BLOG PIECE: Modding as a hobby versus modding as a career, and the position of the Nexus

[ModzNerdz]

This is a personal opinion, but I won't pay for mods. Period. I buy DLC sometimes, and I have donated to authors of mods, but that's because I felt I could afford a few bucks toward something to encourage further development or to reward a job well done. If it comes down to having to buy mods, I'll just do without and probably stop playing the modded games eventually.

 

I really hope the "pay to mod" phase fails. If mod authors want to be paid for what they do, great! Apply for a job with a game developer, become your own developer or whatever. I am happy that youtube video producers make money with their channels, but I don't have to pay for it or I wouldn't watch them, Maybe something similar can happen for modders to "monetize" their mods, just so long as I don't have to pay for mods. I pay enough for the games as it is. Just my half cents worth...

[SasukeDN]

http://bosscade.com/b?r=VRydNmTKd

[JacketteFarcryer]

This is a personal opinion, but I won't pay for mods. Period. I buy DLC sometimes, and I have donated to authors of mods, but that's because I felt I could afford a few bucks toward something to encourage further development or to reward a job well done. If it comes down to having to buy mods, I'll just do without and probably stop playing the modded games eventually.

 

I really hope the "pay to mod" phase fails. If mod authors want to be paid for what they do, great! Apply for a job with a game developer, become your own developer or whatever. I am happy that youtube video producers make money with their channels, but I don't have to pay for it or I wouldn't watch them, Maybe something similar can happen for modders to "monetize" their mods, just so long as I don't have to pay for mods. I pay enough for the games as it is. Just my half cents worth...

Yes, games are expensive, I do agree with that. Apart from the odd "Donation" to a well deserved mod or modder, I believe mods should be free.

 

BUT by the same token, if you use someone else's assets etc in a mod of your own, then give the Original Creator FULL CREDIT for their work.

 

Cheers,

[wres1]

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[IrontinoPC]

As much as i like to stay positive about things all i see is doom to such a beautiful form of art modding is.. implementing such system can cripple modding and im afraid we wont see such mods that started as a small idea by one author went on and grew into a big beautiful world in the hands of the many great authors over time.. mods that we often stand back and admire. be it you robin the moderators the mod authors and my fellow nexus users you guys are more that just a community to me you guys are my extended family :) and i hope ill never lose that..

[Belthan]

I mod because I enjoy it. I once had the mildly arrogant notion that other people might enjoy the results of my efforts, so I started sharing them. I didn't even have a Donate button on my page until users pressured me into adding one (and some of them actually used it after I did so :) ). The positive reception is incredibly gratifying, and exceeds my wildest expectations (at one point the extent of my ambition was to see one of my mods in the Hot Files banner for just one day so I could take a screen shot for posterity). I have always had a very liberal permission policy ("use anything you want, just give me credit" ). I will amend that policy in the near future to forbid reuse of my assets in paid mods. Superficial humility notwithstanding, it would twist my underpants into an agonizing knot to think that somebody else was getting paid for my labor.

[LeafUSA]

I am glad Nexus is taking the stance that it is. I am already a Premium Member and right now I feel even better about becoming one. Money well spent.

[DrakeTheDragon]

Well, money coming into the equation will definitely open a whole can of worms.

 

Let's face it, discussion about this has already been brought up countless times in the past and the arguments thrown in have always been the same for decades.

 

There's no doubt in the long run pay-for-mod schemes will always be where the game developers will be moving towards. Mods shared for free are already supporting the longevity of their titles and future income from continued sales. Considering they could also profit financially from each one of them sold directly definitely is something they'd welcome.

 

Valve is already doing it with the Curated Workshops for some games, and Bethesda moving towards the Steam Workshop as their "one" publicly sanctioned mod distribution platform has never left a doubt about what they're aiming at in the long run. But as of right now they're not yet even close to prepared to go there.

 

The negative impact on the community and the overall quality of the mods created when money is the goal is obvious. What is freely shared from hobbyist to hobbyist now, co-work, resources, knowledge, tools, will all become part of a 'product' to be sold then, and even the most altruistic of mod authors will certainly think twice before allowing their free work to be used in a commercial product only others will profit from while they, most likely, won't even be mentioned in the credits.

 

All those famous Body Replacers nowadays are all shared as 'resources', because only then everybody can create custom armor or clothing items fitting them, considering parts of those meshes have to be included within the items for things to even work out. Now imagine every armor or clothing item ever created for one of those famous new high-poly model, high-res texture bodies has to pay a fee or a %-share of income gained to the authors of those bodies? That's what we're looking at.

 

How about the Script Extenders, the Auto-Patchers, the Mod Organizers and other such tools? Prepared to pay a fee for each use of them or share the income you gain from mods using/created with them?

 

I'm not saying the community will die or something, far from it. But it will change for sure.

If you sell a product, you're obligated to also provide customer support in return. No longer can you say it's provided "as is" and be done with it.

 

And if you want to remain able to sell your mods and want people buying them, you also have to make sure they're happy with you, not with your mods, no, with you personally, of course, or you're a goner.

Don't expect the distributer, Steam, who gains the largest share of the income, to come up with customer support in your place. Oh no, they don't even know the term, you know!

 

 

On the positive side though, if Bethesda wants people to sell their mods on the Steam Workshop, they'll finally have to publicly declare the authors "owners" of their creations (which they already do and did in the past behind the curtains anyways, but now it's to be made publicly!), or nobody could ever grant Valve the right to sell a mod containing Bethesda's licensed assets and take 3/4 of the gain to begin with.

 

I don't even want to think about how fine Bethesda will be with Valve taking the most of it anyways. There's no mention at all of how much of it Bethesda will gain, if anything at all, that is. And it's their licensed and copyright protected property contained in most mods which Valve will be selling!

 

Additionally, Bethesda will need to allow selling of modded content in general, or it couldn't be done even on the Steam Workshop. Maybe they'll come up with some clever clause to restrict this selling only to the Workshop, but it might just open up selling of mods straight away at all places as well.

 

Finally the sad excuse "I ain't making money of it, so it ain't stealing!" won't have any meaning anymore then at least, because if you're selling the stolen properties under your own label, you can no longer claim not causing any damages to the victim of your theft. I'm looking forward to the 5-digit reparation fees handed out in an ever increasing number of already-won law suits then! Maybe jail time's coming into the equation as well at some points though... Jail time for mod/asset theft - Justice at last!

 

But I hope Valve isn't expecting the hundreds of current copyright infringement victims, game companies, music publishers, etc., already damaged on a daily basis by the very first page of mods on their Workshop to still just sit back and ignore it anymore then.

 

If they don't get a hang of drastically improving their almost-absent moderation quickly then, a whole lot of "competitors" in the same business branch even will stand ready to sue the last coin out of their pocket in again already-won law suits, just on a bigger scale this time, company against company! Way to get rid of competition. Sue them into non-existence over their own blatant and stupid mistakes and shortcomings.

 

 

Oh, well... fun times up ahead indeed! But I'm honestly also not expecting anything too drastic in that short a time. Like I said, they're still miles away from even remotely being ready to go for it. Right now the backlash will be way more damaging than any income they could ever make from it would cover up. No doubt at some point they will be, and then they will go for it full speed ahead (hopefully not into disaster... or maybe yes?). But this time isn't now, and likely won't be anytime too soon either.

 

We'll see.

[liljohn88]

Thanks Dark0ne, Your ability to communicate succinct well thought replies to the concerns of this amazing community always make me glad i found it. Your care for the stewardship of the site and it's usability shines through, every time you post. I don't know, but I would think i'm probably a little beyond the normal demographic in the community, I've got 60 whispering in my ear. I've played video games for years. I learned long ago that a few moments of hack & slash, with a few, got to stop and think about moments thrown in is a great way to put the responsibilities of life and job , back into a more manageable perspective.

I really enjoyed Skyrim when I came across it. I got stuck somewhere in the game and my son, ( being afraid I would shoot the computer) suggested I u tube it. I did, and heard a mention about some site called nexus. It's been 4 or 5 yrs now, and watching the site, and the community grow has been an absolute joy. The Heart of this community that so attracts me comes from the evident desire of the modders to Give and Share freely, for the love of it. It would be Heart breaking to see that motive change to Getting, as in money. Lets keep it coming from Love Thanx.

[nobitanio]

OK im not going to a debate or in the intention of trolling.

but this was merely my perspective and opinion. take it, consider it, or simply just leave it.

and please excuse my terrible English.

 

I personally think it should be about the choice of its individual.

 

lets look at OS for example..

there are Linux which is completely free, and Windows that makes you pay for almost everything (yes, i do type almost Everything) aside from the OS itself.

both has been in a somewhat of a "fight" of claiming who's best.

but the most obvious thing is, each has its own perspective regarding "money".

 

Linux and it's massive community believe that technology should stay free forever. thus giving people the knowledge for free and further tech development which had a certain impact on life itself, can easily be achieved through contribution.

whilst Windows and its massively (maybe)"dont-have-a-choice-users" community are in the opposite way, that people should and deserved to be paid for their hard work and ideas.

 

this goes the same to Modding.

while i agreed to the fact that mods are free, but, if you look through other perspective, that, if a mod so good, regardless of everything, you HAVE to buy the original game to play it.

 

i have a friend once whom completely doesnt know anything about Mods.

once, he brag about how he finally purchased C&C Generals and being such a person that humiliate me for just being his friend, by posting that on each of his social network.

he even post an update saying that his "precious" game are in the process of install with an excited emoticon !.

but about the next half an hour later, he posted an update saying he that bought the wrong game.

the problem was, because the first time he experienced C&C Generals was on my PC. and the game were modded.

so, he pist, regretting his action of paying quite amount of money buying of what he sure it's the wrong version of the game, not knowing that he did purchased the right game, just havent got the mod that he loved/liked which he played on my PC back then.

so then i tell him about the Mod, which is funny, because he suddenly says "im willing to buy the expansion". he thought it was an offical expansion, and willing to pay money for it, and says that he still got arround 50USD left on his account, and asking does the amount of money he has left enough to pay for what he mistakenly thought was an official expansion.

 

my friend dislike the original C&C-G. and he doesnt even play the vanilla campaign mission. even until he quit and got bored with it, he never ever even play the vanilla campaign not even once and only play skirmish custom maps or simply vanilla maps but with mods. while 95% of the mod that he loved was merely a retexture. no scripts or whatsoever, and simply changing the gameplay a bit.

 

and that was just one story. there also that are for the least arround 30 of my other friends who crazy in love playing DOTA (1), but have no idea how to play or know even just a bit about Warcraft 3's lore. the same thing as my humiliating friend above, they have never played the vanilla or the campaign AT ALL. purely ONLY play DOTA.

but to play DOTA, you HAVE to own Warcraft ROC and the FT expansion. no compromised in that.

 

my point of the story is, there are hundreds, thousands, or maybe even tens of thousands of people out there whom im convinced are somewhat "clone" to my friend(s).

they simply loved the modification. they are completely dont give a damn about the vanilla.

and for that, mods, are definitely making company like Bethesda, Blizzard, EA, etc, richer !. no sense denying that.

ideas are precious. there are companies whom willing to pay you plenty of money simply just giving them a good and a profitable concept. be it an event, product, marketing strategy, and/or whatever that will profit them.

 

and devs like Obsidian, Bioware, Bethesda, and so many others, they actually gather to come up with some ideas to developed a good Video Games for a living. yes, for a living.

 

this is why IMHO, we should leave it to the choice of the modders.

as what Dark0ne stated, there are people who choose to be like Ronaldo and/or Messi (carreer), and there are those also who simply choose just to have fun, regardless.

 

and its not "something new" to see on Nexus, that modders are leaving their mods un-developed further or updating or bugfixing it because of RL, which im pretty sure are mostly because they have a job they need to tend to, simply because they needed the job for living.

 

now, im NOT against what Nexus stands for. i highly-regard Nexus for it's "non-exclusivity".

and all of the mods in my games(DA:Origins, DA2, Oblivion, Skyrim, FO3, FONV), were downloaded from Nexus.

but, as i stated above, we should leave it to the individual (modders). IMHO.

 

peace. :)