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Digital Downloads
I’ve always been a bit skeptical about downloading games instead of owning a physical copy, but I’ve decided to take the plunge and try it. One thing that has always concerned me though..
Rights.
I’ve heard some say Steam is really bad for rights. Despite buying your games, they can still legally stop you from playing them if they so choose. Is this true? Also, what other services would you recommend if not Steam.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
GOG.com is all you need… 
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
GOG.com is all you need…
Cheers 
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
I’ve heard some say Steam is really bad for rights. Despite buying your games, they can still legally stop you from playing them if they so choose. Is this true? Also, what other services would you recommend if not Steam.
Thats actually a load of BS. They don’t have the right to do that. They DO have the right to stop selling a certain product in the story. Doom 3 was a great example when Doom 3 BFG came out. A bunch of people spreading horrible rumors that steam prevented those that owned Doom 3 from downloading the game or playing it….except it was proven otherwise.
Don’t listen to a lot of the lies. Steam is a faster service and offers a more complete experience if you are looking to go beyond just owning a game.
GOG.com is the best service if all you care about is owning a digital game. Except you cannot beat steams sales. GOG has nothing on Steam when it comes to getting REAL discounts on your games. Not to mention Steams catalog is absolutely giant and offers more than just big name games. Steam even slashes prices on big budget games in half during seasonal sales.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
Thanks for the info. Looking at both, they seem to both have a good library. Gog has a lot of older adventure games while Steam has a giant library of all. I’ve just heard stories about people getting blocked from their account and not being allowed to access the games they’ve bought.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
Thanks for the info. Looking at both, they seem to both have a good library. Gog has a lot of older adventure games while Steam has a giant library of all. I’ve just heard stories about people getting blocked from their account and not being allowed to access the games they’ve bought.
If you do illegal stuff with your account, then of course you’ll meet repercussions. Thats life.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
I’ve always been a bit skeptical about downloading games instead of owning a physical copy, but I’ve decided to take the plunge and try it. One thing that has always concerned me though..
Rights.
I’ve heard some say Steam is really bad for rights. Despite buying your games, they can still legally stop you from playing them if they so choose. Is this true? Also, what other services would you recommend if not Steam.
fireflowergames.com?
Story rich DRM-free games for Windows, Mac and linux for direct download - https://fireflowergames.com/. Half the profit goes to projects that benefit the environment and game related projects.
Digital stores that I use:
Gog.com - Best store for me - no DRM, just install the game where you like it how many times you want; UNIVERSAL PRICE!!! Excellent selection of old games with support for modern systems. And now they even a nice selection of indies and adventures. Great deals.
Steam - It’s mostly impossible to avoid steam now and it’s an excellent service, it’s just that the prices being in euros are not very good, and all that community, achievments stuff I just don’t care so that’s why I prefer Gog.com if I can. The selection of games is the best. It has DRM but I don’t think it’s very intrusive (but I sometimes have problems with off-line mode…). Also the support is incredibly slow (At least it was the last time I used it a year ago). I don’t think you can get blocked of your games unless you do something really bad.
Origin and Ubishop - Origin for EA games and Ubi have their stores and clients now. Never had problems with them but people seem have to run into them due to the Ubisoft DRM. I like that in Origin I can register most EA games that I own from retail or other stores.
Other shops I mostly use to get keys to register on steam/origin/ubi:
Amazon.com - Prices in dollars, great deals
Greenmangaming.com - Insane prices in new releases (don’t know how they get these prices)
Gamersgate.com - Some great deals, but I always run into problems with the payments lately
In console side of digital games I only have experience with Sony and Nintendo:
Playstation - Incredible how much it evolved during the course of the playstation 3 life. Day one releases now, some good deals and you can download games for the PS3, PSP and Vita how many times you like if they are compatible (like the psone games) only needing to buy them one time.
Nintendo - I don’t understand how can they have such a good opportunity to have an excellent online store with a huge selection but everything from the interface to the proces and deals is horrible…
Anyone here used Justadventure.com?
Seems to be some older games on there I wouldn’t mind getting. Cheap too 
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
The deal is this. Of course, there will always be advantages to owning a physical product. You can sell it if you want, for example. Or, the other day I pulled my original Grim Fandango CD’s out of the closet and loaded it up. But it all comes down to pricing. Would I pay $40 or $50 for a digital copy of a game that I can get the physical DVD’s of for the same price? No way in hell. But the Steam sales are a glorious and frightening thing. Pretty much if you wait about 6 months you can get almost any game for like $5 or $7 on sale. Lots of adventure games you can get for $2.50 or less. Everything I buy on Steam I buy with the knowledge that who knows, Steam may go out of business at some point and all those purchases might be worthless. But I will have spent a pittance on them. And buying digital games lets you play so many, many more games than the alternative for a fraction of the price. Steam is, imo, one of the greatest things to happen to PC gamers ever.
The deal is this. Of course, there will always be advantages to owning a physical product. You can sell it if you want, for example. Or, the other day I pulled my original Grim Fandango CD’s out of the closet and loaded it up. But it all comes down to pricing. Would I pay $40 or $50 for a digital copy of a game that I can get the physical DVD’s of for the same price? No way in hell. But the Steam sales are a glorious and frightening thing. Pretty much if you wait about 6 months you can get almost any game for like $5 or $7 on sale. Lots of adventure games you can get for $2.50 or less. Everything I buy on Steam I buy with the knowledge that who knows, Steam may go out of business at some point and all those purchases might be worthless. But I will have spent a pittance on them. And buying digital games lets you play so many, many more games than the alternative for a fraction of the price. Steam is, imo, one of the greatest things to happen to PC gamers ever.
Getting games for cheap are great but aren’t all that much of a mindf***. Its the fact that Steam even puts some games just released on sale for 25% to 50% off. Now thats what makes steam rock.
Even so if Steam goes out of business, steam will still be operational and all those that have purchased from them will still be able to use steam and download their content.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
Even so if Steam goes out of business, steam will still be operational and all those that have purchased from them will still be able to use steam and download their content.
I believe we’ve discussed Steam very thoroughly in another thread, but I’d like to reiterate here as well that the statement above is not a guarantee.
I for one really like digital downloads. I use Gog a little and Steam quite a bit. The best part is that you can get playable games, often old ones, without the hassle of looking for compatibility, drivers and the likes. I just saw that the Gabriel Knight games - which I’ve been looking for online and offline for quite some time - are on there. As soon as I get a PC, I’m getting these!
Physical copies of games are on a decline (which you probably know), we’ll most likely not have them in the future. But who knows we might see a resurrection as with vinyl records…
I think with indie games the prices for digital copies have become more reasonable. You can usually still get the same stuff as if you bought a physical copy (manual, posters etc). I personally don’t see why you would want a box made of paper/plastic and a disc made of plastic, just takes up physical space and it’s worse for the environment compared to a digital copy.
If you’re worried about companies going out of business it’s better to use a service like gog, fireflower games, gamersgate etc where you get the file downloaded onto your harddrive.
Story rich DRM-free games for Windows, Mac and linux for direct download - https://fireflowergames.com/. Half the profit goes to projects that benefit the environment and game related projects.
I jump in with my experience with digital goods.
Last year I spent ~$500 on software tools, all available as downloads.
95% of software is working fine and I am happy with it, I don’t need CDs or DVDs.
Only with one tool I had an issue and I wanted money back… until I’ve read on their website: NO REFUNDS (in no event) Ouch.
SO: read about refunds. Most of the software is good, but sometimes there are bad stuff online. So you want to be protected in case the game/software is not working. I will stay away in the future if they don’t have at least 3 or 7 days money back guarantee.
I think if you use PayPal and you buy from a known company you are almost 100% safe.
The refund policy is often regulated by country laws. In Sweden you need to have a 14 day refund policy as a company. But as a first instance you have the option to send a new product that works.
But I believe that you should always listen to the customer and try and make him/her happy.
Might always be a minority of people that aren’t completely sincere though.
Story rich DRM-free games for Windows, Mac and linux for direct download - https://fireflowergames.com/. Half the profit goes to projects that benefit the environment and game related projects.
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