GOG vs Abandonware

HSharp · Post by **HSharp** » Tue May 10, 2011 10:28 pm

How do you feel about old games being sold by companies like GOG and Steam?

I have seen many games from abandonware sites now being sold on gog and steam which makes me a bit sad really. I understand the problem with pirating games vs buying games but I feel it's very different when it comes to abandonware games where buying it from gog doesn't pay the developers (mainly because the developers are defunct).

I know some people praise GOG and steam selling old games because they couldn't get them before but it seems sad that they make so much money from doing very little work, they have no marginal cost and any money they make does not go into developing new games which annoys me after people put time and effort into getting these great games available for free on abandonware sites and then they have to cease and desist because someone has brought the right to sell the game.

Some will say that GOG and Steam do good work in making the buggy games playable for modern machines but honestly I have not seen a single case of that, I have seen the good people from DOSBox make a fantastic emulator to allow modern machines to play the old games, and the games which were buggy back then seem buggy now (a hallmark of good emulation) but I really haven't seen a single game that GOG or Steam fixed that wasn't the work of someone else who did it freely.

I love abandonware, it let's me play games the old games I used to play (and would suck at by being a kid) and the old games I didn't get a chance to play, I found Allegiance through an abandonware site and I wouldn't have been here without finding it through that link so with that in mind I have a fear (irrational?) that one day Microsoft will sell the right to sell Allegiance to Steam or GOG and then it will be the end of Free Allegiance and all the hard work given freely by other people over the years would be used to make money for some company.

So I would be interested to hear your views, is GOG good for spreading the word of old games or bad for charging for what used to be free information?

Icky · Post by **Icky** » Tue May 10, 2011 11:14 pm

I like abandonware a LOT. It reminds me of when I was a younger man, playing really awesome classics like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, etc.

It pisses me off to see them sold since the only person making money is the middleman, and they contribute NOTHING to the transaction.

Psychosis · Post by **Psychosis** » Tue May 10, 2011 11:45 pm

I am mixed, I love abandonware, but sometimes its such a $#@!ing pain to get going that GoG or steam is nice. Also, a lot of the old companies are defunct, absorbed, or doing other things. They don't care about their old games.

In the end, I think community supported games like allegiance are the BEST way to go about old games, but when it comes to some of the less community driven games, I will go with GoG style

HSharp · Post by **HSharp** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:01 am

Psychosis wrote:QUOTE (Psychosis @ May 11 2011, 12:45 AM) Also, a lot of the old companies are defunct, absorbed, or doing other things. They don't care about their old games.

... that's why it's called abandonware. I don't see a reason why someone should charge you money for something freely given and maintained by the gamers who love it for free.

I think GOG and Steam go to abandonware sites and look for the popular games and then try and buy the exclusive right to sell it while using any support the community gave to get the game working.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for games (people who can see my steam account can see that if I bothered to install all the games I bought I would be busy for a few years) but it annoys me to see old gems that were available for free just get sold by some company who seem to exploit the goodwill of others. I'm not much of an illegal seeder but when it comes to abandonware games being sold it changes my principles.

DrBeginner · Post by **DrBeginner** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:19 am

GoG does send them money to the current owners of the game, publishers.

NightRychune · Post by **NightRychune** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:26 am

this is the same argument as with google books trying to find/sell/distribute really old books that are out of print with defunct publishers and dead authors

HSharp · Post by **HSharp** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:36 am

DrBeginner wrote:QUOTE (DrBeginner @ May 11 2011, 01:19 AM) GoG does send them money to the current owners of the game, publishers.

i.e. not the developers

Malicious Wraith · Post by **Malicious Wraith** » Wed May 11, 2011 2:02 am

I don't support Bioware anymore. All their games suck, and I would hate to fund them because they got a chunk of what I paid for Baldur's Gate 2.

raumvogel · Post by **raumvogel** » Wed May 11, 2011 5:29 am

The idiots are the ones who pay for it when they could be playing Allegiance.
Here is a free shooter that is like those old games and it's free....yes, the web site in the lower left corner is now defunct

Grimmwolf_GB · Post by **Grimmwolf_GB** » Wed May 11, 2011 6:24 am

I actually like the idea of GoG. They might sell the game, but the also advertise the good old games to a new generation of players that would just live on without knowing the games. Also, the prices are quite low and there is no DRM implemented. I think it is a good way of obtaining legal games running on new computers without hassle.