I thinkabout this all the time as well. So far the only games I've bought from GoG that I already own are the Might and Magic collection and Beyond Good and Evil. BGAE I own on the PS2 and don't ever really hook it up (or the TV for that matter) so it seemed a good idea to own a PC version, and with M&M, I got them cause they were on sale and I figured if I ever play any again, I can avoid the hassle of trying to get the old games to run through DosBox.

Which is kind of how I think of a "re-purchase" through GoG. Do I want to pay $5 and avoid the headache of running old Dos games on my modern machine, or do I save that money (for a coffee or sandwich? It's just $5...) and just deal with the install.

The thing is though, that I don't spend that much time on these games now a days. I think if anything, it's the "collector" om me insisting on having a digital version of something I love. I still think about Baldur's Gate all the time, despite having them all on disk too...

Just my two cents... or five bucks in this case.

DosBox is actually surprisingly easy to use (it may help if you actually used Dos back in the day... ohh the memories.)

On the wider question, I don't know. I have very limited funds, and the bevy of stupid-cheap sales that Steam, GoG, Impulse and the rest have lead me to spend money I had no intention of diverting to gaming. But these deals come up, and I think, "Well, this game is only such and such amount, I'd be stupid NOT to get it." Now I have a ton of games I've not spent nearly as much time on as when I'd pay full price for them at the store. It's a difficult issue in my mind.

And now that GoG is having their holiday sale, a part of me wants to rush out and get all the classics, including ones I own on disk like Septra Core or Planescape and so on. But I was looking at my catalog of GoG games, and realized I've only played one out of fourteen, The Longest Journey, which was a game I hadn't played in the past, and had wanted to try for many years.

So... I don't know. If you're REALLY itching to play some of the older games, than GoG may be a pleasant path to take, especially considering their current sale. If your just an obsessive fan-boy like me with little money and a psychological need to get these things... well I'm still working on that one.

I don't know about BumbleBee's boot files, but as a youngun, I'd constantly edit my autoexec.bat and config.sys files, and make all sorts of boot disks just to get games to run on my 386. It was a constant struggle with that thing, but I still keep it around.

Sinse this discussion, I've picked up 3 more packages from GoG just because... well just because I guess. Realms of Arcana 1+2 (one package) and the 3rd one. Plus the Master of Orion 1+2 package. The total came out to about $10. Of course, now I'm gonna go back to playing Mass Effect 2, but I'm glad to have these games digitally. I have the two MOOs and the first Arcana on disk... though at least a few are on floppies.

What games were you thinking of getting Yap?

That's a tough call. For me MOO2 is still the best space civ out there, but the graphics are definitely... hard on the eyes. The first one is brilliant and real fun in its own way. I first played it about 5-6 years ago on my old 386 PC (which I hooked up just for that) and had lots of fun with it. Very simple graphics, relatively simple gameplay, but still lots of fun.

Either way though, I think it's about $4 for the two of them right now, so if you wanted to check them out, this may be the time to do it. Just be prepared for some old school UIs and graphics. MOO3 is almost unplayable by comparison. I couldn't give you a specific reason why...

Ouch Fink! Master of Magic is so still playable! I'd take it over MOO2 any day (by a slim margin.) I guess it's all subjective though. I played MoM as a youngster, so I'm sure that plays into my love of the game.