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Mod Creation is done on a PC. It wouldn't make much sense not to include the ability to host the PC version of a mod. Even though Bethesda.net is becoming primarily a Console compatible mod hosting site (due to the primacy and better site design of Nexus in the field of PC version mods), its only common sense that they have the tools on hand to handle PC mods. Maybe they will attempt paid mods again, who knows, but it also gives Bethesda an option other than dealing with Steam (at the least, negotiating leverage when dealing with Steam). Everybody likes to go "oh, business, its so evil" but the truth is that without that business you would be downloading mods for Fallout 2 and discussing how another fan attempt at a sequel mod has failed rather than discussing what might be in ES6 or FO5 when it *does* come out. I have played plenty of fan made mods that are equal to what the studios have produced but they are the exceptions and not the rule. I hope Bethesda doesn't forget that the primary success of a game is not in the mods but in the initial product put out by the studio. Mods are only the spice, the recipe has to be good to begin with.

It's always the 10% of any group that seems to ruin it for the rest of a group.

Anything you add to stop it from being put on other sites like Bethesda can simply be edited out by the mod thief who has access to the same tools and many understand modding themselves. The problem is that the internet has allowed the idea of "stuff for free" to be a common mindset and not just among the modding community (MP3, movies, other apps, etc.). If Nexus started charging a mandatory subscription fee that 100% would go to the mod creator it would cause an explosion of people using Bethesda or increase the number of alternative sites where you would find all the mods that were on Nexus pirated and available for free. Bethesda, with 100 programmers, proprietary software programs, and a legal department has not been able to soft piracy of its games...now you expect a hobbyist, no matter how talented, to succeed where they failed? If it really is just the console users being able to use mods and not simply mod thief as a whole what you need to do is make the mods so ambitious that only the top end PCs can run them so it doesn't matter if theirs a console port or not. As for the more average PCs...well, there are causalities in any war.

Bethnet will not replace Nexus for the same reason Steam hasn't. The nature of Bethesda.net and Steam.com are that they are recognizable corporate entities and therefore more likely to be successfully targeted by third parties for IP infringements or groups that take issue with mods that restrict or allow certain things such as nude mods. Thus they put in place policies to disallow those mods and avoid the lawsuits. Nexus has the advantage of not being viewed that way so it can function with a more lax set of restrictions on mods content. So Nexus will always have a wider range of mods to select from than either of the other too. What Bethesda.net will become is the repository of mods for the two console communities which have no other options or even choice in where to get mods.

One of the core problems is that the idea that mods should be "free to all" has been a belief of a good portion of the community going back before the "Paid Mod Fiasco" on steam over a year ago. Now that many of the less demanding mods can be run on consoles those people are popping back up and thinking its either funny to maliciously port mods or a new battlefield for mods should be "free to all" now including console users. Partly because PC and console are not pure groups as many people use both through their lives as hardware economics and systems ages and they switch about, that mentality was already seeded into the console community which never gets anything for free (unless there's a back end subscription attached). While many people have the maturity and manners to respect mod creators work by respecting their choices, there are to many who just want stuff for free. They weren't mad at Steam or Bethesda for taking a cut of the money during the PM fiasco, they were mad at having to pay for what they could previously get for nothing. Many of them went further than simply sending angry emails or boycotting those mods...they were actively stealing them and posting them on torrent sites. My best proof of this mentality...how many people on this site who download mods also have a premium membership. I bet its less than 10%. Bethesda has a long way to go with improvements needed to their mod site and not just in policing stolen mods but the rot of mod entitlement did not start there. And just cutting off the arm or leg of consoles mods will not stop it because its a disease that is all through the body. edited for spelling errors.

Is Bethesda.net really a threat to Nexus. Bethesda is certainly the only game in town for console so those users will have no choice but to live with only those mods that pass Bethesda much more restrictive rules regarding what mods are allowed to be posted (no naked stormtrooper mods). However, PC users have a much wider choice (Nexus being the best/biggest) of places to get mods that don't have as tight rules (yes to nude stormtroopers, if that's your thing). Are consoles mods such a threat to the pc mods. No and the creator of this very thread explained why when he said he spent 2500 (some people can't even afford a car that expensive) in order to enjoy mods. Just think how many console users are going start using those mods available on Bethesda then learn how much more powerful mods exist out there that require a PC to run (ENBs, for example). Its like some sort of virtual drug dealer who starts out by giving a person a sample so he can hook the guy in spending money on further or stronger fixes. The next time that console user is at the store buying a new console game they decide to stroll over to the pc aisle see if maybe, just maybe, he can find a PC rig good enough to run the better PC mods but still not break his budget. Next thing you know, Mitigate Jr is the newest regular on the Nexus forums asking for a modder to make a mod so he can dress his character up as Donald Duck (and can you make sure I can apply ballistic weave to the suit). Its no good to get pissed at consoles just because they can play mods on a system 1/5 the cost you spent on yours and still run hundreds of mods even though their specs are half to a quarter of yours. Do you get pissed at someone eating hamburger while you're eating sirloin just because they're eating beef like you but didn't pay as much? I think that is often the core of many PC users belligerent remarks towards console users. They could play the same games as the more expensive PCs but at least mods were PCs alone. On the matter of entitled...99% of PC mod users (like me) has never made even a single mod for any game yet we are happy to download them left and right. Just because I own a PC and the modder owns a PC doesn't make me more entitled than a console user to use a mod if we can both run it. If it about general behavior...spend some time on forums like reddit, you'll see some pretty awful and insulting posts aimed at "console peasants" (the fact that this pejorative exists and has been used even in this thread proves console users are not the only people to behave in an insulting manner).

"without modders being all over FO4 from release and the promise of more, bigger and better quality mods once the tools were released, it would have died within a fortnight". That is a statement from a bubble...you live surround by a crowd of people who love modding games as much as playing the games with mods (your interest in mods is even evident in the fact you spend money to get a premium account on a site devoted to modding) so you think that is representative of the gaming community as a whole and the driver for FO4. There's a wider non-mod centric community of gamers out there. FO4 sold 12 mil copies on day 1 and much of that to the console crowd and a goodly percentage of people who will never install a mod on their PC. It was still selling heavy for weeks after. This alone shows that, despite its anticipated flaws due to Bethesda's past history with other games, people were buying it based on its own merits. You would have to be an idiot to spend fifty dollars or more on any game in the hope that the hobbyist modders might fix it. Some mods are great and are sometimes equal to or exceed what the publisher put out. There are modders who show mad program skillz in the work they do. Mods can extend the play life of a game for individual players but its not the priority for the gaming crowd. At the end of the day mods are a bonus. At the computer company I was working at when Skyrim came out, they were all over it. When they talked about the game it was mainly the vanilla elements they mostly talked about. Not because they did not use mods but because it was the common experience that everyone shared with the game. Everyone had different mods they preferred but all had played the same core game. Bethesda knows that over the years modding/using mods has become regular past time for many for so it makes business sense to use it as a selling point. But if the game is s*** to start with it will be died before any modder gets a chance to even release a single re-textured skin mod. No one will give a s*** about the mods if the game is s*** to start with. No reviewer ever gave a new game 10 out of 10 because they knew that mods would fix that game that was only a 6 of 10 to start with. "if there is to be any financial support it should come from Bethesda". ..it did...they did not charge for the CK. I don't know of to many other hobbies were you get the tools for free. My grandmother paints as a hobby (and sometime even manages to sell her work on occasion) but she has to buy the paints and canvas unlike us who got the tools for free from both Nexus and Bethesda. Players who want it all to be free or Modders who want to get the tools to do it for free and a place to sell it without a booth charge...(shrugs shoulders) looks like neither wants to invest money.

Bad idea if you don't like paid mods on the PC, great idea if you do. I can't disagree that anyone doing mod work that is actually worth a buck should get some sort of reward for their time and effort but the who, how, and how much is a whole other debate. But the part where you single out a specific group just because you can is a questionable practice. Consoles never even had the option to even use mods so whether or not they should be charged while PC remains free not really a valid argument. Besides, what to stop console users from boycotting paid mods like PC users did. It not like they were used to having them before unlike PC users. I bet being made to pay for some that is freely given to others will be a big motivation in their boycott. Consider this as well. Companies and governments often use the method of introducing service changes, laws, and restrictions that are unpopular to the majority by first applying them to a limit group as a way of getting a door in the foot toward eventually applying them to everyone else. An example of this would be mandatory seat belt laws in my state. For many years making this a law was opposed by the majority. Finally one year they introduced a law mandating that children must be belted when in a car. The argument was that these children were not old enough to be responsible for their own safety and had to be protected from this unsafe situation created by their parents negligent actions. The law passed because it only applied to children and who doesn't want to see children kept safe. A few years later another law was proposed. Surprise! mandatory seat belts for adults. But this time a twist was added, you would not be ticketed for failing to wear a seat belt unless you were also being ticketed for another vehicular violation. Already used to putting seat belts on children and since this law would only be applied to adults who are actually demonstrating unsafe driving it was able to get passed. Finally...you guess it...a law was eventually passed which gave the police the right to pull you over simply for not wearing a seat belt. However, if you are for paid modding then this is probably the best way to get paid modding introduced back on the PC. PC users won't welcome the idea especially after the last fiasco. But if you first introduce it to anther group that is not the PC crowd, then the PC crowd will be less opposed. First you get people used to paying for it by only rolling it out to a controlled group like the console users. After it becomes accepted on consoles then you simply start charging PC users at that time. "I used to get it free, why pay now", they will say. "Hey, they pay on consoles, why should you be different" will be the response. While many will continue to throw a fit, many others, who might have resisted the idea before, will agree that it just might not be fair to help shoulder the cost of mods like the console users are.