Encouraging users to donate to authors on the Nexus WITHOUT people resorting to begging

[Stunami]

This is something I've been thinking about a lot since this whole Steam Workshop debacle started only yesterday. It may not necessarily be a good idea, you're free to disagree with me. Those I've spoken to seem to be split 50/50 on what I came up with. So I thought I'd share it on a public forum to see what others think.

 

So to start, the only reason I can see ANYBODY agreeing to taking the scraps Valve offers for their work in exchange for them gaining full control over your content is that, simply put, nobody is seeing any real money through the donation system we have here on the Nexus. We have a system to optionally support our local modders while they provide their free content, but it's rarely if ever being used. Hell I've seen several posters over the years who didn't even know the donation feature existed because it's hidden away on the user's profile.

 

I want to support you guys, I really do. I just donated to Brumbek, the creator of the Static Mesh Improvement mod, in the hopes that he never moves to the Workshop because of how scummy the system is. The way the Steam Workshop is treating you like content whores is quite frankly disgusting and I want no part in it.

 

So, how to actually encourage people to donate? In my opinion you make it plain as day to see for all, so people understand how much an author is getting in relation to their work. The current system hides itself on the user's profile behind their work, it may as well not even exist.

 

Here's a quick MSpaint job I did in like two seconds just as a visual example.

 

http://i.imgur.com/aelP8a0.png

 

If there's anything Twitch has taught me, it's that people are quite happy COMPETING in who can donate the most when it comes to their favourite things. People will throw their money at somebody because five seconds ago some other guy donated like $10. It's an effective form of encouraging people to hand over money for something that is and always will be FREE. This is I believe the system the Nexus needs to adopt, it doesn't affect how the Nexus currently operates, no content is locked away and people can still download their favorite mods for free, only now the donation button may actually be clicked more than once a month. 100% of that money goes to the mod creator, it does not get disected into a little chunk for the person who worked for hours while a greedy corporation snatches the rest.

[bizzclaw]

I feel like that if done right, modders get actually get more money from donations on the nexus than this "addition" to the steam workshop. I already posted about this in the comments section of the Nexus News post, but I feel like it's a really good idea and I want to share it with everyone.

 

All it would take a simple sort of "Stretch Goal" system. Complex features that would otherwise not be possible could be implemented if a target amount of money is donated. This would mean that Modders would still be getting paid for their hard work and improving upon their mod while still allowing it to be accessed by everyone freely. Perhaps the current stretch goal progress could be displayed on a donation page. It could also display contributors to the mod, with those who donate high amounts appearing at the op.

 

This is still ultimately a donation and not a purchase of goods because the person paying is not directly paying for goods or services, and purely a donation meaning that the modder would get 100% of the money from donations made using this system.

 

I also know that the moderators of the nexus are competent enough to clamp down on any content theft without permission (They already do!) so it's doubtful that there would be any severe issues involving content being stolen.

Edited April 24, 2015 by bizzclaw

[Volek]

I like your idea Indraroh! :thumbsup: You are right, this is how the human brain works, actual donation statistics should give them hesitators a little nudge. I reckon some modders would already have received thousands of dollars if this system was implemented from the beginning on. A simple yellow donate button does not encourage anyone.

 

 

All it would take a simple sort of "Stretch Goal" system. Complex features that would otherwise not be possible could be implemented if a target amount of money is donated. This would mean that Modders would still be getting paid for their hard work and improving upon their mod while still allowing it to be accessed by everyone freely.

I do not think this a good idea. Modders will be under pressure of delivering. If someone sets a stretch goal for a certain feature, but then can't deliver for whatever reason, people will want their money back.

 

If you mod for the fun of it, you will implement that complex feature anyway. You take the time it needs to be done and in the end everyone is happy.

 

If you mod for the money, you can bet those people who "donated" want results soon. Expectations will rise. When you release the mod, some annoying "customer" feels that the outcome of your efforts aren't worth the money he paid, and his complaints give you a bad rep.

 

I can even see scammers presenting their great ideas, cashing in and disappearing. I'm sorry but I can't see this idea going into any good direction. Still it's an idea and thats what we need in times like this :smile:

Edited April 25, 2015 by Volek

[Rebel47]

I have been researching a pay what you want feature and it seems like it could be a good idea but it would have to be implemented in such a way that not only would not be intrusive but would also not be controversial, like for example a pay what you want system whereby a button is placed on the " Action bar " along with Perms and contact it could have a " Support me/my mods " button whereby users could then if they wished choose to donate x amount of money to the author, this would also eliminate the belief that because you donated that you now have some say in how long a mod should be before completion, as supporting something doesn't guarantee it will be finished within the time schedule provided (many example of this are indie games who run off a donations only system)

 

I am no good with PSP or anything else so I cannot provide a visual aid to my suggestion but if you refer to the initial image atop this page you will notice the " Actions " bar I'm suggesting that a " Support me " button be placed there somewhere, it is unobtrusive and still visible (to those who look anyway) it also doesn't require any mod author to actively promote it either and it could also be enabled by default and have the option of disabling it for those mod authors who only mod for fun.

 

Obviously there will be drawbacks to any buttons/actions related to this instance but if policed properly (and let's face it Nexus does a fantastic job of policing the site) it could be extremely beneficial in the long run, there should never be direct association with donations and mod completions as this would infer that a contract had been forged * I.E: User X donated $20 to Mod Author Y to simply draw them back to finish a mod or repairs game breaking bugs * and essentially this is frowned upon unless you are a big company with more lawyers than NASA have space programs.

 

The idea of donations being a competition is a good one but I don't know if displaying it openly on the front page would be a viable place, I agree that some system should be placed somewhere to better enforce this, perhaps have an option of when clicking the endorse option it asks if you want to donate and if you click yes it shows you a window of how much each respective user has donated and therefore maintains the competitiveness but still maintains a high level of discretion thus keeping the Nexus Mods site reputation as high as it can be.

 

I shall no doubt weigh in with more on this later after a nap.

 

Let me know what you think of my ideas and see if we adapt them to make them better :)

[Slaughtz]

I had this very same idea. When I read from somewhere in this debacle that donations were already possible for mod makers on Nexus, I was surprised I didn't even know I could do that. It's not totally intrusive to have a small box on every mod page that goes over donations. I would like to see this done, if for no other reason than to compete with Steam workshop if they decide to keep paid mods a thing.

[Enclave996]

I actually had an idea to encourage people to donate. This thread seems like a good enough place to post it.

 

I personally feel modders should be able to get paid for their work, the way Steam is doing it is 100% wrong if you ask me though.

What I'd like to see?

1. When you try to download a mod it takes you to a donation page, you HAVE to input a value into the donation box even if that value is $0.00

2a. If you donated $X or more the download starts (modder determines X).

2b. If you donated $X-1¢ or less you are taken to a short advertisement. Once the advertisement is done the download starts.

3. F*** Bethesda and Valve taking 75%, do this on Nexus instead.

4. Modder profits and nobody is screaming bloody murder except idiots who don't want to deal with a 30 second advert.

 

You could even mark on a persons account what mods they've paid for so that future attempts to download the mod doesn't take them to the donation page and instead immediately starts the download.

 

Additionally, track on the persons account how much they've donated if they've donated under the minimum. That way if they reach the minimum or go above it through multiple donations over time then they also will get to skip the ad in the future.

 

People like to pay for things that they enjoy. It just needs to be done in a way that is not so objectionable. Honestly, can you imagine anybody being severely against the idea I laid out here?

Edited April 27, 2015 by Enclave996

[iXenite]

I actually had an idea to encourage people to donate. This thread seems like a good enough place to post it.

 

I personally feel modders should be able to get paid for their work, the way Steam is doing it is 100% wrong if you ask me though.

 

What I'd like to see?

 

1. When you try to download a mod it takes you to a donation page, you HAVE to input a value into the donation box even if that value is $0.00

 

2a. If you donated $X or more the download starts (modder determines X).

 

2b. If you donated $X-1¢ or less you are taken to a short advertisement. Once the advertisement is done the download starts.

 

3. F*** Bethesda and Valve taking 75%, do this on Nexus instead.

 

4. Modder profits and nobody is screaming bloody murder except idiots who don't want to deal with a 30 second advert.

 

You could even mark on a persons account what mods they've paid for so that future attempts to download the mod doesn't take them to the donation page and instead immediately starts the download.

 

Additionally, track on the persons account how much they've donated if they've donated under the minimum. That way if they reach the minimum or go above it through multiple donations over time then they also will get to skip the ad in the future.

 

People like to pay for things that they enjoy. It just needs to be done in a way that is not so objectionable. Honestly, can you imagine anybody being severely against the idea I laid out here?

 

No offence, but your concept doesn't sound very good. It turns a place dedicated to modding into one more focused on making people money. Like the "Freemium" games you see in the App Store. I don't think many people could get behind that. Just saying.

Edited April 27, 2015 by DaddyDirection

[Enclave996]

Really? I don't see how. As long as the ability to pay absolutely nothing is there I don't see any risk of BS like freemium coming about. Youtube rather successfully utilises short ads to monetise videos without forcing people to actually pay to view. It's a minimal annoyance.

 

It also in no way could morph into ridiculous pop ups in-game with adverts or begging for donations (looking at you Midas Magic) which generally is where the fear of freemium creeping in comes from.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Enclave996

[iXenite]

So you're saying your "Solution" wasn't already a ridiculous pop up centric mess? Because to me it sounded almost exactly like how these Freemium games set up their adverts.

[Enclave996]

My suggestion is absolutely nothing like what you're seemingly imagining. My suggestion is very much in line with short ads as you would see before a monetised youtube video.

 

Pop-ups are the devil, I'd never suggest any such BS as that.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Enclave996