GOG Offers Free Games to Furloughed U.S. Employees

[BlameTheWizards]

GOG Offers Free Games to Furloughed U.S. Employees

Find yourself out of work while the government is shut down? Email a picture of yourself with your official furlough letter to GOG and they'll give you a slew of free government-themed games.

It's hard to find anybody who's happy about the American government's shutdown, but at least it's brought out the generosity in some folks. GOG, for instance, is now offering several simulation games based around running a smooth, efficient society. "It occurs to us that one of the problems may be that there are people on Capitol Hill who don't know what a functioning government looks like, so we thought we'd help and point a few out," reads GOG's official press release.

Government employees are eligible for free copies of The Guild: Gold Edition, Capitalism Plus, Capitalism 2, Tropico Reloaded, Alpha Centauri and its expansion Alien Crossfire, Theme Hospital and even Redneck Rampage "for reasons entirely unrelated to who may or may not have been involved in shutting down the US Government," according to GOG. To get the free games, employees just have to photograph themselves holding up a copy of their official furlough paper to - and this is right in the link below if you think its a joke - the email address [email protected]. They have until noon Oct. 11 to send in their picture and get their free games.

Non-government employees can get in on the "Shutdown Promo" as well, though they'll have a smaller window of time to do so. All the games listed above can be had for 50 percent off until 9 a.m., tomorrow, Oct. 10.

Source: <a href=http://www.gog.com/news/special_promo_shutdown_promo>GOG.com

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[lacktheknack]

I can't tell if this is the most classy thing ever, or the least classy thing ever.

I'm going to go with "least classy", seeing how they included Redneck Rampage.

Classy or not, it's still a very, very cool thing to do.

 

[Saltyk]

You know what's funny to me about the Shutdown? I have a coworker whose wife works at a judge's office. Because they weren't given 72 hours advanced warning, they will get paid. It may be after the Shutdown is ended, but she will get paid for all of it. She basically considers it to be free vacation time, but she doesn't actually have to use vacation time. Personally, I find that hilarious.

Oh, and the judge is still working. Just with a much more reduced staff. They didn't shut down anything like that.

Beyond that, honestly, this seems real passive aggressive. At least people could get some games out of it. Though, Alpha Centauri is cheap on GoG. I bought it a couple months back. Can't remember how much it was, but there's no way that was more than $10. I think it was 5.99.

 

[Theogrim]

Papers Please would be a hilarious choice of game too.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

You know what's funny to me about the Shutdown? I have a coworker whose wife works at a judge's office. Because they weren't given 72 hours advanced warning, they will get paid. It may be after the Shutdown is ended, but she will get paid for all of it. She basically considers it to be free vacation time, but she doesn't actually have to use vacation time. Personally, I find that hilarious.

Oh, and the judge is still working. Just with a much more reduced staff. They didn't shut down anything like that.

Beyond that, honestly, this seems real passive aggressive. At least people could get some games out of it. Though, Alpha Centauri is cheap on GoG. I bought it a couple months back. Can't remember how much it was, but there's no way that was more than $10. I think it was 5.99.

A friend of mine went to go pay for his traffic violation today, and there were still people there, not a whole lot though. Naturally, of course, since he was going to give them money, and we joked at lunch that the only reason they were open was to get their money from violators.

OT: I'm not sure if it's a cool thing to do, but I think it's hilarious.

Papers, Please and any Simcity game would've been too soon I think, but appropriate and funny in any case.

 

[Baresark]

You know what's funny to me about the Shutdown? I have a coworker whose wife works at a judge's office. Because they weren't given 72 hours advanced warning, they will get paid. It may be after the Shutdown is ended, but she will get paid for all of it. She basically considers it to be free vacation time, but she doesn't actually have to use vacation time. Personally, I find that hilarious.

Oh, and the judge is still working. Just with a much more reduced staff. They didn't shut down anything like that.

Beyond that, honestly, this seems real passive aggressive. At least people could get some games out of it. Though, Alpha Centauri is cheap on GoG. I bought it a couple months back. Can't remember how much it was, but there's no way that was more than $10. I think it was 5.99.

The shut down is on the federal level. Local and state governments do not shut down because the federal government shut down. Any staff that works in the local level government (aka. Municipal Courts) will not be affected by this. Also, I will always find it funny that though the federal government is shut down, we will still have to pay taxes to them as if they are still running at full capacity.

OT: This is cool. Give those useless ass government employees a reason to stay home beyond the ridiculous number of sick or vacation days. Just make sure that no one from Congress or the President try to get free games, they get paid no matter what, haha. In all seriousness though, this is pretty cool. My opinion of the government not withstanding, it sucks to be out of work when you have nothing to do with it. I also find some of the choices of free games to be outright amusing.

 

[Xdeser2]

I'm glad I support CD Projekt

Those guys are awesome for doing this

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

this is how you fuckin do it, that is glorious, especially the e-mail portion, i lol'd at that.

 

[Saltyk]

You know what's funny to me about the Shutdown? I have a coworker whose wife works at a judge's office. Because they weren't given 72 hours advanced warning, they will get paid. It may be after the Shutdown is ended, but she will get paid for all of it. She basically considers it to be free vacation time, but she doesn't actually have to use vacation time. Personally, I find that hilarious.

Oh, and the judge is still working. Just with a much more reduced staff. They didn't shut down anything like that.

Beyond that, honestly, this seems real passive aggressive. At least people could get some games out of it. Though, Alpha Centauri is cheap on GoG. I bought it a couple months back. Can't remember how much it was, but there's no way that was more than $10. I think it was 5.99.

The shut down is on the federal level. Local and state governments do not shut down because the federal government shut down. Any staff that works in the local level government (aka. Municipal Courts) will not be affected by this. Also, I will always find it funny that though the federal government is shut down, we will still have to pay taxes to them as if they are still running at full capacity.

OT: This is cool. Give those useless ass government employees a reason to stay home beyond the ridiculous number of sick or vacation days. Just make sure that no one from Congress or the President try to get free games, they get paid no matter what, haha. In all seriousness though, this is pretty cool. My opinion of the government not withstanding, it sucks to be out of work when you have nothing to do with it. I also find some of the choices of free games to be outright amusing.

Yes, I am aware of that. But, they are still not working. And they aren't being paid for the time being. I still find it humorous that they aren't working, but it's little more than a vacation. Wasn't Congress going to pass some bills to pay all of the furloughed employees after the shutdown ended? Or am I pulling that out of my imagination?

Should be noted that I am not laughing at this too hard. My own company has a large contract with government subcontractors and such. I don't think we're going to see anything much that will affect our business (we do business with several different companies large and small), but it is a thing to note.

Also, government contracts suck. They tend to be very picky, cheap, and demanding.

 

[MatsVS]

"[email protected]"

Either they're being funny, or the GOG people's grasp of the news is childlike in its ineptitude.

 

[Gennadios]

EDIT: ^Stealthed. Dammit, above poster!

Am I the only one that's a little bit apalled that the furlough e-mail handle is thanksobama? I mean being a liberal and all I'm more likely to blame the other side, but isn't GOG a non-US company?

Trying to figure out the angle they're running.

 

[Skeleon]

@MatsVS
Yeah, that's odd to say the least. I guess it could be sarcasm, but as usual that translates badly on the internet.

EDIT: Want to have some fun? Check out the comment section of that news article on GOG's own website. I think they have some Tea Party supporters on there, annoyed at the evil intrusion by these Polish people (some comments are surprisingly personal considering CD Projekt are having fun at the expense of a gridlocked system). Also, some seem to take "thanksoabama..." literally here, as in: CD Projekt wants people to thank Obama for Obamacare. And they disagree vehemently with the notion. Now it's even more confusing. If only we could read CD Projekt's minds.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

"[email protected]"
Either they're being funny, or the GOG people's grasp of the news is childlike in its ineptitude.

You saw the reason they included "Redneck Rampage" right? That e-mail address is dripping with irony.

OT: I love the people at GoG. I don't buy PC games anywhere else these days.

 

[Phoenix1213]

"[email protected]"

Either they're being funny, or the GOG people's grasp of the news is childlike in its ineptitude.

Pretty sure they're just being fair.

Redneck rampage as a jab at republicans

"Thanks, Obama" as a jab at democrats

Though more likely, they're just using the pop culture reference:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thanks-obama

 

[MatsVS]

"[email protected]"
Either they're being funny, or the GOG people's grasp of the news is childlike in its ineptitude.

You saw the reason they included "Redneck Rampage" right? That e-mail address is dripping with irony.

OT: I love the people at GoG. I don't buy PC games anywhere else these days.

Hah, reread that part now, cheers. Glad to see my initial suspicions were unfounded. I've loved GOG for too long to take their words and actions lightly.

 

[Teoes]

Just when I think there's no way to love GOG more. This is both hilarious and a really nice gesture. Well done.

They should've done a sliding scale though - the more miserable you look in your photo, the more games you get.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Bloody brilliant. Very clever promo and the inclusion of "Redneck Rampage" is comedy gold.

Oh those Republicans, they so funny.