New Features for GOG: Updated

As some of you are probably aware GOG or Good Old Games is partnering with Steam to allow optional combined library content on the GOG Galaxy Browser using a feature called "GOG Connect." They've just released the change and to accommodate the sharing their Privacy policy has been updated.
Here is the language of a recent email notification from GOG:

"We are making some changes to our Privacy Policy and our User Agreement, the documents that govern our relationship with you.
We’re introducing an extra section to our Privacy Policy, and a small addition to the GOG User Agreement, to make sure that our new GOG Connect program is fully covered. Here is an informal summary of what’s new:

1. Privacy Policy: For you to use our GOG Connect service we will need to access your Steam Data. There are some legal rules that Valve requires us to follow regarding this—you’ll find more info in the full Privacy Policy on our site.

2. User Agreement: Our optional GOG Connect service is subject to Valve legal rules—please follow them. Check out the GOG Connect section of our Privacy Policy for more info.

You can read through the Privacy Policy and User Agreement here. If you have any concerns or do not agree to these changes, please contact our customer support team."

Here is a link to the full Privacy Policy: GOG Privacy Policy

Update: The COC Connect service is optional and requires that your Steam profiles be public.

Per GOG Support, patches to correct issues with GOG Connect should be released Friday 06/03.

If you contact GOG Support for any issues, make sure to indicate if you have opted in for the GOG Connect Service. They are busy with those particular issues due to the recent release and are assuming that issues are related to that service.

As a side note, if you haven't already and are a Steam user I would suggest you sign up for Steam Guard. It creates a secondary login token that is either sent to your registered email or if you have a smartphone can be made immediately available through the Steam Mobile app. I'm currently using the Mobile App and find it very convenient.

Here's Valve/Steam's Q&A on the service Steam Guard

Thanks Trail_Mystic.

Thanks, Trail. I don't like that "public" thing either.

So this "sharing" stuff will apply to anyone who has both GOG Galaxy and Steam installed - and who then also opts to use GOG Connect ??

Otherwise it won't apply ??

Is that the state of affairs ??

I just want to clarify some things here. You do have to opt into GOG Connect for the eligible Steam games you own to be added to your account.

Valve is in no way sharing your login information from Steam with GOG. You are actually logging into your Steam account and then information regarding your library of games is being shared via your Steam ID only. Once this is done those games are now added on GOG, just like you purchased them there.

I've been using Steam since launch in 2003 and had my profile public the entire time with no issues.

I think this is a pretty nice gesture on the part of Valve and GOG to even allow something like this to take place.

Thanks for the clarification Templeton Peck. At the time, GOG support confused the matter by indicating my participation with Connect even though I did not opt-in for the service. The issues have since been resolved and support has apologized for the mix-up.

Here is a link to the GOG Connect FAQ list that goes through most of the ins and outs of the program:

GOG Connect FAQ's

I'm struggling to see the benefits. Can anyone clarify why I should be interested in linking my GOG & Steam accounts?

There's an article here discussing this. If you then scroll down to the comments section, you can read about what some players consider the "benefits" to be.

I guess in some instances if, say, you had a multiplayer game that you had purchased from GOG and your friends all had the Steam version, in some cases you could play with them without having to purchase the game again from Steam. GOG has this to say about this issue:



So, the implication here is that, depending on the game, you might be able to do this. If it did work, then I can see that this would be considered a benefit for some.

In general, not every game in your Steam library will be available through GOG Connect. It's all dependent on the various agreements they have with the production companies and Steam. GOG's FAQ's page (see link in my previous post) will be updated as they add eligible games.

I signed up, and only one of my Steam games became available on GOG.

Here's my question - if the game is now in my GOG library, is it now DRM-free? If that were the case, it would be a big benefit.

I don't care about the public profile this so much. I generally ignore that anyway.

According to what I have read, yes, the transferred game would then be DRM-free.

Well, then, assuming I have more games available, this could be a good thing.

Generally speaking, I use and trust both GOG and Steam and use each regularly with no problems.