Zaflart

Dark0ne, Again has shown grace and decorum. I thank you. I'm old and jaded, a pessimistic realist, if you will. His candor has softened this old grizzled soul. Again, thank you. I'm make mods for myself, (my work isn't polished enough and I don't have the time, the community deserves, for support), I'm just an old user. However, I am extremely grateful to this community. Thank you. That being said... To those who threw their fellow community members under-the-bus, (be they modders, or users), because of differing opinions, should reflect upon the last few days and learn from this experience. The rage and vitriol, (yes I know that word has been overused, these last few days, but it fits so well), which had spewed forth, was totally uncalled for. Please use this as an opportunity for growth. However, I am still not convinced the intent of Bethesda and Valve was totally unselfish. This "roll-out" was among the worst implementations, of an ill-conceived concept, I have ever seen, in over twenty-five years of being part of modding communities. The complete lack of accountability, on the part of Valve and Bethesda, only proves these companies only care, as little as needed, to make a profit. They made the inaugural hand-picked group of modders sign a NDA... Then gave, at least one of them, (Chesko), terrible legal advice. I understand, neither Valve's, nor Bethesda's legal teams are beholding to anyone, except Valve and Bethesda, but in the spirit of community, they should have done a much better job. I hope this experience was a wake-up call, for Valve and Bethesda. They need to understand customers are more than mere credit card numbers. They also need to learn they can't take a lion's share of the profit and zero responsibility. Another hope is; That users, whom can afford to, will now donate to their favorite mod makers. Edit: typo

^ This, entirely. To add to what kljadfjhadf so put so eloquently; 1. What happens when Bethesda, and / or Valve decide they want all the cake? Today Steam Workshop's manager is, rudimentary, at best, but what if they overhauled it and made it better (with all the bells and whistles; profiles, virtual data and .ini files. etc...). Then decided no more free mod sites at all? Instead, choosing to host all mods (free and monetized) themselves. This is not such a far-fetched idea, when so much potential cash is involved. 2. How will new games, (and older ones, which haven't reached the end of their update cycles), handle the logistics of not breaking user generated content? Since they're not responsible, will they even consider it? 3. What happens when there are mod incompatibilities? i.e., Mods 1,2, and 3 work fine, but mod 4 (which you bought a week later) doesn't play nice with mod 2. You can return mod 4, but what if you like it more than mod 2? You're stuck with mod 2. 4. How can Bethesda justify charging the fee of a publisher when they aren't publishing anything? Together, Bethesda and Valve are merely acting as the platform. Modders are the publishers. If Bethesda wants a publisher's cut, shouldn't they bear the costs and risks of a publisher? (Google and Apple only take 30% because they don't take on those responsibilities of publishers.) 5. What's to stop Bethesda from cashing in on user generated content to fix / finish games for them? We all know how unpolished their games are, already. As it is now, Bethesda will stand to gain more money, if they release bad, bugged, or broken content intentionally, than if they didn't, because they take the lion's share from users who fix it. Less wages, insurance, overhead, only add to the money they will save / make.

Dark0ne, time and time again, you've shown yourself to be quite the ethical gentleman. It's admirable of you, not to want to handle donations. Even more noble, to tell the truth about potentially stolen assets. Mod authors do deserve funding, after all this is a capitalistic society and every little bit helps. However, I agree, the Valve/Bethesda partnership have taken a very misguided first step, in monetizing mods. This is just ugly, no matter what side-of-the-fence one happens to find themselves. In the end, I doubt the modding community will be what it was just two days ago. Until brick and mortar law catches up with the, increasingly one-sided, internet, we'll only see more inept plans being made by those, who may not deserve to be, in control. When you hold all the cards, you can make the rules.