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Instead of trying to make games priced differently depending on the region, why not make the game cheap for everyone in the world ? Isnt that the goal of online distribution in the first place, to reduce the inventory costs and shite like that ? 
 
Instead of trying to make games priced differently depending on the region, why not make the game cheap for everyone in the world ?
A small example:

Lets say you need to make 100K $ to get the money for license back.

You will sell it to 10K Germans and 10K Russians. But the Russians can only spend 2,5$ per game. 

So you make it: 7,5$ for a german and 2,5$ for a Russian to get 100K $.

If you would make it cost 5$ for everyone only German could purchase it, so you only get 50K of the needed 100K $. 

If you would make it 2,5$, for both Germans and Russians, you would only get 50K of the needed 100K $.

Both doesn't work. In fact it makes things worse. If you want "fairness" and have both Germans and Russians pay the same price, 5$, it would mean that the Russians won't be able to buy it. So you have to make 100K $ with 10K sales instead of 20K sales (Germans and Russians). This means 10$ for all Germans instead of 7,5$. 
 
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Instead of trying to make games priced differently depending on the region, why not make the game cheap for everyone in the world ? Isnt that the goal of online distribution in the first place, to reduce the inventory costs and shite like that ?
to add to what rohezal already said, I doubt that "inventory costs" are having a huge impact on the retail price
 
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Looking at things like a countries average income in comparison to another isn't really useful either when considering this sort of thing, it's more important to consider the cost of living and individual's disposable income. A quick comparison between Moscow and Berlin tells us that:

"You would need around 4,571.02$ (3,676.02€) in Moscow to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 2,900.00€ in Berlin (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index. Local Purchasing Power in Moscow is 50.35% lower than in Berlin" (Source: numbeo.com)
How current is this information?

Since the rent in Berlin rises at about 15% every year for quite some years now, I highly doubt that those numbers are still accurate, they may well have been 10 years ago.

East Germany and especcially Berlin are an example for quite the opposite of your reasoning, because the living costs are rising further and further while the wages are kept low (about 30% lower than in West Germany).

Besides if you only compare capitols it's hardly represantitive for the whole country but rather another arbitrary method of comparison.
The figures are updated constantly, they are up to date. Moscow and Berlin were not chosen arbitrarily either because what I didn't mention is that their respective CPI (cost of living index) is almost identical with Berlin at 76 and Moscow at 75 and yet you need over €1000 extra to maintain the same standard of living. It's an excellent example of my reasoning, which was:

"Looking at things like a countries average income in comparison to another isn't really useful either when considering this sort of thing, it's more important to consider the cost of living and individual's disposable income."

It's a perfect example of the complexity and nuance and the fact that you cannot point to one figure or index to make an apt comparison.
 
Looking at things like a countries average income in comparison to another isn't really useful either when considering this sort of thing, it's more important to consider the cost of living and individual's disposable income. A quick comparison between Moscow and Berlin tells us that:

"You would need around 4,571.02$ (3,676.02€) in Moscow to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 2,900.00€ in Berlin (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index. Local Purchasing Power in Moscow is 50.35% lower than in Berlin" (Source: numbeo.com)
How current is this information?

Since the rent in Berlin rises at about 15% every year for quite some years now, I highly doubt that those numbers are still accurate, they may well have been 10 years ago.

East Germany and especcially Berlin are an example for quite the opposite of your reasoning, because the living costs are rising further and further while the wages are kept low (about 30% lower than in West Germany).

Besides if you only compare capitols it's hardly represantitive for the whole country but rather another arbitrary method of comparison.
The figures are updated constantly, they are up to date. Moscow and Berlin were not chosen arbitrarily either because what I didn't mention is that their respective CPI (cost of living index) is almost identical with Berlin at 76 and Moscow at 75 and yet you need over €1000 extra to maintain the same standard of living. It's an excellent example of my reasoning, which was:

"Looking at things like a countries average income in comparison to another isn't really useful either when considering this sort of thing, it's more important to consider the cost of living and individual's disposable income."

It's a perfect example of the complexity and nuance and the fact that you cannot point to one figure or index to make an apt comparison.
I wonder why beer and wine prizes are constantly updated on this site and are part of the living costs as it seems. What else? Coffee and cigarettes?

Comparing "costs of the same living standard" between cities is a bit senseless if stuff like this is included, at least when you talk about basic living costs.

They are culculating those numbers with luxury like beer/wine, restaurants, taxis, tennis court rent, fitness club, cinema etc... all stuff that has nothing to do with basic living costs and is completely unimportant for the lower and middle class.

Basic living costs are rent, water, rice/bread/noodles/etc., public transport, heat, energy and medication imho and not luxury.

Where I live, luxury is cheap but basic living costs are high, especcially rent, public transport and medication compared to the wages.

If this site takes luxury into account, the numbers aren't worth much.

I didn't find Kiew and Bukarest there, but the local purchasing power of Moscow as calculated on this site is higher than the one of Budapest and Athens for example and they have to pay WAY more on GoG, which underlines the fact, that all this has absolutely nothing to do with the regional pricing system.
 
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They list as wide a range of consumer goods/services as is reasonable to get an accurate picture of all segments of society. The single CPI rating as I've said, does not and isn't supposed to be used solely as a single point of comparison which is why they give you all the data that is used in reaching that number. Much like average income is not the single factor that should be considered when judging the 'fairness' of regional pricing systems. The point was to illustrate that everything has a different cost in different countries and all these things have an effect on a person's purchasing power and disposable income.

You're supposed to do some of the work yourself with the data given, if you do not think that the cost of a 3 course meal at a mid-range resturant is relevant you do not have to take that into account when making your own judgements. They do give you prices for simple groceries like milk, bread, or even a Macdonald's combo meal if you'd rather use that to compare.

Those local purchasing power scores are a measure specific to a city, a currency and an average wage within that city in comparison to New York. Countrywide and internationally, Greece is ranked #65 with a score of 43.16 and Russia is ranked #87 at 35.93. This is part of the justification as to why they have to pay way more on GoG. Numbeo isn't the sole and singularly accurate source for this sort of data, I'm just using it to illustrate there are huge disparities in all good and services so why should video games be any different? As I say, there are far more factors and measures to take into account than just purchasing power, average income, exchange rates there is not going to be one single indicator you can point to.

Here is a Kiev and Bucharest comparison if you're interested:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Ukraine&country2=Romania&city1=Kiev&city2=Bucharest
 
I searched for those to see a comparison to Moscow, since Moscow gets the lowest prices.

It's as I expected:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Russia&country2=Romania&city1=Moscow&city2=Bucharest

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Russia&country2=Ukraine&city1=Moscow&city2=Kiev

But let's even stay in Russia and take Omsk:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Russia&country2=Russia&city1=Moscow&city2=Omsk

What does this tell us? That the difference in a single country is already huge and people in Osmk having to pay the same as people in Moscow is already bollocks if you follow the logic of regional pricing fans.

Where do you draw the line when "nation" is even this useless. Area? Street? Kind of job (carpenter vs. CEO)? Screening everyones income individually and setting the prices accordingly?

why should video games be any different?

Because we are talking about digital distribution and not physical goods here. A digital product sold at the same shop for everyone.
 
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You said earlier that comparing capitals isn't representative of an entire country and is just another arbitrary method of comparison so why are you now using it as evidence to suggest GOG's pricing is unfair? Which is it? Do you think comparing captials is reasonable or not? Because you cannot say it is when it fits your preconcieved conclusion and isn't when it doesn't. It's reasonable to say "It is not fair that Moscow gets cheaper prices than Bucharest" but GOGs regional pricing is not done on a city by city basis. It's not reasonable to say "It is not fair that Russia gets cheaper prices than Romania because people in Moscow are more willing and able to pay more than people in Bucharest".

The entire country needs to be taken into account. There are huge disparities from city to city within a single country, nevermind from city to city internationally:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Russia&country2=Russia&city1=Moscow&city2=Krasnodar

The people in Krasnodar have to pay the same as the people in Moscow. Should people in Krasnodar be made unable to afford a game from GOG because of how Moscow compares to Bucharest?

The fact that the goods are digital rather than physical does more to justify a disparity in prices per country than otherwise. Factors such as transportation, distribution, customs charges, taxes etc. have far less effect on a companies margins than they do with physical goods which allows more flexibility to price your product for the market in which you're selling it. GOG and publishers who use GOG have sat down and thought very long and hard about the price point for specific regions, their job is not to sell the most copies of a game but to offer a price point that is good relative value for the consumer. The fact that it is relative to other goods/services is what is important because people have to make choices as to what to do with their disposable income. Because the goods are digital, their value is relative to other things and the question that's being answered is more a long the lines of "Is this game really worth the cost of 3 loaves of bread?" and not "Is this game really worth €3"
 
You said earlier that comparing capitals isn't representative of an entire country and is just another arbitrary method of comparison so why are you now using it as evidence to suggest GOG's pricing is unfair? Which is it? Do you think comparing captials is reasonable or not?
Oh, again not getting, that I'm not only using my own opinion and logic but also try to show that even in another way of thinking than mine (namely the one that is used for justifying regional pricing by the ones who do it) it would still be bollocks if you try to make it look "more fair", that's why I mentioned  (again) that it's strange Ukraine and Romania have to pay so much more than Russia in this system if you look at the official logic behind it.

No it's not reasonable to compare cities and it's not reasonable to compare whole countries either, regional pricing for digital goods isn't reasonable in any way, I thought I made myself clear enough by now.

To be honest, for a while now I suspect that you and thatgui are the same person, strange to see this might actually be true.
 
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Of course it's reasonable to compare whole countries, the simple fact that two countries use different currencies with different exchange rates is reason enough; nevermind all the other factors we've discussed. There's a international Forex market that exists and operates without even dealing in physical or digital goods. Merely chosing to accept rubles over euros is of importance no matter what you're selling if you're even selling anything at all.

You also edited your previous post after I'd posted, why would you do that? It seems a little deceptive after I'd already replied to something completely different.
 
You also edited your previous post after I'd posted, why would you do that? It seems a little deceptive after I'd already replied to something completely different.
No I didn't. It may be possible that I made it less misunderstandable (since you are so into misinterpretation) before yours was ready, but I don't do stuff like this.

You're a clever troll, but still only a troll.
 
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Trolling? If you don't want to discuss regional pricing at GOG with me then don't reply to my posts. Not everyone who disagrees with you is a 'troll'.
 
To be honest, for a while now I suspect that you and thatgui are the same person, strange to see this might actually be true.
Would be interesting to know on what observations you base this assumption on, especially as, according to his profile, illuminatus85 is only registered at this board since 2014-11-04, which makes that "while" rather short.
 
Age of Wonders currently for free on gog.com - limited to 250000 units
 
I'm trying to run some of the "Linux" games and I concluded they should call them "Ubuntu" games...

Seems like everything from dosbox to wine is compiled on Ubuntu... and so many libraries version differ from the distribution I'm using...

At least their configurations can be still used, but I have to do some manual work to make those games run on my system...
 
If you are on Debian stable you are out of luck for a lot of them because the system libraries are too different from the ones bundled with the game. And it also does not work on an equally old Ubuntu version. Sometimes it helps to just rename the included lib directory to force the game to use the system libraries.
 
Wait wait wait. They're including standard libs in the package? Do they not know how linux works, like, at all?
 
@WizardStan: well, actually, if they included ALL the requested libraries I suppose that all should work fine, but for example, dosbox and wine are compiled as standalone programs, but them require glibc_2.15 that it is not in my distribution (I have 2.13), and it's not in their lib folder... anyway dosbox and wine are also in the repo, so I just change some lines in the gog script files to run all their scripts/config but with the engines in my distribution.

I suppose that almost every distro have dosbox and wine in their repo, so gog should use them instead of including precompiled things... or maybe do some kind of script that compiles the sources on the go...

I also had to install zenity (that was the less problem), but I found out it was missing just because I run the script from a terminal, when double clicking on it it wasn't telling anything.

They should at least add some popup message (or pause the terminal) when some external required files are missing.

@zev: games using wine are not exactly linux native games, anyway for now I started with just 2 games from gog, Dragonsphere and Baldur's Gate, for the first one I added a guide to launch it on wheezy, and works great (I suppose to be at half the story), while the second one is giving me some problem related to my graphic card, but I'm able to launch it forcing software rendering (it's anyway too slow to play like this), but I solved even there the problems with the "integrated wine" using the one from my distro.

I must add anyway that even on different windows versions, windows games can have many issues, so playing them in an emulated environment on a completely different OS is indeed a not simple thing.

EDIT: about gog libraries, before using the dosbox version of the repo, I tried to faking the version of my library with a symlink in their lib folder, but then I had problem with another library used by LD and as far as I found it's something systemwide and was beginning to be a mess... so I ended up using dosbox from the repo using the right libs from my system.
 
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