GOG.com does dumb stunt

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Well... I guess I won't be buying any more games from GOG for a while.

So not cool.
 
Well, at least they apologised. And to be fair they never did say they were going out of business... I think a dramatic splash page with a "something huge is coming" would have served the same purpose. :|
 
Pfffffffffffff........
Screw you whiners.

I laugh at how people feel "harmed" by their stunt.
It's just a harmless hoax...
Seriously, people feel ANGER ? For a fucking internet stunt done by a company that sells games ? People need to get a goddamn life. And start to bother about things that matter... The only acceptable expression would be "mildly annoyed". No anger, please...

You are allowed to *think* it's "dumb", but it really will be nothing more than your opinion. What will really tell if it was or wasn't a dumb move from their part, is the numbers...
 
Arr0nax said:
I laugh at how people feel "harmed" by their stunt.
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Laugh all you want. Digital Download is about trust, hurting trust is stupid PR. Closing a website for technical reasons without warning is bad, and then just going " it was a joke mang!" is not enough.

I think GOG is as likely to come out on top as anything, lots of attention, finally getting Baldur's Gate, good times are ahead.
Does that incline me to arrogantly dismiss people who feel pissed because their property was pulled - and this is key here so try to pay attention - for no legitimate reason? Nope. I don't feel as angry, if a bit insulted, but people have the right to trust salesmen as they will, and that's all GOG are.

Now your response, that's definitely overreacting. You feel personally insulted by people's purchasing decisions? How is that for ridiculous. People are angry about their property. You're getting angry about forum posts. Telling people to "get a goddamn life" is just hysterical, considering. Good luck with that, buddy.

At least GOG is a bit more aware of how nonsensical this move really was: We really are sorry to those who felt deceived. It was done with the best of intentions, hopefully we can make it up to you. This little PR joke clearly got out of hand.
 
Brother None said:
Laugh all you want. Digital Download is about trust, hurting trust is stupid PR. Closing a website for technical reasons without warning is bad, and then just going " it was a joke mang!" is not enough.
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You are extrapolating. Because they never said they were closing forever.
Now, say whatever you want, I don't think their sales will suffer from this move. They still offer a quality service, and it surely doesn't rely on trust. Do you really think the argument for buying games from an unknown outsider was "I will still be able to get them 3-10 years from now ?"... please... long-term trust is collateral in the success of their service, not central.

Thing is, you really can't tell anymore than me if it will be revealed to be a "stupid" move. Future will tell. Not me, not you.

Brother None said:
Does that incline me to arrogantly dismiss people who feel pissed because their property was pulled - and this is key here so try to pay attention - for no legitimate reason? Nope. I don't feel as angry, if a bit insulted, but people have the right to trust salesmen as they will, and that's all GOG are.
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Whose property was pulled again ? No one. That's the subtelty, you see. It's just PR.
Was "lifelong guaranteed unlimited downloading" part of the purchase agreement ? I don't think so... Hence, even if the announcement was true, their property wouldn't have been exactly pulled.

Now, how many people expressed anger because their property was *imaginarily* pulled, and how many did it just for the sake of it ?

Brother None said:
Now your response, that's definitely overreacting. You feel personally insulted by people's purchasing decisions?
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Where are you reading I'm feeling personally insulted ?

Brother None said:
Telling people to "get a goddamn life" is just hysterical, considering
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Well, then maybe I must explain to you what I mean while saying this. I'm not saying people are wasting their time, hence they don't have a life : everyone waste time, I'm doing so right now.

The real meaning is : if you're feeling entitled to getting angry because you may have lost 10-30$ but you didn't in the end and it was all a joke, and no harm was done to no one, then maybe the scope of your life is desperately materialistic and selfish.
It's not about the way you use your time, more about the things that get you moved, deep inside.

At least GOG is a bit more aware of how nonsensical this move really was: We really are sorry to those who felt deceived. It was done with the best of intentions, hopefully we can make it up to you. This little PR joke clearly got out of hand.
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I never said their move wasn't nonsensical. However, some reactions are just ridiculous. It's like hitting someone in the face for telling a bad joke...
 
Arr0nax said:
Now, say whatever you want, I don't think their sales will suffer from this move. They still offer a quality service, and it surely doesn't rely on trust.
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Yes, I said I expect them to come out on top as well, so not sure why you're telling me this.

If you honestly don't believe salesmen's success depends on trust then, well, I don't know what to say. I'm not talking about people believing sacredly they'll be able to download in perpetuity, but digital download has always had a rep problem because of the open question of what happens when the company collapses. GOG suffers less under this perception because its software doesn't depend on an active server once downloaded, but that doesn't mean their rep is immune to knocks.

I'm not saying it's reasonable. Heck all of the games I own that are older than, say, 10 years are unplayable because of scratched up CDs. That's a reality of retail, and I doubt digital download will be much worse. But my personal opinion doesn't change how sensitive such services can be to getting a bad rep.

Arr0nax said:
It's like hitting someone in the face for telling a bad joke...
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Really? That's what it's like? You really think that's a reasonable simile for a bunch of forum posts?

Here is a simile that actually works and might help you understand why pulling random shit on costumers for the lulz is generally considered bad business:
If I walk into my favorite shop and the manager comes out to greet me then sprays some washable filth on my trousers because he thinks it's funny and will generate some buzz for his shop it will change absolutely nothing to the order of my life. I have other trousers I can wear while this one's in the washing machine (and it's not as if it wasn't going to get washed anyway). Doesn't change the fact that I would never step into that shop again. Maybe poles view these things differently.
 
Arr0nax said:
Whose property was pulled again ? No one. That's the subtelty, you see. It's just PR.
Was "lifelong guaranteed unlimited downloading" part of the purchase agreement ? I don't think so... Hence, even if the announcement was true, their property wouldn't have been exactly pulled.
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You don't make a deal with someone, the terms of which are "unlimited downloads" and then go take your web site down as a prank. A few days of outage isn't going to kill anyone, and the issue isn't even that they were going out of business; it's a sad but harsh reality and I don't think anyone would have blamed them if that had turned out to be the case. Rather, the problem lies in the fact that they made a deal with their users, then explicitly invalidated that deal for the sake of a practical joke.

Now, I don't mind practical jokes, but we aren't talking about a web site changing its home page on April 1st... real money is involved here. When real money is involved - and there are people who have spent hundreds of dollars on GOG.com (I've probably spent about $80-100) - you don't fuck with it. End of story.

Arr0nax said:
Well, then maybe I must explain to you what I mean while saying this. I'm not saying people are wasting their time, hence they don't have a life : everyone waste time, I'm doing so right now.

The real meaning is : if you're feeling entitled to getting angry because you may have lost 10-30$ but you didn't in the end and it was all a joke, and no harm was done to no one, then maybe the scope of your life is desperately materialistic and selfish.
It's not about the way you use your time, more about the things that get you moved, deep inside.
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What matters is the principle of the act. People are passionate about games, just like any other form of media and entertainment, and the whole "get a life, nerd" card doesn't work. I guess your football, opera, NASCAR, wine tasting, painting, or whatever you're interested in is something of real importance? No, of course it isn't, but that doesn't stop you, I or anyone else from investing large amounts of their time, effort and emotion into those things. That's not a bad thing. We choose to spend what we have on things we enjoy, and we have a right to be upset when those things are put in jeopardy of any sort.
 
Actually, this marketing stunt seems to have succeeded for me...

I always was going to buy a few games from them but kept putting it off later...

Now, I'm probably going to buy them...

Brahsajfdksd!!!!!!!

Meh, GOG still offers the best stuff for the best price so whatever...
 
Well for GOG, just make sure you keep a copy backed up locally. Don't need to call home to run it, after all.
 
They obviously didn't think this PR-move through, and obviously should have made their PR-stunt something less likely to make people think the site was shutting down or was going to change dramatically (i.e. the common thought in this thread, that they were going to reopen with DRM).

But, GoG still offers a great service at great prices. That's a lot more important to me than their incompetent marketing.
 
They obviously didn't think this PR-move through, and obviously should have made their PR-stunt something less likely to make people think the site was shutting down or was going to change dramatically (i.e. the common thought in this thread, that they were going to reopen with DRM).
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But then they wouldn't have gotten the amount of publicity they did.
 
Brother None said:
Laugh all you want. Digital Download is about trust, hurting trust is stupid PR. Closing a website for technical reasons without warning is bad, and then just going " it was a joke mang!" is not enough.
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This.
 
Sorry, but this accomplished what it was supposed to and if you suddenly feel you can't trust a site because "OH NO THEY DID MARKETING PLOY BAAAAAWWWWWWW" I pity anyone you know in real life.
 
Shadow of the Wastes said:
"OH NO THEY DID MARKETING PLOY BAAAAAWWWWWWW"
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No. Try more along the lines of "Thank you for blocking off everything I've paid for, with no warning, while also making me think this is gonna be some permanent thing." When people have sunk a lot of money into something, then have it pulled out from under them in a second, with no kind of leeway given, it doesn't seem very funny. When there's possibly a good deal of money involved, it will become very serious business for some people.
 
Except didn't they announce they'd be releasing something so you could still download your stuff (when they said they were closing) and you can access it again now, can't you?
 
Shadow of the Wastes said:
You can access it again now, can't you?
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Yep, still doesn't change the fact that the whole "stunt" was horribly pulled-off. Like I said, the prospect of losing access to something you may have put quite a bit of money into, isn't really some event most people would be overjoyed to hear about. Of course it's pointless to really rage on about it now, but it should be expected that some who had spent a lot of money with GoG were gonna be pissed.

That and when I saw their page, I didn't see anything for being able to re-download stuff, just "Yak yak, it was a hard decision, sorry bye."
 
lol, reading all this drama reminds me of an old saying,"the best con is the one that you were never told the truth to." I think they might do a roaring business if they really shut it down, keep a few servers to serve old customers, and start another site in a few months. They can call it Great Old Games or something, and there wouldn't be any of this outrage. Heck, they could "buy back" the original site/"company" and "customer base" and promise to keep the contracts going for the new site. At this point, they would probably be praised to the high heavens for the good deeds they are doing.

Just a thought. :P
 
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