PossessedLemon

In response to post #23904579. #23922919, #24115884 are all replies on the same post. I've been studying Neo-Liberalism as part of my Poli Sci degree, so I think I can channel some of it to make a counter-argument to some of your claims in the interests of letting logic prevail. Response to 3. They couldn't charge whatever they want for these different-continent experiences, since people won't pay outrageous prices. The same thing will occur as happens before these continents are available for play: Somebody else will make a new one. If the price is too high, there would be a market for a competing Elsweyr. Response to 1. The quality would increase, because there is the reward for good work. Successful modders will be encouraged to continually develop their mods, in order to maintain sales. 2. And the modding community relies on Bethesda. Bethesda makes a killing from free mods. What if the game itself cost less, and people would pay small amounts for mods, in the interest of paying the same amount as a regular game, but for a game that is more close to what they want to play? 4. That's the central ideology of capitalism, though, that the betterment of the community and personal gain are linked intrinsically. Through supporting people for doing what benefits the community, we as a modding community would not only take care of those who make our mods, but encourage them to do better work and serve the community better. Sure, it's cool to make one of the top mods, but that doesn't pay the rent. How many mods fall by the wayside "due to personal issues"? What if we could have the best mod-makers paid directly for what they do best, and be rewarded for the good they do to this community?

While I believe that the non-commercial spirit of modding is fascinating, I think that change is inevitable. I was listening to a virtual lecture on Active Directory Rights Management Services that really reminded me of this discussion, and inspired this thought. Rights Management services essentially make it so that users can distribute different usage rights of a file to other users. In the case of modding, this already-existing system would allow modders to sell the rights to copy, improve upon, and download their created mods. How will the Elder Scrolls modding community adapt when other games adopt paid-for-modding strategies? Surely these would attract some of the best modders away from this community. Paying modders for doing what they love could turn into a "brain drain", where the best modders gravitate to games that will pay them for modding. I think that paid-for mods would be positive to this modding community. Modders would be rewarded for doing what they love. Players would give patronage to the people who expand their favorite games. Quality of mods would increase due to competitiveness and rewards for good mods. Rights management services would ensure that people's creative work is protected.