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General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(917 posts)(917 posts)
(917 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted June 06, 2014
Freedom of choice. Optional client. Cross-play. Coming soon to all gamers!

Earlier today (or was it yesterday for you?), during the [url=http://www.gog.com/news/cd_projekt_red_gogcom_summer_conference]CD Projekt RED and GOG.com’s Summer Conference we dropped the news about our next big step forward! GOG.com has always been home to more and more of the the best games in history (for Windows and Mac), both classic and new. Differing in shapes, flavors, and sizes they had one thing in common: they were mostly single-player, and our focus was mainly on the experience of a singular gamer. If that's your thing, nothing really will change. You can always enjoy your favorite games 100% DRM-free on GOG.com, with no need to activate your game online or remain connected to play your single-player title. Just like GOG.com has always been about.. But what if you want to play with your friends?

Today we are excited to announce GOG Galaxy, a truly gamer-friendly, 100% DRM-free online gaming platform that will finally provide the GOG.com community with the easy option to play together online. GOG Galaxy will allow you to share your achievements, stay in touch with your pals and get the updates for your games automatically. We've developed this technology to improve your GOG.com experience. We think GOG Galaxy really deserves your attention and we hope many of you will give it a try! But, here's the great thing: it is totally optional, so it's all up to you! If you do not want to play online, or use our optional client to access these features, then no worries, you will always be able to play the single-player mode 100% DRM-free, and download manually the latest updated version of your favorite title from our website. Now, for one more feature we call cross-play. We always believed in an open world for gamers, with no obligation to be tied to a specific platform or client; and this is why GOG Galaxy will allow gamers to play with their buddies who use Steam, without any need to use any 3rd party client or account, nothing, nada. We’re taking care of connecting GOG.com and Steam players, so just sit back, relax and give it a try.

See the outtake from the CD Projekt RED & GOG.com Summer Conference

Talking of which, we are proud to announce the soon-to-come launch of the beta phase for The Witcher Adventure Game, a faithful adaptation of the board game of the same title. It allows up to 4 players to play together, whether they use Steam or GOG.com. Cross-play at its finest! If you wanna get the chance to try it out, please visit and sign up to get in the queue for your beta access key. You can also simply take advantage of our amazing [url=http://www.gog.com/tw3]pre-order offer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which includes 2 beta access keys for he Witcher Aventure Game, delivered to you as soon as we start handing them out to public.

We believe GOG Galaxy has the power to provide the best of both worlds. Playing the single player mode of your favorite game, 100% DRM-free, while still having the OPTION to use our soon-to-come client for an enhanced experience (auto-patching, achievements, and much more) or play online with other GOG.com (and Steam) players if you so wish.

There will be more GOG Galaxy titles coming up this year, so stay tuned for more news and get the word around!
Post edited June 06, 2014 by G-Doc
Posted August 08, 2014
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Maighstir: I think the question was: "When GOG Galaxy has gone live, can devs push updates directly, without GOG being a middle man?"
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popperik: Actually, I don't really care if there's a middle man as long as it becomes faster.
Steam does make it faster as there is no middle man, so the devs can push the updates as fast as they can or want (the backend of Steam is very open for devs). As soon there is a middle man involved, the process will take longer time by default
Posted August 08, 2014
IMHO it is imperative that GOG ceases to be a middle man for patches with Galaxy. The experience with downloading, installing, launching and upadting games needs to be as seamless as possible and in the long run GOG cannot afford any limits not placed its chief competitors. I also think that GOG needs to give up all its QA and curation roles with newer games. GOG really isn't in a position to be rejecting games, yet with often hear stories of GOG rejecting games, often to the astonishment of those reporting said stories.
Posted August 08, 2014
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darkwolf777: but if you want to do multiplayer and it's not on your own LAN but through a developer/publisher hosted server lobby/matchmaking service, then you can't not be subject to some DRM for that.
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realkman666: That's just false.
Ok... then enlighten me.

Developers/publishers don't host servers free and open to any random anonymous person. You want to play multiplayer, you create an account on their service using your legally purchased game and you play. That's DRM. And those servers scan for cheaters and will boot you off if you're found to be cheating. That's DRM.

I think that's a big problem with the "ALL DRM IS BAD DRM" mentality, it forgets the fact that even simple user accounts are a form of DRM. The user account grants you the right (the R in DRM) to play on their servers as long as you A) have a legitimately purchased game, and B) aren't found to be cheating (and in some cases even griefing other players will get you booted). Your account here at GOG is a form of DRM. Without it, you can't buy games from GOG and you can't download games from GOG. And even if you have an account and have purchased games here, if you don't log in to your account, you aren't getting access to your library in order to download the games you've purchased. Hate to break it to you, but that's all DRM, folks.

If you want a server where anyone can play, even if they've pirated the game and even if they're cheating, then you go ahead set up your own server and open up your own ports and share your own IP address and let freedom reign. Me? I'll set up my own server for me and my friends, but if I want to play multiplayer publicly, then I'll take the account based anti-cheating measures offered by developer/publisher hosted servers.
Posted August 08, 2014
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realkman666: That's just false.
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darkwolf777: Ok... then enlighten me.

Developers/publishers don't host servers free and open to any random anonymous person. You want to play multiplayer, you create an account on their service using your legally purchased game and you play. That's DRM. And those servers scan for cheaters and will boot you off if you're found to be cheating. That's DRM.

I think that's a big problem with the "ALL DRM IS BAD DRM" mentality, it forgets the fact that even simple user accounts are a form of DRM. The user account grants you the right (the R in DRM) to play on their servers as long as you A) have a legitimately purchased game, and B) aren't found to be cheating (and in some cases even griefing other players will get you booted). Your account here at GOG is a form of DRM. Without it, you can't buy games from GOG and you can't download games from GOG. And even if you have an account and have purchased games here, if you don't log in to your account, you aren't getting access to your library in order to download the games you've purchased. Hate to break it to you, but that's all DRM, folks.

If you want a server where anyone can play, even if they've pirated the game and even if they're cheating, then you go ahead set up your own server and open up your own ports and share your own IP address and let freedom reign. Me? I'll set up my own server for me and my friends, but if I want to play multiplayer publicly, then I'll take the account based anti-cheating measures offered by developer/publisher hosted servers.
I think I know what you mean a bit better now. But to call a GOG account DRM is pretty ridiculous. Your purchase is like any other purchase, except that if you want to get "another copy", you have to log in. It would be like going back to the store saying you lost your game and they give you another one. They provide a guarantee and convenience, but it's optional. I can reinstall Deus Ex in 10 years even if GOG disappears tomorrow.
Posted August 08, 2014
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realkman666: I think I know what you mean a bit better now. But to call a GOG account DRM is pretty ridiculous. Your purchase is like any other purchase, except that if you want to get "another copy", you have to log in. It would be like going back to the store saying you lost your game and they give you another one. They provide a guarantee and convenience, but it's optional. I can reinstall Deus Ex in 10 years even if GOG disappears tomorrow.
True, you can. And that's why the games themselves are DRM free, but the multiplayer portion of DOOM, for instance, was effectively dead and would have remained so if iD hadn't released the source and allowed the community to continue working on new clients that kept the game alive all these years. But that's iD. Not every developer is keen to open source their past works, and that installer you downloaded 10 years ago may have had patches and improvements done to it in order to keep it working on newer systems. Getting it running in a modern OS might be a bit tricky, if it works at all.

My solution for situations like that is usually to just use a virtual machine (DOSbox and/or FreeDOS, Windows 95/98, Windows XP, and I have Windows 7 in a VM as well, though not necessaryily for gaming at the moment. That could change in 5-10 years though.)
Posted August 08, 2014
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realkman666: I think I know what you mean a bit better now. But to call a GOG account DRM is pretty ridiculous. Your purchase is like any other purchase, except that if you want to get "another copy", you have to log in. It would be like going back to the store saying you lost your game and they give you another one. They provide a guarantee and convenience, but it's optional. I can reinstall Deus Ex in 10 years even if GOG disappears tomorrow.
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darkwolf777: True, you can. And that's why the games themselves are DRM free, but the multiplayer portion of DOOM, for instance, was effectively dead and would have remained so if iD hadn't released the source and allowed the community to continue working on new clients that kept the game alive all these years. But that's iD. Not every developer is keen to open source their past works, and that installer you downloaded 10 years ago may have had patches and improvements done to it in order to keep it working on newer systems. Getting it running in a modern OS might be a bit tricky, if it works at all.

My solution for situations like that is usually to just use a virtual machine (DOSbox and/or FreeDOS, Windows 95/98, Windows XP, and I have Windows 7 in a VM as well, though not necessaryily for gaming at the moment. That could change in 5-10 years though.)
About the multiplayer thing, I think I didn't realize that most games don't have open servers and stuff. I'm just more of a single-player person. :S
Posted August 08, 2014
Yeah, I am too. I much prefer a good story to running through the same level(s) over and over and over in a deathmatch or CTF style game. Now if there's co-op that I can run with a friend (or a few) and go through the story, I'm all for that, too. It's not quite as good as getting everyone in the same room gathered around the TV like we did when we were kids, but it's nice to still be able to play games together even if there's a couple thousand miles separating.
Posted August 17, 2014
I have been wondering:they said the client will have achievements,but will it be their own achievements or will it be integrated with Steam ones?There are people that buy games on Steam that they already own on GOG just so they can get the achievements
Posted August 25, 2014
It looks like GOG Galaxy is still expected... this week, right?!?
Posted August 26, 2014
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undeadcow: It looks like GOG Galaxy is still expected... this week, right?!?
Uh mhh.....
Attachments:
soon.jpg (30 Kb)
Posted August 26, 2014
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undeadcow: It looks like GOG Galaxy is still expected... this week, right?!?
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LoboBlanco: Uh mhh.....
AWWWWWW!
http://youtu.be/7kdV8VmD76w
Posted August 27, 2014
With galaxy i wonder if there could be some MP poker type games using it, I do love poker and galaxy could be great for it. Shame my 1 experience with it so far with the witcher card game though reported was completely and utterly ignored both on the forum and via support ticket.
Posted August 28, 2014
I hope i'm forgiven i haven't read all the posts in this thread, in case i'll repeat something that's already been settled or answered.

What i wish for the galaxy client, besides what was already announced (auto-updates, cross platform compatibility with steam -very curious on how this will be done exactly):

1) my biggest wish for the galaxy client would be to also act as a nice frontend for ALL your games. Not just from gog, but from every source (steam, bundles, old dosbox games that aren't on gog, or even emulated games). Make it so you can add your personal games (and related media, like big icons or screenshots) to it. You don't need to support or be responsible for user added games in any way, just make it possible for DIY inclined users to add stuff to their collection (point to .exe and .jpg, .ico, .gif and such). A front end for your collection, preferably with an optional full screen gamepad support for selecting games (like Steam BPM).

The advantages for you would be more exposure to your store, if your frontend is good enough on its own. For example, lets be frank, some people could use it initially for their pirated games collection or for their not-so-legal roms collection. Those people might not know about your friendly store with good prices and drm-free. But since they installed your client, now they know and there is a big chance they will start paying money for games, bought from your store. Make your client open and different from other store clients.

2) Support user custom tags for games. Steam's tags helped me immensely in finding games that i didn't knew before (like obscure platformers and shoot'em ups)

3) Support grouping and hiding of games.

4) Make the interface skinnable? This goes well with wish #1).
Post edited August 29, 2014 by DG.529
Posted August 28, 2014
Required feature:

* Full user customization of privacy settings. We should be able to opt out of DRM-style monitoring & tracking of our gaming habits & activities if we wish.
Post edited August 28, 2014 by TDP
Posted August 30, 2014
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TDP: Required feature:

* Full user customization of privacy settings. We should be able to opt out of DRM-style monitoring & tracking of our gaming habits & activities if we wish.
What is DRM-style monitoring and tracking of our habits and activities?
What do you consider non-DRM-style monitoring and tracking of our habits and activities?

Just curious...
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Community
General discussionIntroducing: GOG Galaxy, the DRM-Free online gaming platform(917 posts)(917 posts)
(917 posts)