1. The price change is normal, since gift codes are purchased at the higher price between the base (US) one and your local one, and in AU you have a regional discount for that title, so the base price is higher and applies for the gift code.
2. Gifting requires an e-mail address, not necessarily the recipient's. Typically gift buyers put in their own e-mail, so the code is e-mailed to them and then they can send it to the recipient. It's how people get codes to give away too, after all.

Edit: 3. No idea how you were able to purchase a second copy for yourself. If I go to an owned title (including that one), the only option on the game page is to "Buy as a gift", which forces the gift checkbox as checked, and same if I search for the title and click to add it when it shows up in the dropdown...

Well said.

Still, disappointment will be inevitable for those who do not browse the forums.

1. "The price change is normal […]"
I'm not sure this explanation is sufficient. I bought a title for the sole purpose of gifting it and it costs more? Why? (I read and understood your explanation of How; my question is Why?)
2. That is a good point that I had not considered.
It is still an awkward process that is not very intuitive and is not mode clear at any point in the transaction. Afterwards, when the code arrives in the mail, the recipient can then muddle through the dashboard interface to redeem the code, should they peruse all their options, but the lack of signposting is less than friendly for anyone using it for the first time.
3. You and me both. (:

Is GOG registered as a charity?

はい!! LOL

If it's really confirmed. Personally, I don't mind giving GOG extra money to preserve the games.

But only if there's full transparency about where the money goes. If the money goes to the preservation program, I'm happy. If, on the other hand, it's used to fatten shareholders, I don't agree. Would it be better to create an association to manage this?

For me the preservation program is a disservice. I have to spend time removing all those wrappers, limiters and other bloatware. Because on Linux most of the games work better in their original state. And for games, which indeed could use some adjustments, I can find better solution myself.

Understandable for Linux users. But here GOG only supports Windows (which, it has to be said, still represents the vast majority of gamers these days).

One thing people seem to forget (I'm not talking about you) is that it will remain optional (hopefully). No one is forcing people to give more.

GOG, if you're financially suffering asking for tips isn't the way to get yourself out of hot water. Tips are (disregarding the USA tip custom which was made out of decades of underpaying service staff) for rewarding exceptional service or outstanding product experience. What we pay for the product is meant to contribute not only to expenses and supplier cuts but the margins you pass onto investors. I'll be blunt and say the turnaround of support tickets and the lack of communication you give to the community, on top of some of the questionable decisions you've recently made with your preservation program patches doesn't scream "exceptional". You're working, you're supplying product, it's decent enough to make most reasonably happy, but you're not excelling. In my book, that's not tip material.

The traditional method of increasing margins is to increase cost to the consumer. We know that's a risky proposition in a tight and competitive market, but the amounts of "charity" you're seeking to obtain from the average customer is hardly going to match making a small increase to your fees and charges you could levy at the checkout. And before customers jump down my throat for me daring to suggest a price increase, I'm not suggesting highly expensive costs here. A very small (less than a USD dollar) increase on all purchases wouldn't anger too many customers, and it would generate more revenue overall than begging for checkout "tips".

Communication to encourage people to buy more to support your company is key. You need to push the "buy more to support our initiative". And you need to TALK to us. Yes, the community - those who care enough about your company to bicker and argue passionately about your strengths and weaknesses. The faceless customers who don't talk to you often don't care you're in trouble. We care, your (often loyal to a fault) customers.

Finally, I can't believe you thought that investors would look at a "tip" system begging for charity would look good and spell financial health. It looks bad, no matter which platform or business who does it. Admitting desperation, even indirectly, shakes confidence and might actually result in LESS purchases by concerned customers comparing one platform with a solid foundation and a long future ahead and another who is asking for donations to keep going. Some customers might be willing to donate in light of their library going kaput, but others are already stretched thin and might view conducting the purchase elsewhere might make more financial sense.

At this point asking for us to buy more games in light of tough economic times might bear better fruit than asking for tips at checkout. Either that or don't admit failure and levy a small increase at checkout to trickle in a little more money.

Actually…no. I’m a Windows only user and I too often find better fan patches or solutions to fix the games. What GOG does is not good at all. Take Silent Hill that was just added. It won’t work with the SH4 patch from nearly a decade ago after GOG tinkered. That patch is 100x better than anything GoG has ever done.

I've used the gift system several times, but I'll be honest that (due to financial insolvency) I haven't used it to actually BUY the gift. I've used it to grab a spare gift codes for temporary free offers which I then pass onto others later who missed out. These situations though are rare; most "freebies" use the front-page giveaway system, rather than a temporary $0.00 sale period. I've also grabbed free DLCs for myself long prior to buying the actual game for fear they might disappear at a later date (stranger things have happened).

That aside, what's my experience with it? Indeed the interface isn't "grabby" and it's not clear. But that's often indicative of most of GOG's inferfaces - it can't seem to decide what layout it wants to follow. Once you do know how to do it it's easy enough to remember to repeat, but that first time is a little more confusing or less straight-forward than it could be for sure.

As for the whole "buy for myself or buy for someone else", it's possible they could put in an account selection as well as keeping the email system. Remember mate that some people buy gift codes so they can use them for personal giveaways or surprise presents - having the ability to keep codes yourself until handing them over manually later is used quite a bit.

Does this have anything to do with those Capital One credit card offer pop-up ads I see after I complete a purchase on GOG?

I use adblocker but the pop-ups come directly from GOG, as though they themselves are offering up credit cards to customers on a commission basis.

The modern term for this is user experience (UX) and for the purposes of purchasing a game — which must surely be the primary purpose of this website — it is poor. The reason I bothered to comment is that the point of purchase is where it must be the best for a business to maximize people's satisfaction that their time is valued and their purchase meaningful — sotto voce: to Gog.

My eyesight is not what it was and the crowding of the interface with multiple opportunities to spend more money on things other than the game I selected might be good in a marketing "do you want fries with that" manner but it just creates a mess of competing demands on the punter's attention. (Perhaps this is deployed to divide and conquer their attention so as to take more from them than they expected to spend?) To place the ability to purchase for gifting in that mess of donations and whatever else tells me that Gog doesn't see gifting as an important revenue stream. (Perhaps they have research that lead them to that conclusion?) My gut tells me this approach is wrong.

To be clear, I am not advocating the wholesale removal of the various extra ways to spend money and I doubt if anyone would listen anyway. What I am suggesting is that the process is too busy — it's too noisy. I have no desire to prevent any of the existing services, like the code redemption process.

I just think it is a missed opportunity — surely other people buy games as gifts for their friends? Maybe more would if the process was more streamlined? Maybe sales would improve faster for people (who already have hundreds of games) were able to buy the ones they regard as better for others?

I understand the need for them to create an account but then why not use that account — within the Gog ecosystem — to distribute the valuable codes? One reason Uber has been so successful is the focus on reducing "friction" within the system. Making the transaction shorter and less jerky — i.e., the exchange of funds for goods / services more seamless and smoother. Amazon has one-click purchasing and Gog has a list of addenda to navigate, over several pages, for a digital product.

The fact that a gift costs more than a game bought for personal reasons is also crazy. The perversity encourages people to buy games for themselves and manage the distribution beyond Gog's recognizance, which is completely self-defeating. (Of all the data scraping that exists this is the loss of data that is pertinent and unobtrusive to the customer!)

GOG gift codes have no region restrictions. In fact, they can even be redeemed by people who couldn't purchase the games in question themselves, because they're blocked in their region. So gift codes are treated as region-less purchases and priced accordingly if purchased from regions that benefit from discounts in case of buying the games normally.
And, perhaps more importantly from a business perspective, this prevents people from (or with VPNs from) regions that benefit from massive discounts from purchasing cheap codes and then trading or selling them for more.