Come on . Can't you find and promote a streamer who really deserves our attention ?

Ok, can someone explain me something here:

The news mention that SPAZ 2 is still in development, but on GOG catalog, such "in dev" mention is nowhere to be seen.

I ask because here on GOG, games which are still in early access/in development are sujbect to very specific conditions regarding refund and such, for the customer.

So the official announcement here is a bit in contradiction with the store page for the game.

Btw, SPAZ 1 was a cool game, the 2nd one looks promising.

Why doesn't DarkSaber2k deserve our attention?! And why shouldn't GOG be promoting him, when he's part of the team of volunteer streamers who stream for GOG on their official twitch.tv channel?

Obviously, these things are all subjective, but, personally, I consider DarkSaber one of the best GOG streamers, at the moment; he showed me games sold on GOG that I wasn't all that interested in, at first, but ended up buying because of how fun he made them look. And I don't regret buying and playing any of them.

What are, in your opinion, the streamers GOG should be "finding and promoting"? The big streamers? The "Youtube stars"? Don't those get enough attention as it is? GOG is promoting a game they sell, via a (very good) stream of said game by a volunteer streamer on their own official channel. Why not promote those who *voluntarily* give their time to GOG, showcase GOG's games and, well, *promote* GOG, themselves?

It's OK to not enjoy DarkSaber2k's streams, I won't try swaying anyone's opinion on that matter, just because I actually like his streams a lot -- whether on GOG or his own personal channel -- (in fact, there are a few of GOG's streamers I dislike and don't watch) but it's a bit unfair to say GOG should be finding and promoting other streamers, because the ones they have streaming for them "don't deserve our attention". Unfair and downright rude and offensive.

I don't see anywhere on this site -- the "coming soon" announcement, the release announcement, the product page, this weird announcement -- where it mentions being currently (or, for that matter, formerly) in development. What's more, on the game's store page on Steam (where it WAS previously in Early Access), there are clear signs of it having been "released" in its more-or-less-final form on the 7th, the same day it released here.
I'm not sure what contradiction there is. The game is finished, apart from (I'm sure) the usual spate of post-release bugfixes, optimizations and, possibly, content patches in the coming months.

EDIT: Never mind, apparently there was previously a mention of Early Access/In Dev which was corrected shortly before I first saw this post.

One of the reasons why I don't buy that much stuff on GOG because there are some shady practices going on with GOG that don't set them apart as much as they pretend.
Stuff like this is one of them. Highly questionable and in no way should an event like this ever be posted or promoted on the GOG platform.

Fair this equal that and in the end they still single out individuals, games, developers etc. and promote them. It'd be absolutely fine - if GOG didn't resolve absolutely any page about their ethics of equality and fairness.

Wait, it isn't ethical for GOG to promote a game being sold on GOG or it isn't ethical for GOG to promote official GOG.com's Twitch channel? I'm trying to understand your point of view here.

"Dear sirs, I find it highly unethical that you are promoting the things you are selling in your store. How can you sleep at night?" =D

I mean, I do question why they made a news post about this specific stream, when months can sometimes go by with scarcely any mention of the Twitch channel on the store. More to the point, posting about it before the stream happened might have been better than two days after the fact. =P
But neither of these are questions worthy of sparking outraged accusations of "shady practices". (Honestly, "It was a slow Friday on GOG, announcement-wise" was probably the main reason this was announced at all, and why specifically today.)

Well, when it comes to new games, i really value a release stream of the game.. maybe a bit more than a more constructed or planned review....

And also definitly more than just getting blind into a purchase with just store page and a few promo pictures.

hat a release stream allows is to see sort of "unboxing" of the game, for the good and also for the bad. Contrary to a constructed review or first impression, it helps seeing how the game will behave for a new player, will help seeing the gameplay's core mechanics, the possible hiccups of the game's early release build... Hye, having a stream also even allow to have sometimes one of the devs being part of the chat and answering questions.

From a consumer's point of view, i find this valuable. Of course one can like or dislike the current host of the stream, but in fact (no offense meant) i dont care who streams a game i've got on my radar; i come first for the game and to help myself build my opinion on it.

Of course when the host behave in a professional way, taking time to show parts of the game instead of just playing it casually for himself, and pushes the game for the sake of informing people, it's all the better. Also, personal appreciation or dislike of the host may be superceded by said host's past experience with other games, for example games similar to the one being streamed; helps having references, comparison and such.

Dismissing a valuable chunk of intel on a game just because one can't bear the host is maybe a bit non-productive but i guess anyone has one's own threshold or compartmenting of things. I can watch a streamer i'm completely not fond of, as long as i can get valuable and relevant intel on a game (especially when the price tag of the game starts high)

So i dont see why GOG wouldnt point out at scheduled (or already broadcasted) streams on newly released games, on their own channel in fact. However, and maybe that's the point some tried to raise, so far i rarely see front page announcement for a specific game/stream. I mean, the whole schedule is available somewhere for the entire week, and we have usually a handful of catalog's release, either old games entering the catalog or new games being released; but, yes, i dont see announcement for each and every release.

That could mean there are games that get more exposure than others ? Then yes, in that case, some disclosure can be interesting. Why "game X" get an announcement for a scheduled stream and why "Game Y" didnt ?
I dont know, that's on GOG to answer such editorial choices of theirs.
Of course, there could be very genuine reasons, such as, for example "we will be able to have developer with us during the stream", or "developer/publisher plans to bring more of their games in GOG catalog" and just see this exposure as some welcoming gesture of good faith, or "opus 2 of game X gets released on GOG and devs/publisher granted huge discount on first game of the serie, for the occasion" . There could be perfectly honest motives and reasons to have differences in exposure. Of course there could be some more arbitrary or even questionable reasons. Do you have work hours in case i'd be in need for advices on what is worthy of MY own attention ? I mean, you seem to be quite smarte enough to know what's best for me, so i'd need to know when i can benefit from such wisdom and enlightment about my clueless self.

TL;DR when you put your personal tastes up front (which is fine, really), try NOT to include everyone in the process; thanx

One could say... he was spazzing out. I'll show myself out. =P

I believe a worldwide search for a streamer worth anyone's attention is still ongoing.

I don't hold out much hope.

I mean...on one hand, I don't watch Twitch and don't really care about GOG's streamers, so I have no opinion for or against this and am sure it's useful for plenty of people, but...
On the other hand...seriously? You guys can make official front-page announcements about Twitch streams, but not about things like game removals or changing the default chat settings? Seriously?

To some degree both. Neutrality means that you don't favor specific products or people. Doing it shows they are not focusing on neutrality, fairness and equality.

There are tons of streamers out there "promoting" GOG. Even I recommend it to friends. Stuff like that always shows me it's just a fake mask to some degree though. It's a marketing schmeme to justify A) the prices B) the limited offerings and C) to really set GOG apart and thus keep it afloat.

Keep in mind all other platforms died. For example Desura, GFWL. Only publisher platforms are still around and of course the OS stores (windows store, ubuntu etc..


So yeah, fanboys can rate this negative but the point still stands. Not only is it highly selective, unattractive and thus spammy to many, it's also unjust in regards to their theme of equality.
It is clearly promotional and that makes you think why is it this product and streamer. Was money involved? What are the details behind it? If I were an indie dev, how could I get a promo like this on GOG? You see, the more you look into it the more you have to question it.