Publisher-Approved Paid Modding Policy

[Spifferino]

I dislike paid mods as much as the next guy, but barring patches and dependencies for paid content from a game is simply ridiculous. This isn't a line that needs to be blurred. If a publisher is publishing and selling user generated content, it's more in line with a DLC. Nexus doesn't have restrictions on DLC patches or dependencies, so this should absolutely be no different.

 

And again, I say this as someone who actively has no desire to engage in paid user generated content. However, the provided guidelines are backwards and nonsensical.

[cyan49]

A few months ago, Bethesda changed "Creations must be all-new to qualify for release." to "Your previously released free content may be re-purposed for Creations released through the Verified Creator Program." This means that they can now legally delete their mods on Nexus and sell them on BethesdaNet (although they never recommended it). Nexus would be wise to avoid getting involved with Verified Creations as much as possible to avoid all the nonsense that could arise.

[Innominalist]

I get why there's objections to the no-patches-for-paywalled rule, but if it's nexus's position that paywalled content is bad for modding, then it's entirely reasonable that nexus would be unwilling to host files that are entangled with paywalled content.

[Czasior]

1 hour ago, showler said:

I wouldn't dumpster them.  Post them on other sites, preferably the same place as the paid mod they patch.

I don't want to be involved with other sites. I am a member of the Nexus modding community and I treat Nexus as the only reliable place for hosting my mods.

[Gaztec]

I want to champion Nexus, I love the idea of Collections, the new NM app, all that. I want one place to host it all, one installer new users can click that just figures it all out for them and gives them the game they want with the mods they want.

But I simply do not believe that paying modders is bad. I think mods like Bards College Expansion, Blood and Snow and many others deserve to be paid. The prospect of pay will encourage others to aim for this level of quality. For most (regardless of what is said) it really just comes down to quality. They will pay for good content, if it is easy. We should stop pretending modding is pure and free of corporate interest, Bethesda will continue to try for as long as the company exists and there has never been a shortage of hustlers shoving Patreon links into their MCM's or books. The focus shouldn't be on "All mods must be free forever" but "What mods warrant a price" and negotiating the questions around that. Many authors who previously championed the "Forever Free" badges are now Verified Creators, being paid for your work is pretty cool and i'm happy they were able to do that. Jumping straight to "make your own entire game" should not be a counterpoint, many modders move on not because they wish to but because life demands it.

Nexus already has its' DP scheme which has already proven difficult to rely on, being that we had three months pending while Nexus decided to make an algorithm for it. The existence of DP to me, acknowledges that soliciting Donations for many modders goes nowhere, users simply do not donate that much or that often unless you're in some nsfw niche. If you have aspirations of making mod content full time, it feels as though the world is working against you, that your notion of being paid for hundreds of your hours is wrong. I know I could have made other choices in my life, but I tried my best to find gainful employment and all that was left for me was burning out of minimum wage, donations through mods keep me here and I aspire to someday create something less niche but all this action against anything resembling paid mods or stable income from modding just pushes me further and further into more niche content. I have no intent to release "free" inferior versions of mods, or ever close-source anything, I want to give back. I don't even want to do anything paid, I just want to be able to eat and spend my time modding rather than the cycle of temp work, so I find the idea of offering additional customisation or assets through paid addons very tempting.

Paid opinions aside, the rule is completely unenforceable and will cause patch quality to diminish, which if we were being cynical might be the point. We have had soft-dependency scripted LL injection for years, all that this rule accomplishes is make it so more dramatic compatibility fixes like navmesh and location edits are more difficult to accomplish. If this rule continues, someone more effective than me will just create a xSE plugin to circumvent it.

[GlazzyDeer]

Well, I'm not a modder myself so I don't have much say in the matter... but isn't the verified creation program technically DLC for the game? I mean you can purchase them in-game and not from other third party sources, so I don't really see the issue with there being patches for creations specifically on this platform. Regardless of how people may feel about paid mods, I believe it's a good thing to have patches available for mods in general whether they were paid for or not. I have bought the Bard's College Expansion and East Empire Expansion, and therefore I used the Unofficial Patches of them as well as a Mysticism patch for A Tale of Blood and Snow which really saved a lot of time going through records and editing on my own.

[Gambit77]

Quote

Patches for/Dependencies on Paid Mods: We will not allow any patches or addons for user-generated content that requires payment to unlock (this specifically excludes DLCs offered by the developer - including DLCs that bundle items previously sold individually such as Skyrim's Anniversary Upgrade). Equally, if a mod uploaded to the site requires a paid mod to function, it will not be permitted. 

This rule sucks. This rule damages the free modding ecosystem. If I want to patch another modder's creation to work with my free Nexus mods I should be allowed to. This rule is clearly an attempt to divide the mod user community, which damages the free modding ecosystem. If a mod user wants to buy a mod, let them. There is no reason for you to punish them for doing so, and that is exactly what this rule does, because it is preventing creations from being properly integrated into modded game builds to the same extent as free mods.

[Admiral30]

I agree with this change. As far as I'm aware entire idea of NexusMods is to maintain free modding community. As private company they have no obligation to host mods that actively contradict these principles, even if they are just patches.

[InquisitorOverhaulsReturn]

I still do not have any paid mods, so I assume I am ok? 

 

Other than that, if I understood correctly, paid mod only must be on Creations, as it should be? 

Cheers! 

[Skyking2020]

This is all great and I'm 100% on board. The no patches thing, I can see how it can be abused. But I think it hurts more people. If you have the paid Bards College and need a patch, and it will need patches, it's gonna hurt a lot of users.