I like GOG, but this is just weasel-words to take advantage of the ignorance of the public. Whether you receive the installs directly or not, you still don't own your games, you are just licensing them, same as Steam.

This doesn't tip the scales into the "this is wrong" territory for me, but I do think this kind of word manipulation exploiting an unknowledgeable public is a little bit slimy.

edit: I had a bit of knee-jerk reaction to the sensationalism of the headline; what GOG actually says is fine and doesn't imply anything beyond licensing in my eyes.

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

I think it is fair. When you buy games through GOG, you get the offline installer. Nobody can take that away from you.

When you buy games through Steam, you can only install them via the Steam client. If the Steam servers are offline, you cannot install your games. In theory, some games are without any DRM, and you can just zip them up, but even then that doesn't always work, and you shouldn't have to. That's not to take away from Steam, of course, it is great at what it does.

Providing an offline installer that works no matter what is as good as "owning" the game IMO, even if "technically" you are just purchasing a license to use the game.

[–] Vespair@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

edit: I went and read what GOG itself actually says. The headline is slimy, GOG's disclosure is fine. I don't think they're implying anything beyond what they offer.

[–] Ganbat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The headline is slimy

Are you referring to the use of the word "killshot"? Otherwise, the headline says exactly the same thing.

Its offline installers 'cannot be taken away from you'

No implication of outright ownership, just that they can't take away the offline installers. I mean, I guess it doesn't outright say "that you've already downloaded," but given the length, I'd say that's a passable omission.

[–] Vespair@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

We don't have to do this. It's the juxtaposition of GOG's claim paired being intentionally paired with the steam disclaimer so as to present it as if an alternative.

load more comments (11 replies)