kdgog: I was in a discussion about GOG Galaxy elsewhere, then realised it would be more relevant if I copied some of it to GOG's forum. As long as it is always optional then I suppose it will offer the best of both worlds, but I can’t see that I’ll ever use this. I really like browsing my library then just downloading the .exe to my desktop to install (or save for later). But then again, I am not the target for this kind of thing.
– Auto-patching (irrelevant to me – I download and install a game, play it until I am bored or it is complete, then uninstall it)
– Friends (no, I use email and Facebook for that. I don’t even have any friends in my Steam client).
– Chat (see above)
– Stats (I’m only interested in ones within the game)
– Achievements (hate these, turned off in Steam)
– Matchmaking (I generally only play multiplayer games either locally or via LAN)
I imagine that for people who do like the features above this optional tool could be something to make GOG more attractive to them though.
In another thread I was asked why I hate achievements. The reasons I gave were: they just seem extraneous to the game itself. If I play Heroes of Might and Magic 2 the achievement is to win the mission/campaign (and have fun doing so). External things like “collect 100 wood” don’t add to the fun or central goal, they’re just boring distractions. To me, if a game is fun to play, explore, experience, then you don’t need external reinforcement (which is what achievements remind me of, like those “Very good!” stickers and stamps that got put after our work at junior school). And if the game isn’t fun to play, explore, experience, then it isn’t worth my time. Sometimes when I’m playing round I do create my own extra goals, but that’s choice, part of playing, going with my whims. I don’t need anyone else to tell me to do that. In fact, it would take some of the fun away.
I vaguely remember being really immersed in games sometimes on Steam, and suddenly there’d be some silly popup, “Iron Award – You Saved 10 Bullets!” or somesuch, totally ruining the experience. Imagine being at the cinema, during a tense scene, and little popups in the corner kept reminding you to buy popcorn in the break, or saying you were doing well for concentrating for that long. Immersion-breaking, distracting, and vaguely patronising. I suppose those three things sum up how I feel about “achievements”.
I should add that I have come to realise that some people like them, that’s fine. I am not _against_ them if they add to other people’s enjoyment. I just think they should be optional – some setting you click that lets you always see them or never see them. That way everybody’s happy. The problem right now is that many systems (such as Steam) don’t give you the choice, and that leads to debates and polarisation, but there’s no reason why everyone can’t be happy.
I was also asked about my multiplayer gaming habits and LAN, why I do it that way (rather than via Steam etc). It's because I only play games with one or two friends or family and I think only one of them uses Steam. I like to know the people I’m playing with, so we can chat and joke around while playing, as with a boardgame, and maybe talk about it afterwards. The main games I played via LAN (or LAN over Internet): Aliens vs Predator (1); Earth 2150; HOMM2 and 3; Isle of the Four Winds; (maybe others). Loads of local multiplayer, usually with one of my nephews. I will try a Lego game with them next. I have tried other multiplayer games, played with strangers, but the experience has varied on a scale between bland and irritating.
Just my thoughts - not against GOG Galaxy, but I can't see me using it, so I hope it will always be optional.
A refreshingly balanced and civil viewpoint! The forums could use more of these on just about any topic regardless of the particular view IMHO. In particular I'm glad to see someone not only express their own preferences and desired experience but to also respect that other people may have other preference/desired experience and that having such options is good for everyone to decide what they prefer - another rarity here in the forums quite often - and it is due to the high level of intense polarization much as you've suggested as well.
Everyone is never likely to agree about what they personally like to see or have or experience, but what always baffles my mind is how many people not only want to have what they want to have 300% of the time, that they don't even remotely care what other people want to have, and worse - they dramatically oppose the mere thought of there even being an option, even if the option were to default to what they want and someone else has to change it. They're just opposed to there even being an option, even one that has no effect whatsoever on them! It's IMHO very self-centred thinking, often if not usually with entitlement mentality and complete intolerance for opposing views that simply promote options that would have no effect on the other person other than just existing for someone else to use who chooses to.
Personally, I'm always in favour of new options for things whether they are options for things I favour or things I am neutral about or things I'm not particularly fond of. If it's an option - I don't have to use or care about it really. But then I also don't keep my mind focussed in the worst case doomsday scenario way of thinking like some people are obsessed with either - where they area always constantly suspicious of the worst and have their defences up and are constantly ready to burn the witch and looking for every opportunity to judge and criticize whether it is rational or not. It's very unhealthy to think that way constantly, and not just for others but also for the person who thinks that way whether they realize it or not.
My thoughts about some of the preferences you shared are similar in many ways although I've softened up to some things over time to be neutral or in some cases to embrace some features that have turned out to be useful. As a general rule I like the option to be available for auto-patching for example, although I disable it by default. Not because I don't want my games up to date, but because I have tonnes of them installed and there's no sense them updating automatically 10 times if I'm not playing them actively. So I turn that off, and when I actually go to play a game I let it update itself right then. I've got 25Mbps Internet so that process happens fast enough that I don't feel inconveniences the very rare times that it ever happens (almost never).
I find the friend-chat stuff on Steam to be useful for some limited communicating with friends although we do have other channels that we use too. When I'm in-game though I like to be able to bring up the Steam overlay to fire off a quick message/reminder or something to someone or similar if it is useful to do so, and ALT-TAB out of some games (ie: Skyrim) causes the game to basically puke and require a restart unless you MOD the shit out of it which I couldn't be bothered with.
I have a look at achievements to see what I've gotten from time to time in some games but truthfully I really don't give a crap if that was there or not, I just look at it out of idle curiousity sometimes but it could vanish tomorrow and I wouldn't miss it.
I rarely ever use online multiplayer matchmaking of any kind, but I do like to have the option for that and rarely do use it although my preferred multiplayer mode is LAN play.
Your comments about achievements popping up etc. made me crack up, pretty funny. :) Some achievements in many games are completely stupid, so stupid that you can almost feel yourself getting dumber when the notification for it pops up. :)
But, I do understand that multitudes of people love that stuff and trading cards and other stuff that I'm indifferent about or annoyed by, and as long as none of it is really forced on me in a way I can't ignore, I don't see any problem whatsoever with it if it makes someone else's experience better.
Indeed, optional is good - no, it's great. :)
Thanks again for the refreshing diversion from the norm. :)
