By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming - What does it even mean to “own” a video game?

BraLoD said:
Mnementh said:

Replace Steam with GOG and let us make this discussion. Sure, I have to backup my GOG games as well, but I also have to store my physical games. And as long as GOG is still around, I actually can get a new copy from them. But when they shut down, I can still play my games.

I would actually argue that in theory digital games are better for the consumer than physical. The only reason why they are actually worse is because of DRM. So let us replace Steam with GOG.

Yes, GoG claims to sell you games and not licenses, and that's a way better model than Steam on PC.

Sadly GoG is basically non-existent compared to Steam up until now. I don't know if I can even say it's 2% of it.

Yeah, too few people use Gog. I can see why though, Steam is very convenient and has built a reputation of trust. But all it needs is for Gabe to bite the dust and the next owner having different goals. We need actual independence, hence being free of DRM.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [GTA6]

Around the Network
Mnementh said:
BraLoD said:

Yes, GoG claims to sell you games and not licenses, and that's a way better model than Steam on PC.

Sadly GoG is basically non-existent compared to Steam up until now. I don't know if I can even say it's 2% of it.

Yeah, too few people use Gog. I can see why though, Steam is very convenient and has built a reputation of trust. But all it needs is for Gabe to bite the dust and the next owner having different goals. We need actual independence, hence being free of DRM.

Wow. I just looked into GOG... I'm blown away. You download an offline copy of the game, you burn that game to a disc, and thats that. There is nothing GOG can do at that point (unless you start reselling pirated copies of their games, at which point publishers can file a lawsuit on Copyright Infringement). That sounds incredible!

Anybody see any strings attached? It seems pretty cut-and-dry. If this is as good as I think it to be, then yeah, I'm done with Steam. Unless there's a game available only through Steam and not through GOG, I will exclusively be purchasing through GOG moving forward.



firebush03 said:
Mnementh said:

Yeah, too few people use Gog. I can see why though, Steam is very convenient and has built a reputation of trust. But all it needs is for Gabe to bite the dust and the next owner having different goals. We need actual independence, hence being free of DRM.

Wow. I just looked into GOG... I'm blown away. You download an offline copy of the game, you burn that game to a disc, and thats that. There is nothing GOG can do at that point (unless you start reselling pirated copies of their games, at which point publishers can file a lawsuit on Copyright Infringement). That sounds incredible!

Anybody see any strings attached? It seems pretty cut-and-dry. If this is as good as I think it to be, then yeah, I'm done with Steam. Unless there's a game available only through Steam and not through GOG, I will exclusively be purchasing through GOG moving forward.

That's the biggest problem, the amount of games available on GoG is insanely small, and it has been running for so many years now but people don't give it a chance. It's having worse and worse results every year.



BraLoD said:

That's the biggest problem, the amount of games available on GoG is insanely small, and it has been running for so many years now but people don't give it a chance. It's having worse and worse results every year.

Man, that's such a shame. It's also at a higher price...though not by much (and definitely worth the extra charge). Maybe an alternative could be purchasing a PS5 copy of whatever AAA game I'm interest in, dumping the files onto my PC, and then running it through an emulator whenever we've got a functional PS5 emulator on PC...? Or I could just do this process but without the wait via purchasing a PS4 copy of the game.



firebush03 said:
BraLoD said:

That's the biggest problem, the amount of games available on GoG is insanely small, and it has been running for so many years now but people don't give it a chance. It's having worse and worse results every year.

Man, that's such a shame. It's also at a higher price...though not by much (and definitely worth the extra charge). Maybe an alternative could be purchasing a PS5 copy of whatever AAA game I'm interest in, dumping the files onto my PC, and then running it through an emulator whenever we've got a functional PS5 emulator on PC...? Or I could just do this process but without the wait via purchasing a PS4 copy of the game.

They tried releasing a patron program for people to help them some months ago, so I hope people that play mostly on PC are helping them.

Also, they give games away via the Prime Gaming site if you are subscribed to Amazon Prime. I got some great games for free there because of it.

They have some great games (good old games, some would say xP) available for purchase there, like the OG Diablo which is one of the best games ever made, and their prices are really good here in Brazil, if as I don't know if its higher than Steam.



Around the Network
firebush03 said:
Mnementh said:

Yeah, too few people use Gog. I can see why though, Steam is very convenient and has built a reputation of trust. But all it needs is for Gabe to bite the dust and the next owner having different goals. We need actual independence, hence being free of DRM.

Wow. I just looked into GOG... I'm blown away. You download an offline copy of the game, you burn that game to a disc, and thats that. There is nothing GOG can do at that point (unless you start reselling pirated copies of their games, at which point publishers can file a lawsuit on Copyright Infringement). That sounds incredible!

Anybody see any strings attached? It seems pretty cut-and-dry. If this is as good as I think it to be, then yeah, I'm done with Steam. Unless there's a game available only through Steam and not through GOG, I will exclusively be purchasing through GOG moving forward.

There are no strings attached per se. That said:

  • GOG is a much smaller business than Steam, so the likelyhood of it toppling over is significantly higher than Steam's. It's been around since 2008 so it's probably fairly stable, but the risk is there. If you back up your games, you don't necessarily lose a lot if GOG keels over.
  • Cross-play multiplayer with other platforms, including Steam, varies. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't.
  • Sometimes prices are higher than on Steam. I think usually they're more or less the same, but when they differ, usually GOG has higher prices.
  • There's fewer games available, so it'll probably still be GOG for the games you can and Steam for the rest.
  • Sometimes games are released on GOG later, even years later.
  • Linux support is generally weaker than on Steam. Games with a Linux version on Steam might not have the Linux version available on GOG, and GOG's optional Galaxy client has no Linux support at the moment (GOG has recently expressed growing interest in Linux, so this could change in the near future).
  • Steam has a lot of convenience features not matched anywhere else. I think the most important one for me is Steam Input, which greatly increases controller support in a lot of games (mostly older ones with lacking controller support). You can probably utilize Steam Input for GOG games too by adding GOG games to Steam as non-Steam games, but I think I've done something like this only once. VR is another thing I have no idea how it would work on GOG, whereas with Steam it's built-in.

That's a lot, but for many use cases, it might not be terribly important. For me, DRM-free from GOG has generally been a great advantage despite the shortcomings, and only with Microsoft really fumbling with Windows in the recent years have I paid more attention to the Linux side of things and considered things from that perspective as well more carefully.



firebush03 said:
Mnementh said:

Yeah, too few people use Gog. I can see why though, Steam is very convenient and has built a reputation of trust. But all it needs is for Gabe to bite the dust and the next owner having different goals. We need actual independence, hence being free of DRM.

Wow. I just looked into GOG... I'm blown away. You download an offline copy of the game, you burn that game to a disc, and thats that. There is nothing GOG can do at that point (unless you start reselling pirated copies of their games, at which point publishers can file a lawsuit on Copyright Infringement). That sounds incredible!

Anybody see any strings attached? It seems pretty cut-and-dry. If this is as good as I think it to be, then yeah, I'm done with Steam. Unless there's a game available only through Steam and not through GOG, I will exclusively be purchasing through GOG moving forward.

From ownership perspective, GOG is vastly superior. From usability perspective, Steam is unmatched - especially with what I think lies in the future, which is native Steam on ARM.



GoG has a good awful selection and most of the games are old as crap, like the original Resident Evil trilogy.. which I can download roms from about 90 different websites. They dont have the new RE games.

GoG, is a waste IMO. A store is only as good as it's selection.



rtx 4090, 32 gb ram, i7-13700k

Switch 2

Nothing is forever, even old physical games that are independent of the internet will eventually stop working mechanically.
But you can retain a game for a reasonable amount of time to enjoy it many times over, what more do you need?



Chrkeller said:

GoG has a good awful selection and most of the games are old as crap, like the original Resident Evil trilogy.. which I can download roms from about 90 different websites. They dont have the new RE games.

GoG, is a waste IMO. A store is only as good as it's selection.

The "old as crap" games are my main reason for using GoG. They make older great games work on modern machines and legally so. Since I play a lot of retro games GoG is my favorite place for it. Since the games to me are often more fun than newer ones I can at least agree with your last sentence.