GOG Removes Hitman From Their Store

[Couchpotato]

Don't know if many off you play the Hitman games but the latest game uses always online DRM to save your progress. The latest game somehow ended up on GOG.

As you know GOG is a DRM free game storefront and customers weren't happy.

Link - https://gamersgospel.com/gog-removes-hitman-from-their-store/?swcfpc=1

“We’re still in dialogue with IO Interactive about this release. Today we have removed HITMAN GOTY from GOG’s catalog – we shouldn’t have released it in its current form, as you’ve pointed out,” commented GOG Community Manager Gabriela Siemienkowicz under the username Chandra.

“We’d like to apologise for the confusion and anger generated by this situation. We’ve let you down and we’d like to thank you for bringing this topic to us – while it was honest to the bone, it shows how passionate you are towards GOG.”

The response is met overall positively, though some are still upset about GOG’s previous statement, saying that the negative ratings were “review bombing” and deleting any negative reviews.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

This is kind of good news, seeing as they're maybe planning a GoG version of the game that's truly and fully offline. Then I'd love it if they did that for all 3 of them. Actually, they should do it after the 3rd Hitman game escapes the EGS exclusivity window and then bring them all 3 as one big package with all content fully offline.

 

[Couchpotato]

Yeah but this.

They forgot to mention all the comments who brought this up on the forum were purged. In a way it kind of shows that GOG really don't care until the the pot boiled over and they no longer could stop purging peoples comments. It also shows that there is no real testing done on the GOG platform except with the "word" from the developer/publisher that the game has no DRM.

Sounds like another PR disaster for CDPR.

 

[JFarrell71]

I doubt they would completely rework their games so GOG would carry them. Their effort level on Hitman 3 has been noticeably lacking as it is. Both 1&2 got better support and more bang for your buck.

I would be happy if they did stop tieing progression to being online, I just don't think it'll happen.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I never liked the concept of this game.

 

[JFarrell71]

I never liked the concept of this game.

I would never have guessed. You're usually such a huge fan of murder.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I would never have guessed. You're usually such a huge fan of murder.

I always found it interesting how people are able to differentiate between murder of human beings, or killing of other actors deemed "the bad guys". Be they actual humans themselves or "monsters" in the game's context. Is it so easy to flip between the two? Personally, if in real life I had to do either of those, I'd probably have a mental breakdown, either before, during or after. That's why I laugh at the idea that movies and games desensitize you to violence. I think people that say that haven't really seen violence up close.

In the context of the game, I have no moral qualms for killing. Maybe if the game crafts the character properly and gives enough background I will think twice. But as long as its just a simulation, I can't really get involved emotionally in the act of killing someone. Because I know it's not real. I can't suspend my disbelief that much.

 

[JFarrell71]

I always found it interesting how people are able to differentiate between murder of human beings, or killing of other actors deemed "the bad guys". Be they actual humans themselves or "monsters" in the game's context. Is it so easy to flip between the two? Personally, if in real life I had to do either of those, I'd probably have a mental breakdown, either before, during or after. That's why I laugh at the idea that movies and games desensitize you to violence. I think people that say that haven't really seen violence up close.

In the context of the game, I have no moral qualms for killing. Maybe if the game crafts the character properly and gives enough background I will think twice. But as long as its just a simulation, I can't really get involved emotionally in the act of killing someone.

I'm a total softie and will feel all the feels if a game treats a characters as a person and their death as a real tragedy. The Last of Us 2, for example, made death (and killing) uncomfortable as hell. At the same time, I've "killed" dozens if not hundreds of people already in Far Cry 6 and it doesn't faze me in the least. It's like shooting those standees they use in training exercises. I also have no problem with less anonymous deaths if they're treated in the cartoonish fashion Hitman does.

I know there are people who treat the former the same way they do the latter. I've watched some people play the first Last of Us, and the giggling glee with which they killed the doctors in that pivotal scene honestly makes me sick. I did it, but I didn't revel in it (and nor did Joel).

 

[Deleted member 18181]

Meh these 3 new games are boring af compared to the old ones.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I'm a total softie and will feel all the feels if a game treats a characters as a person and their death as a real tragedy. The Last of Us 2, for example, made death (and killing) uncomfortable as hell. At the same time, I've "killed" dozens if not hundreds of people already in Far Cry 6 and it doesn't faze me in the least. It's like shooting those standees they use in training exercises. I also have no problem with less anonymous deaths if they're treated in the cartoonish fashion Hitman does.

I know there are people who treat the former the same way they do the latter. I've watched some people play the first Last of Us, and the giggling glee with which they killed the doctors in that pivotal scene honestly makes me sick. I did it, but I didn't revel in it (and nor did Joel).

Yeah, you make a good point with TLOU. I don't think I felt much for part 1. Not even the doctor at the end. I just felt the game was designed as to force me to kill him. So I didn't feel much.

But in TLOU2, you're right the constant killing in very gruesome ways really started to get tiring. Or maybe it was Ellies whole crusade that took a very long time. And not tiring as in boring or repettive. I actually felt dirty after some time of constant maiming and killing survivors. But of course, I still couldn't really take it too seriously since the whole premise of one person killing horse of enemies really is unbelievable. That's that narrative dissonance at work, I guess.

As far as other people showing glee when killing, as I said above, I really doubt that's anything real. They know it's a video game and that's why they're able to entertain that. I seriously doubt that if presented in the same situation in real life they'd behave the same. I think they'd all shit their pants, even if they ultimately would convince themselves to do it. And then they'd have nightmares on top of nightmares after having done that.

 

[JFarrell71]

Meh these 3 new games are boring af compared to the old ones.

You're in a tiny minority among Hitman fans. I'm curious as to what makes them "boring" in your opinion compared to older Hitman games?

 

[JFarrell71]

As far as other people showing glee when killing, as I said above, I really doubt that's anything real. They know it's a video game and that's why they're able to entertain that. I seriously doubt that if presented in the same situation in real life they'd behave the same. I think they'd all shit their pants, even if they ultimately would convince themselves to do it. And then they'd have nightmares on top of nightmares after having done that.

I don't mean they'd shoot someone in real life, given the chance. But if someone sees a digital person crouched on the ground holding up their hands and pleading for their life and laughs as they set them on fire, yeah, I'm going to say there's something wrong with that person. I don't care if it's a real person they're brutually murdering or not. I'm not going to get off on simulated cruelty any more than I'm going to get off on real cruelty.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I don't mean they'd shoot someone in real life, given the chance. But if someone sees a digital person crouched on the ground holding up their hands and pleading for their life and laughs as they set them on fire, yeah, I'm going to say there's something wrong with that person. I don't care if it's a real person they're brutually murdering or not. I'm not going to get off on simulated cruelty any more than I'm going to get off on real cruelty.

Yeah, you make a good point. Personally, the only people I've seen doing that is young kids, and it's usually because they're trying to showoff as somethign they're not. I don't think a well adjusted person would do that.

Come to think of it, I recently had a similar experience to what we discussed so far. While playing Blade of Darkness you have to escape from a dungeon, and you find yourself in the cell hall with other cells that you can open. And inside some of the cells there are other captives that are basically hanging on to life by a thread. They're almost dead, they're just moaning in a very disturbing manner. Lying on the floor and can't move. And I made the decision that they likely have no chance to escape, so I just finished them off. I felt it was an act of mercy. I considered the other option of just leaving their cells open and fleeing, but I thought that was a cowards way, since I surely would not be returning. Ideally the game should have offered the ability to carry them to safety.

Anyway, it does make me think, what would I do in that situation for real. And how likely would it be that I'd rationalize me escaping and not saving them as this gives me more of a chance to bring back help. Or something. It's fascinating how these little moments would have such an enormous moral weight on someone in real life, but are treated so non-chalantly in these games.

 

[sakichop]

Gog was great when I was buying a ton of old games to build a digital library but if they truly want to stay DRM free that will exclude them from most newer games and the chance to ever really compete with the bigger digital storefronts.

The vast majority of gamers (the mainstream gamers) don't care or even know what DRM is. (hell, I don't consider myself a mainstream gamer and I don't even care about DRM. We aren't talking securom these days.) As long as CDPR continues to bow to the vocal minority they will remain a niche gaming storefront for older games.

 

[Couchpotato]

Well one of the founding rules of the site is no DRM sold in any games. Yes they could sell the latest games but it would be betraying their core founding rules and users.

You couldn't manually offline install/update your games anymore either. Only way I see that happening is if they released a sub-site/sub-section with DRM games offered.

Just label the DRM and DRM free games offered.

 

[henriquejr]

GOG Removes Hitman From Their Store

Good Riddance !!!

 

[sakichop]

Well one of the founding rules of the site is no DRM sold in any games. Yes they could sell the latest games but it would be betraying their core founding rules and users.

You couldn't manually offline install/update your games anymore either. Only way I see that happening is if they released a sub-site/sub-section with DRM games offered.

Just label the DRM and DRM free games offered.

Yep, and now they are shackled by that founding rule. I'm not sure where they can go next. An alternate site might work but I have a feeling that would be meet with similar disdain as the hitman game.

That's the problem with success though there comes a point where you have to piss off your core customer to go after the bigger (mainstream) market if you want to keep expanding.

 

[Couchpotato]

I never liked that way of doing business. Speaking as a buyer who's been pissed on and betrayed before. I'm looking at you BioWare and EA. I've never forgot and never will.

 

[daveyd]

I played the first few Hitman games on consoles. I think the last one I played was "Blood Money". I enjoyed them back then but I haven't really felt the urge to check out any of the most recent ones. And I kind of felt like Blood Money was too obvious with the optimal solutions... IIRC every level had something like a piano conveniently hanging from ropes that you could drop on a target. The first (two?) games required a bit more creativity.

As far as content goes, I seem to recall that Agent 47 was sort of an "ethical hitman". At least in Blood Money I remember every one his targets was a very bad person (e.g., child molester). So it reminded me a lot of "Dexter" in that regard.