TheSovietPenguin

I'm not at all surprised that they pulled the plug. The system relied on the community's goodwill for both supply and demand, and the community gave them neither. Mod authors who weren't part of the "debut pack" had no reason to monetize because they would just be harassed, and sales of the mods were stupendously low. So yeah, Valve's paid modding system was dead on arrival. I can't deny that this riot has been damaging to the modding community, but with the system now gone, I hope we get back to the way things were. Hopefully the modders that released paid mods re-upload those mods for free, because I'd really hate to see good time and talent go to waste because of internet drama. I also hope that Valve takes the hint that PR is actually important. Since Gabe himself was the first PR responder, he'll probably be bashing some heads in Valve HQ for not doing their homework. Maybe they'll finally improve their customer service...

A few interesting caveats about this situation: -Modding is a highly competitive scene, so there isn't much stopping people from deciding not to pay the money (however small the price), and instead looking for an alternative. For example, the "Purity" mod that is currently part of the workshop launch bundle is very similar to Climates of Tamriel and ENB, so what's stopping me as a mod user to go install one of the free alternatives? A short amount of time, and little else. Another example: iNeed. What's stopping me from downloading the slightly older, free version, or Realistic Needs and Diseases or Imp's More Complex Needs? Again, very little. -Subscription rates for paid mods aren't particularly high. Chesko's Arissa mod has only .006% downloads compared to it's overall number of views, compared to roughly 14% downloads-to-views on the nexus; the free version. Even if we multiply the steam version's statistics by 13 (representing months since Arissa's first release on nexus), it still doesn't come near the free version. Additionally, what's stopping me from downloading a similar mod such as Vilja or Sofia? Not much, and this is a chesko mod we're talking about here. It's the same for most paid mods on the workshop. Point is, these mods are competing with free, and it's pretty damn hard to compete with free. -What's stopping mod authors from pulling mods from the nexus and limiting them to the pay-walled workshop? Not much. Take Skyforge Weapons, for instance. The mod was available on nexus a week ago, and now it isn't. It is now an "unreleased" (for lack of a better term) state on the workshop, behind a $1.99 USD paywall. Is a weapon pack worth $1.99 to the average consumer? I don't have the statistics to confirm that. -Valve's handling of this new system was awful. Seriously. It's a PR disaster. The last thing you as a publisher or developer is the entire modding community raging at you, and that is exactly what is happening right now. Valve probably should have made a news announcement about this far sooner and allowed people to think about it. Instead, they just quickly sprung this whole thing on everyone and invited an internet riot. Riots aren't good for business. -A donation system would have been far more ideal. Mainly because from a consumer standpoint, spending money is bad. Therefore, people will always look for the cheapest option for the best quality that matches their needs. This is why the 99-cent stores exist. However, if Valve had set this up a donation system for mods, spending money for these mod authors would be seen as a good thing - a righteous and generous use of the consumer's money instead of a flat paywall. Although, Valve likely wouldn't be able to justify taking 75% of the profits in that kind of system. Furthermore, I don't know the overall effectiveness of a donations system, so take that as you will. Overall, I'd say it isn't a very good idea for mod-makers to put their mods behind a paywall, because someone could just download a comparable mod for free and not think twice about it. Chesko's "Early Access Modding" system seems like the best alternative, but he's still splitting his followers and reducing mod feedback. I could go deeper into the impact of this on the modding culture (and it is severe), but this post is alread a great wall of text, so I won't. If you've read this far, then I congradulate you for reading through my endless ramblings.

I went with lifelong a while back and I havn't regretted a thing. Keep up the good work!

I agree. When it happens, it happens.

Check the companion mods. I don't remember which one I had (Its been a while) but I had a follower mod that allowed me to change their weapons and armor.

They both work very well with Frostfall, and with said mod, give equal amounts of clutter.

Yeah, I just changed him to non-essential, Intimidated him (didn't work), Burned him and is worthless bodyguard with excessive amounts of fire, payed the bounty, and enjoyed the rest of my dragonborn experience. :biggrin: