Should mod authors have the option to make mods for money?

[Kregano]

I don't have a problem with modders making mods for money, but that requires one very important thing:

The publisher/developer publicly laying out rules for what is and is not acceptable to monetize.

Given how litigious some companies can be, having a Patreon/Ko-fi for modding can be a bad idea, especially if you're doing something like porting assets from one game into another.

I feel like making and maintaining mod tools is probably the least unsafe thing anyone can monetize from modding, but it just takes one crazy publisher/developer to ruin that too.

[ScytheBearer]

On 1/31/2024 at 10:40 PM, Robrechtve said:

The problem with paid mods is that most of the time the majority of people who contributed to the making of the mod don't and can't get paid.

Because most people don't realise how much the larger modding community relies on the free exchange of ideas and materials. And that free exchange is only made possible by the fact that mods are free, so it's not an economic disadvantage for a modder to allow other modders to use, in part or in full, stuff they made for their own mod.

But when modders start charging for their mods, that falls apart. That's why so many made-for-pay stuff made by modders is worse than what they made for free: In order to sell it and not lose everything they earn in a lawsuit, they have to remove absolutely everything that was contributed by someone else who isn't getting paid and create absolutely everything themselves without drawing on the exchange of the modding community.

And all the biggest and best mods contain the work of far more people than just the ones who are officially on the team when the mod gets released.

So yeah, Pagafyr is right. The best way for modders to make money, if they want to make money, is to team up and make their own dang game, rather than trying to get paid for modding.

I would like to provide a different perspective to this paragraph.  "Because most people don't realise how much the larger modding community relies on the free exchange of ideas and materials. And that free exchange is only made possible by the fact that mods are free, so it's not an economic disadvantage for a modder to allow other modders to use, in part or in full, stuff they made for their own mod."

The truth can be somewhat different. 

What the "community" relies on is that mods and the content in them are freely shared with players.  The content is NOT shared with other mod makers.  However, unscrupulous mod makers have no qualms about stealing content from their betters.  The great claim by these mod pirates is that "there is no theft, because there is no monetary harm".  With the advent of paid mods, the monetary harm can be demonstrated, and that really pisses off the pirates.  They are loosing one of their justifications to steal content. 

So, what one can append onto all of the "paying mod makers is bad" rhetoric is "paying mod makers is bad because it makes it easier to prove damages for stolen mod content".

 

Edited March 24 by ScytheBearer
I can't type for this