"Unless the game itselfhas DRM" is the key phrase. Steam itself is a form of DRM if you must install it and login to install and/or run a game.
DRM-free Steam games are the exception, not the rule, unfortunately.
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bluelander 11 points 3 months ago
Dookieman12 -11 points 3 months ago
If the game itself has DRM, then it has DRM on GOG too.
Steam itself is a form of DRM if you must install it and login to install and/or run a game.
Did you read what I wrote?
industrialdeerfluff 17 points 3 months ago
GOG is drm free and provides offline installers for the games, updates, and dlcs. Even games with drm on steam.
You don't even need to install their client to download the installers or extras.
Dookieman12 -7 points 3 months ago
If a game has DRM on one platform, but not another, that's because the publisher required it. That can be for any number of reasons that don't have anything to do with the platform.
I guess what I'm asking is, what's the benefit to having the installer instead of the game files?
You have to be online to download the installer. The end result is being able to play normally, offline, from portable storage if you choose. Besides a few gigabytes, it seems like a distinction without a difference.
dewritoninja 9 points 3 months ago
Gog literally won't allow you to sell a game if it has DRM, that's their whole deal as a Platform.
Also having the installers means that if you can install the game files, set whatever environment variables the game needs, create the necessary folders, install the redistributable runtimes the game needs to run,and link the dlls properly. If you only have the game files you have to manage all of that yourself
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How is this not also true for Steam? Unless the game itself has DRM, I can copy game files to an offline machine that doesn't have Steam installed and launch and play them normally.
Edit: Glazing GOG for this while insisting "sTeAm iS dIfFeReNt" is like buying the cereal box that says "Asbestos Free!" on it.
Ever since that Sony tweet, all these kids are, overnight, developing all these strong opinions about shit they never cared about before, based on nothing but hype, memes, and regurgitated streamer slop.
Physical media has licenses too. GOG purchases come with licenses too. Optical media rots. And Steam isn't secretly Sony (yet. They probably will be after Gabe dies).
Downvote me all you want, it doesn't change the truth and reveals much more about you than me.
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