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[lordcooper]

There are a few really good games on there that I'm considering buying, but I'm a little unsure about the site for some reason.  Is it legit?  Who gets my money?

[freeformschooler]

Who gets my money?

I also wonder this. Do they have any games by development studios that are now defunct, and if so, why should I pay money for it if the dev team cannot get my money?

[Biag]

I assume whoever currently holds the copyright gets a share of the money. Which could be still-existent studios, the original producer, or GOG themselves if the studio went under and nobody else wants it.

[Matz05]

GOG is definitely legal. In fact, it is usally the ONLY legal recourse for games previously considered "abandonware" (technicaly illegal/semilegal distrobution of works with no owner; which would otherwise be lost forever due to destruction/degridation of "legitamite" copied Eg. old C64/DOS/Amiga games/etc.)
 
I think GOG either buys rights or a contract to pay a royalty to big corporations that own, but do not care about, the former companies that produced the games in question.

[Soulwynd]

The publisher.

Only those who released games independently receive money directly for said game. Otherwise the publisher paid for the developer to create the game and then reap all the profits.

I'm a publisher and I want you to sell my rusty, old games. What should I do?

Hmmm, I hope you've figured out that GOG.com stands for GOOD old games. If yes, then feel free to drop us a line and we'll figure something out together.

[freeformschooler]

The publisher.

Only those who released games independently receive money directly for said game. Otherwise the publisher paid for the developer to create the game and then reap all the profits.

I'm a publisher and I want you to sell my rusty, old games. What should I do?

Hmmm, I hope you've figured out that GOG.com stands for GOOD old games. If yes, then feel free to drop us a line and we'll figure something out together.

Hrm. I'm not too interested in just giving money to the publisher then if that's what I want to do with my money. Ah, well.

[Matz05]

They BOUGHT them form the publlisher it looks like.
 
GOG gets the money from sales.

[Fikes]

The publisher.

Only those who released games independently receive money directly for said game. Otherwise the publisher paid for the developer to create the game and then reap all the profits.

I'm a publisher and I want you to sell my rusty, old games. What should I do?

Hmmm, I hope you've figured out that GOG.com stands for GOOD old games. If yes, then feel free to drop us a line and we'll figure something out together.

Hrm. I'm not too interested in just giving money to the publisher then if that's what I want to do with my money. Ah, well.

That is what you do with all your gaming money. Didn't you read the description of what a publisher does?  It isn't like publishers are bad, they give developers sales up front. Any way you look at it, increasing sales of good games encourages companies to make more good games.

[freeformschooler]

That is what you do with all your gaming money. Didn't you read the description of what a publisher does?  It isn't like publishers are bad, they give developers sales up front. Any way you look at it, increasing sales of good games encourages companies to make more good games.

No, I know. Publishers are great for that. It's just that for really old games, without the dev team it isn't like the publishers are going to use the money to fund a sequel or something. Unless they got a different dev team to do that and you know how well that usually goes.

What I guess I'm trying to say is I'd rather pay for a game if its dev team and publisher were both still afloat, not just the publisher. Or worse, just GoG. After all, D2 received a patch in 2010 for instance because its dev team was still afloat (at least that's my understanding). That would be much less likely to happen if the dev team was defunct, along with other things.

[Soulwynd]

They BOUGHT them form the publlisher it looks like.
 
GOG gets the money from sales.

Thus the publisher got money for it.

That is what you do with all your gaming money. Didn't you read the description of what a publisher does?  It isn't like publishers are bad, they give developers sales up front. Any way you look at it, increasing sales of good games encourages companies to make more good games.

I never contested what a publisher does. I actually explained what the publisher does. I guess you got the implicit message that I dislike what a publisher does and if you did, indeed you are right. It's wrong. They can pay a developer 10 million for a game. Then effortlessly reap 100 million out of it in the years to come. I would never ever sign with a publisher unless it was on a shared profit basis and me and my fellow coders got at the very least 50% of the profit. A publisher should be a contracted service, not the service that contracts the developers who actually do the freaking work.

I take my point to such a step that in my company, whenever we have an excess of profit, I give every employee bonuses. Even tho I own the damn thing, it would be extremely wrong of me to keep all the profits for work that was mostly done by them.

[Fikes]

I would not be able to play Crusader: No Remorse today without GoG. I could never get it to work with Dosbox. I probably couldn't play Alpha Centuri or MOO2 either. GoG is keeping classic games alive and making them work with modern systems. That is enough to justify giving them money.

Also, one way or another, GoG paid someone money for the right to sell those games. Sure, it would be a strech to say "if enough people by MOO2 from GoG we could get a REAL sequel!" but that doesn't suck all the good out of what GoG does.

They BOUGHT them form the publlisher it looks like.
 
GOG gets the money from sales.

Thus the publisher got money for it.

That is what you do with all your gaming money. Didn't you read the description of what a publisher does?  It isn't like publishers are bad, they give developers sales up front. Any way you look at it, increasing sales of good games encourages companies to make more good games.

I never contested what a publisher does. I actually explained what the publisher does. I guess you got the implicit message that I dislike what a publisher does and if you did, indeed you are right. It's wrong. They can pay a developer 10 million for a game. Then effortlessly reap 100 million out of it in the years to come. I would never ever sign with a publisher unless it was on a shared profit basis and me and my fellow coders got at the very least 50% of the profit. A publisher should be a contracted service, not the service that contracts the developers who actually do the freaking work.

I take my point to such a step that in my company, whenever we have an excess of profit, I give every employee bonuses. Even tho I own the damn thing, it would be extremely wrong of me to keep all the profits for work that was mostly done by them.

I was actually refering Freeform to what you said.

Probably best not to turn this into a publishers vs. developers arguement. Suffice to say GoG is good and any way you slice it, does more good for the gaming industry than torrents.

[Soulwynd]

No, torrents is the best thing the gaming industry has. Without it a lot of us wouldn't know where to put our money.

I like supporting GoG because they do go through the trouble of making the games work (even if that means packing dosbox along) and give you a lot of extras that can be interesting. Specially when it's the game's OST.

[SquidgyB]

iirc GOG.cam was only two people - I could be am completely wrong, but they certainly have a sort of indie vibe going on.

I've bought a good few games on there, and they certainly do a good job of packaging them with dosbox for a hassle free installation etc.

Good guys as far as I can see.

[freeformschooler]

I like supporting GoG because they do go through the trouble of making the games work (even if that means packing dosbox along) and give you a lot of extras that can be interesting. Specially when it's the game's OST.

What seriously!? That changes my opinion of them instantly.

I do agree that torrents can be a good way for others than myself to know what to buy. But they're also proliferated by the people who will always be there: the cheapo preteen who can't get mommy to buy him the game.

[Neonivek]

The reason I support Abandonware is that the games within it are so uttarly expencive or rare to find that it is rediculous for anyone to actually do it, plus even if you do find it there is a good chance you won't be able to play.

GOG gives you easy access to the game, the ability to play it, and all for a low price.

By all means GOG is doing a good service.

the cheapo preteen who can't get mommy to buy him the game

I sort of dislike this view on certain subjects. Even when I have more money then I can deal with I strongly consider whether or not I am getting a good deal.