going back to page 1 , thanks JMich for sharing this story and those who involved in the tour inside gog hq. gotta be lollypop shop for gamers!

Of course I'm aware that the reappearance of the tick might possibly be caused by a bug. That's not really the big issue here.

It's the fact that once again they've neglected to inform us about a recent change (even if they only consider it a legal formality – though in that case they need to clarify exactly what it entails by phrasing it unambiguously) and even went ahead and made the choice on our behalf.

Besides, unless they plan on using customer data to personalise all store notifications via e-mail I fail to see why they would need my personal data for 'Releases and Announcements'.

Your email is personal data...

True, but I think it goes without saying that by subscribing to e-mail notifications about 'Releases and Announcements' I had already accepted their use of my e-mail address for that purpose.

Now, exactly what does the new 'Consent to marketing communication' allow them to do with my personal data (and what counts as personal data)?

They don't force you to do anything, you already authorized them to collect, process and use your personal info when you register to the site, it's part of the user agreement.

This check box doesn't change anything except whenever or not you will receive e-mail, it's just a checkbox to disable all subscriptions at once.

Regarding subscriptions tab. Does anyone remember (or have a screen) the previous wording? I vaguely remember at least two of the checkboxes: promotions and wishlists. I think there were at least three checkboxes, but I may be mistaken. It seems like the only thing that was changed is wording (I don't remember the exact "marketing communication", but then again, I may misremember).

As far as I recall, there were three options previously.

Elcook addressed this Here. Basically all they added was a 'universal' tick box to control all three options if you want them all. Or you can choose only some or none. He also noted that nothing has changed with respect to what GOG does with your information (they don't sell it on to other companies).

You're right of course, and I do apologize for having reacted in such a prompt and harsh manner. However, I still consider the new option completely unnecessary, poorly worded and ambiguous.

By the way, they really need to change their User Agreement with regard to streaming content (which, as far as I know, hasn't been possible for ages):

Thank you (and, obviously, thanks to Elcook). I'm sure that they were not going to sell user information as - from my understanding - a simple checkbox will not overwrite the user agreement and policies.

Speaking of which.
There is a link to the new version of user agreement in the article.
Also there is a page regarding company reorganisation.
All links are from the footer of the site. I must admit I do not frequently look there (and it is not a complain about GOG :D)

Edit: With brief comparing I have found the following difference under User generated content:
However, we have the right (but not the obligation) to review and if appropriate or legally necessary to remove any User Generated Content which is unlawful, tortious, defamatory, obscene, invasive of the privacy of another person, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, racist or pornographic. If you find that any such content has been posted on GOG services, please let us know by contacting us at legal@gog.com.

Edit 2: Crossborder merger plan is in Greek and in PL/EN.

Edit 3: The important past of the new Privacy Policy is in the How we use your information and is the following:
(j) to complete any required anti-money laundering or anti-fraud reviews required by applicable governments or authorities or applicable legal requirements and regulations on GOG

None taken - but my point still stands.

To paraphrase you:
1. The whole thing and its conclusion as provided by those 6 is aimed at people who fulfill 2 requirements: they must be part of "the community who regularly uses the forum" and they need to "know/recognise" those few people that got invited - and everyone who isn't a part of those in the know might label the whole a thing a PR-stunt
2. Those 6 got a glimpse of what GOG is up to these days - but instead of GOG communicating their plans openly as some sort of news on the frontpage you have to stumple upon something like this very thread to know what's going on behind closed doors

Would you view this as a "PR stunt", them giving us only the rosy information they want us to see?

I'll just say this: if you consider the percentage of users that actually use the forums as opposed to all the other choices of social media, this would make a pretty ill-considered 'PR stunt'.

p1881, you can be as cynical as you want (and I don't blame you), but if you think the six of us are just a bunch of GOG sock-puppet sycophants, nothing we - or anyone else - can say will change your mind. I doubt even GOG could say anything to sway your opinion. It's actions that count, so it really remains to be seen how GOG behaves going forward. We're waiting with bated breath alongside you and everyone else.

I'm not saying that this "operation" is a pr stunt, not until GOG has had a decent time to implement some changes. I give them some time to do that.

But ... I think that forum would not be the wrong place to pull a pr stunt, because most people that the forums are the older, more informed users. Before I started using the forum, I didn't realise that there were regional prices and regional DRM fuck. I think that most people who only buy from GOG without using the forum are less informed and since changes like removal of games, changes to privacy settings, DRM infested installers and such are only communicated in the forums, how many of the "normal buyers" will notice this? I would say ... only a few.

I think the issue is why bringing just 6 people to talk to in Poland makes any sense when you could make a poll or ask questions of everyone else on the forums. The argument that "GoG must be serious because they spent a lot of money doing it", doesn't mean anything. A lot of companies spend money on things that don't work. All they really got out of it is the opinions of 6 forumites who probably said the same things that have been discussed for ages. I don't think it was a "PR stunt" exactly...I think the whole purpose was for them to try to convince the 6 of you to shut up about regional pricing which is something they cannot go into great detail on the forums in their own defense given NDAs and such.

GoG has promised a lot of things over the years. Remember when they assured us that even with the introduction of regional pricing, they would still try very hard to promote flat pricing and that most games would remain that way? To be fair, thus far, they have stuck to the Fair Pricing Plan (which is much improved over the gift codes they offered at first). Which means that no one is actually paying more than someone in the U.S. when you count in store credit.

So the real question is what these nebulous and undefined "improvements" will be. The inadequacy of this forum has been talked about for ages. Better communication? Seems a number of people are giving them credit for that with the planned game removals, but for the past few years, we have been given notice every time they could (as well as sales on those games most times). The times they couldn't have all involved rights' disputes which forced them to remove the titles immediately.

Forum moderation and communication? All I see is an occasional thread closed and it's done in the worst possible way. Where are the posts asking a thread to get back on track? Heck Fables is just creating more work for herself. Saying, "I'm closing the thread due to a lot of complaints" just means more people are encouraged to PM her with complaints about any threads they don't like.

Frankly, I see nothing changed so far. Maybe elcook has been a little more vocal with regards to the privacy policy (which is nice), but outside of that, nothing seems to have changed. I think all we've been given is a GoG "soon" which oftentimes means they will never finish what they supposedly started...

<snipping>

Polls are fine but I think the face-to-face back-and-forth with instant follow-up questions and comments has a value that they can't get from simply asking users to select between A, B, C, and D on ten or fifteen questions. Not saying polls are pointless, but there is a certain value to the meeting as it was handled.

We've certainly groused and asked about a lot of these things for a good long while now... Apparently the messages haven't gotten through, or there have been some questions of what it is exactly that the community / customers want.

Either way, it happened. And hopefully it'll be the kick in the ass that leads to improvements.