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Steam Now Warns Consumers That They're Buying a License, Not a Game During a Purchase
(www.cgmagonline.com)
this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
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If I back up a DRM-free installer what's the difference?
If you back up the folder of a steam installed game that doesn't need steam to run, what's the difference?
Owning the copy in a legal sense doesn't affect most of the userbase tbh.
Legally, it's still a license, it's just effectively impossible to revoke.
Edit to expand on this: A truly offline forever-purchase of physical goods can be re-sold. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine (this is the US-specific version, other jurisdictions may have similar doctrines).
A digital "purchase" is usually non-transferable, even from GOG. It can't be removed from your own HDD once you download the installer, but there are still restrictions attached on what you can do with it, even if those are limited and hard to enforce.
Just like any game ever sold on a CD.
Technically, probably yes, but you can buy old, opened games on eBay. I doubt you can do the same with GOG games. Digital media is much harder if not impossible to resell.