FMensch

I know the title might be a little off as the Empire in Star Wars are the bad guys, but you can tell that I just liked the sound of it. Now, a lot has been said about the whole paid mods disaster on steam and I am not going to reiterate the downsides of it. However, what I offer, is a solution. Currently modders are in a pinch as on the one hand most do not want to be part of that wicked concept Valve came up with but on the other hand struggle with people copying their mods and selling them on steam with little the modder can do about it. Although, Valve shall have the benefit of doubt that on Monday they declare this project a failure, it is relatively clear that this is not going to happen as there are people buying those mods. Please, do not shed blood and fling all sorts of excrements towards people who took part in this travesty in the first place. Sure, a lot of them were greedy but then there are people, as can be read in tons of comments, who simply are not capable of grasping what is wrong with that concept. People like that exist. What I propose to you, the modders, is a way of having your work protected from thiefs while at the same time demonstrating your position. If Valve decides to ignore all of the criticism leveled against them, it is up to you, the modders, to exploit the system's weakness. So, the free market decides if selling mods is a success or not? Fine, because YOU are the free market. YOU offer your products, generally speaking, YOU have the power. Why not use that power? Why not put a price on the mod that people are simply not willing to pay? I don't know what you can set as a maximum but it should be iconic and everyone who wants to take part in that protest puts that price on their mod. We could resurrect the 1337 and make it 133.7$ /€ for every mod for example. Furthermore you add a description that could read as follows: /mod description Get it for free on nexusmods.com If you like it and feel the creator should be compensated for the effort, feel free to use the donation button on nexus. What -should- be the result of that? - you protest against the system - you demonstrate unity - you demonstrate that a voluntary system and not paywalls are the way to go - you protect your mod from being stolen and sold on steam without your consent *- let's be frank, with all the attention atm you are likely to get a donation boost If you cannot fight the system, destroy it by making it unusable. I know this is a drastic idea, therefore please feel free to express your disagreement if this suggestion happens to be too insane.