that you always have to watch out for it so yes i agree, good idea but how it works for the moment leaves something to be desired but i don't really mind since there's nothing to lose from it.

It's better than nothing. It's not like we are paying for it to be here. If we can transfer a game, great, if not, we aren't losing anything.

Exactly what tinyE says - it's better than nothing. Nobody has to give us anything. I've added some great games DRM free thanks to Connect. The alternative is ... nothing. I'd still own those games on Steam, and that's it.

Entitlement abounds

It's extremely weird it even exists, so you can't complain about how many games it works for IMO.

You need to actually think about the purpose of GOG Connect, you're not the target market. Of course they don't want GOG connect running for a given game when that game is discounted on Steam, that would be encouraging people to buy on Steam to get it in both places.
The whole point of GOG Connect is to try and get people who are completely invested in Steam with hundreds of games to try GOG out and be slightly less invested in Steam.

I don't use steam, so it's not worth anything to me too.

From a business perspective, I'm also not sure it didn't become detrimental to GOG sometimes ago. I mean, just look at this thread :
https://www.resetera.com/threads/buying-a-steam-game-when-its-on-gog-why.30133/

Most hardcore steamers doesn't consider the drm free perk to be worth a purchase and connect is just reinforcing it big time. Looks more and more like a waste of money and a bad publicity stunt to me. Most of current pc gamer will only understand the worth of a drm free purchase when the drm will bite them like it did for the OP in that thread.

I have also thought for a while that connect should be buried. If it encourages people to buy on Steam instead of here, it is not a good thing.

What problems could possibly occur from drm? Just try to play your copy of Darkspore, if you want to know.

Useful to whom?

First you need to understand why there is such a system in the first place. No, the meaning is not that people would routinely buy games from Steam (only), and the redeem a free additional GOG version here. That wouldn't make much sense to GOG as a business, now would it?

The system is in place so that from time to time GOG can lure maybe some more Steam-users to GOG, and also keep them coming back to GOG to check whether there are any additional games in GOG Connect, and maybe they accidentally also actually buy something from GOG while they visit here. That's why GOG Connect activations seem to happen during big GOG sales.

So if you thought the idea was that you buy nothing from GOG but only from Steam, and then come to GOG from time to time to reclaim free additional GOG versions on top of your existing Steam versions, you are thinking it all wrong. That is not the core meaning. That is why it is so sporadic and random, so that people can't count on that ("buy from Steam, and get an extra GOG copy later for free.").

For instance, back when The Witcher 3 appeared, some people even here in GOG suggested that it makes more sense to buy it from Steam because "surely" you can later get a free GOG copy too, just because you could do that same before with The Witcher 1-2.

Maybe that is why GOG hasn't enabled such ability yet (redeem a free TW3 on GOG is you have it on Steam)? Not sure if ever, maybe when TW3 turns 10 years old? (Or then I am completely out of the loop if GOG has allowed that already...)

But here's the thing: hardly anyone who has Darkspore wants to play Darkspore. Most games are disposable, they have a cultural shelf life. Game preservation is not an issue for the average consumer, and the culture of deep discounts means it's more expensive to try to sell unwanted games than throw them away. Most buyers don't expect to play a game years from now, much like they don't expect to reuse a movie ticket.

Entitlement is not my intention. Whether this system exists or not doesn't stop me from using GOG. I simply question the flaws of the system. I do see I have insulted a lot of people on this thread for complaining about GOG connect, and for that I am sorry. It is 'better than nothing,' but it could be better than 'better than nothing'. There are just a lot of things that don't make sense about GOG Connect, especially in the sense that it's promoting buying from a competitor, so I thought we could have a civil discussion about it.

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It's really not that weird. It's been extremely common over the years for devs to offer Steam keys for the games people own elsewhere. There's also people here that request GOG keys for their games from developers.

The only real difference here is that GOG coordinates with the devs on this and can automate that goodwill process because of the API steam offers that allows GOG to easily check ownership of a game for a particular Steam owner.

As a result GOG gets another means to lure Steam users into creating an account on GOG (most important first step) to get GOG copies through connect, as well as increase people's attachment as their library on GOG keeps growing from more connects. On top of that they specifically use it during big sales so it increases chances of people making purchases.

Good post. I guess what I more meant is that it's weird they have gotten much of anyone to go along with it, and I don't expect big publishers doing so anytime soon.

Also, kind of unrelated, I wonder how many GOG sales are from idiots like me who don't mind paying a few bucks to get a non-Steam or non-Origin copy of a game we already own. In the current weekend sale I am very tempted to get Dragon Age Origins for example, even though I own the game on Steam and all the DLC through Bioware's site.