GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

[Dec 23, 2011, 9:23 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

GOG.com announces an update to their Geo-IP policy caused by Namco Bandai's recent court victory about distribution of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Here's most of it:

Most of the decision doesn’t influence GOG.com, but one of the rulings from the court does: according to the findings of the court, the method that we have been using to determine what location a game purchaser is located at when they buy a copy of The Witcher 2 (and, as such, what version and price they are presented with) needs to be changed.

GOG.com has stated for a long time now that we believe that the best security is asking only for the minimum of information that we need to successfully transact business with our customers. Our opinion is still that including things like determining your location via Geo-IP, because there are several possible flaws with that system. However, in order to keep selling The Witcher 2, we will need to implement a Geo-IP based system for determining your location, per the orders of the court.

We will be implementing this system immediately; you will see that your local currency’s price is now featured on the product page when you visit it, based on your IP address. Since we've already announced the price for this game would be the same flat price everywhere during the Holiday Sale (which ends on January 2nd, 2012, at 23:59 EST Time), we’re not going to change the pricing for the Witcher 2 until this sale ends.

We remain committed to user privacy and keeping your information as safe and secure as we can. Further, while your profile’s location is, by order of the court, determined via Geo-IP when you purchase a copy of The Witcher 2, you can still set your country location for the forums as you would like, and your location doesn’t matter for buying any other games on GOG.com.

If you have already purchased your copy of the Witcher 2, we won’t be changing anything on your already-bought copy, just as if you had a boxed copy on a physical shelf instead of a virtual box on your GOG.com shelf.

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23 Replies. 2 pages. Viewing page 1.
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23.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 12:46

Mashiki Amiketo

Cutter wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 03:10:
But would that do any good because your CC obvious points to your country of origin.

No it doesn't. I have a Chase CC card, and a Seven Account(Japanse) bank account, with a CC card from them. I'm a Canuck.




-- "For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

22.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 12:44

DrEvil

Dev wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 08:41: El Pit wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 06:28: It's neither the fault of GOG or Steam, but it loses them some sales and money. Actually in this specific case its GoG's fault that they have to go to a stricter system. They had some license agreement they didn't uphold well enough. No, they had some license agreement that Namco doesn't believe they upheld well enough. The problem was the two parties didn't agree on the interpretation.

21.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 09:06

El Pit

Dev wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 08:41:
El Pit wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 06:28:
It's neither the fault of GOG or Steam, but it loses them some sales and money.
Actually in this specific case its GoG's fault that they have to go to a stricter system. They had some license agreement they didn't uphold well enough.

Sorry for being not clear enough, my bad. This "stricter system" is neither GOG?s nor Steam's fault, it's the fault of publishers and economic protectionism.




They're waiting for you, Gabe, in the test chamber!

20.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 08:41

Dev

El Pit wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 06:28: It's neither the fault of GOG or Steam, but it loses them some sales and money. Actually in this specific case its GoG's fault that they have to go to a stricter system. They had some license agreement they didn't uphold well enough.

19.

bout 20 more years

Dec 24, 2011, 08:33

space captain

dont worry skynet will save us from ourselves




Go forth, and kill!

18.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 06:43

TurdFergasun

thats because we're not as much "people" as corporations are now. they are given the rights of people, and they're much more "people" than any one of us can ever be, so they have mass priority over a person, who can only be as much "people" as one person. this is all legally speaking of course.

17.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 06:28

El Pit

Dev wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 06:23:
Its the fault of publishing companies deciding where to make games available, and laws in various countries. Valve doesn't do it unless they have to. They don't want to turn down money.

It's neither the fault of GOG or Steam, but it loses them some sales and money. But as we all know, free trade is only a privilege for corporations, not for people.




They're waiting for you, Gabe, in the test chamber!

16.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 06:23

Dev

yuastnav wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 05:28: We live in sad times. Its the fault of publishing companies deciding where to make games available, and laws in various countries. Valve doesn't do it unless they have to. They don't want to turn down money.

15.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 05:28

yuastnav

A VPN network could work - it also could not, depending on how they implement it. For example: I can say from personal experience that it does not work on Steam. I can connect from the US using a VPN and see products that would otherwise be banned in Germany but if I'd actually try to purchase them I would not be able to do that because I have to enter the address where I live and PayPal also show that my bank account is in Germany. That way Steam can actually determine that I am not a buyer from the USA but from Germany and stop me from buying that game. Apparently it works sometimes when you use a credit card, or so I have read, though it is a bit strange how that works since one user reported that he wasn't able to do it while his friend was and both of them had the same type of credit card. You could probably try to enter a fake address in the US but you'd also need to do that in your PayPal account and since they verify these things it could be seen as fraud. We live in sad times.

14.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 04:28

Dev

Overon wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 03:24: What if GOG is only using Geo-IP and not the address of the credit card? If thats all the court told them to do, its quite possible thats correct

13.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 04:10

El Pit

Hm... The price is still in USD for me?! Okay... And if my comprehension is right, it's just The Witcher 2 that would be in expensive Euros for Europeans, right? And for the love of God, guys, don't let Witcher 3 get published by Namco Bandai. Kthx.




They're waiting for you, Gabe, in the test chamber!

12.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 03:24

Overon

What if GOG is only using Geo-IP and not the address of the credit card? Also another way of doing it is to make friends with people from other regions of the world, develop trust, and buy each other games and pay each other back.

11.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 03:15

El Pit

Cutter wrote on Dec 24, 2011, 03:10:
But would that do any good because your CC obvious points to your country of origin.

Could PayPal work in this case? Not sure.




They're waiting for you, Gabe, in the test chamber!

10.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 03:10

Cutter

Aero wrote on Dec 23, 2011, 23:17:
So now I would love to know, how do you fool Geo-IP, by some kind of proxy but how would one use it?

One option is to use a VPN service like this one, which can make you appear as though you're coming from a choice of 38 countries.

https://hidemyass.com

(No endorsement, just the first one I found with a quick search).

I have a friend who uses a service like this (though not that one) because he lives on a little Caribbean island and gets shafted otherwise.

edit: Fixed link.

But would that do any good because your CC obvious points to your country of origin.




"I like oak myself, that's what's in my bedroom. How 'bout you Jimmie? You an oak man?"

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 02:41

El Pit

This is bad for me and as a result, it will be bad for GOG.com, too. I won't be paying 5 Euros for a game other get for $5 USD. Sorry, GOG, it's been a great time, and I am going to miss you.

EDIT: I will try the VPN way. If this works, then I will welcome back GOG!

And so much about "free markets" and "competition is good". Great work, judge!




They're waiting for you, Gabe, in the test chamber!

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 01:54

DangerDog

Region restrictions are stupid and just result in more piracy.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 24, 2011, 00:22

Mashiki Amiketo

Overon wrote on Dec 23, 2011, 23:02:
So now I would love to know, how do you fool Geo-IP, by some kind of proxy but how would one use it?

Any VPN service will beat it, there's a whole pile of cheap free vpn's out there to choose from across the globe. Plus a pile of pay, that charge as little as $4/year. Just google, that's all I'll say far too many to list. Proxies can be detected, VPN's are much more difficult. A good VPN runs what's basically a mesh around your network data and bounces it through theirs, rerouting it. I know that sounds like a proxy, but it's not. A vpn is encrypted and uses ptp tunneling between you and the host, a proxy acts more like a semi-secure filter. To make it simple.




-- "For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 23, 2011, 23:17

Aero

So now I would love to know, how do you fool Geo-IP, by some kind of proxy but how would one use it? One option is to use a VPN service like this one, which can make you appear as though you're coming from a choice of 38 countries. https://hidemyass.com (No endorsement, just the first one I found with a quick search). I have a friend who uses a service like this (though not that one) because he lives on a little Caribbean island and gets shafted otherwise. edit: Fixed link.

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 23, 2011, 23:09

WaltC

necrosis wrote on Dec 23, 2011, 22:45:
Wait. I thought this was just over the 360 version? How does this effect GoG?

Memory is sketchy, but I believe that Namco has the distribution rights to the game inside the EU. Like you, I thought this concerned distribution of only the console version of the game, but evidently not. In providing this information, I'd guess, GoG can submit proof to the court of the location of the game's purchasers should Namco ask for it. Namco got their hooks into CDPR somehow--sure would be interesting to see how all of that came about.




It is well known that I do not make mistakes--so if you should happen across a mistake in anything I have written, be assured that I did not write it!

Re: GOG.com Geo-IP Changes

Dec 23, 2011, 23:02

Overon

So now I would love to know, how do you fool Geo-IP, by some kind of proxy but how would one use it?

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