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

[GreenSamurai01]

In response to post #23719354.

Thanks for the reply.

[Arthmoor]

In response to post #23607584. #23645249, #23647084, #23650264, #23653244, #23663254, #23664754, #23703214 are all replies on the same post.

It's not the fault of the language in this case though. The language is clear. It's the rabid anti-copyright-on-anything-at-all crowd that insists it says things they know damn well it doesn't. You know the type. "It's on the internet, therefore I can do as I please with it." Usually go hand in hand with pirates who refuse to pay for the games they're running all the mods on so you'll never convince them that they're utterly wrong about the issue of ownership and licensing rights.

[DrakeTheDragon]

In response to post #23607584. #23645249, #23647084, #23650264, #23653244, #23663254, #23664754, #23703214, #23721714 are all replies on the same post.

Every discussion about it is futile in fact.

I for one will a) stick to the facts I learned from Bethesda first hand in the past, and b) turn a blind eye on everybody else trying to tell me differently.

You can misread the EULA every way you want, ignore any rights or ownership of authors about their work, it won't matter. You're still opposing the ones who wrote the EULA to begin with.

Feel free to pointlessly discuss this topic all you want. It was already done for over 20 years or longer and it is still done as of now. But at the end of the day point b) still applies. Have fun.

[trainwiz]

In response to post #23703649.

People have tried already to do mod kickstarters. Let us simply say they don't end well.

[sirchet]

In response to post #23607584. #23645249, #23647084, #23650264, #23653244, #23663254, #23664754, #23703214, #23721714, #23723294 are all replies on the same post.

I believe DrakeTheDragon has said the most intelligent thing I've ever heard when talking about EULA.

Thank you for that. Edited March 24, 2015 by sirchet

[RoyBatterian]

In response to post #23672494. #23673089, #23687309, #23699549, #23700364 are all replies on the same post.

A comment I made at the end of a post addressing other concerns.

Others (including you) can't resist it, and most go on a tirade about it.

Sorry I mentioned it, and I won't make the same mistake again.

[sirchet]

In response to post #23595219. #23595369, #23595554 are all replies on the same post.

"Live to be Happy". Beautiful. :)

[MrTastix]

As far as I'm concerned the market will decide. That's what a free market is for.

 

I believe authors should be allowed to ask for payment. If I was doing voice over work or concept illustrations for a mod I'd certainly be looking at payment, and many people would argue I deserve that, so why shouldn't a programmer?

 

In terms of copyright infringement I don't see it much different to YouTube or Twitch, two platforms we use to broadcast other peoples creations but make money off all the same. It's not the game we're making money from, it's our display of it. For mods, it's the addition to the game we've created that is worth the price.

 

I don't think paid-for mods would stifle the community anymore than triple A games from big name publishers ruin the indie industry. There'd still be hundreds of would-be modders who don't want to charge big bucks for their creations, who either find development fun or want to start a portfolio and feel video games are a great way to do it.

 

In many cases the only difference between a modding team and a game dev team is what they're creating, the work involved is just as real, yet we'd have no problem paying for the latter. Why is paying for the former strange?

 

The biggest hurdle will always be intellectual property and copyright laws, however. You might be able to pay for the work involved but charging for an addon itself is a whole new can of worms.

Edited March 24, 2015 by MrTastix

[Ghatto]

In response to post #23711399. #23717184 is also a reply to the same post.

It's not a mod.

It's a remake. Using your logic, Skyrim is just a massive full-conversion mod for Oblivion.

[phantompally76]

I can count on one hand the number of mods on Nexus (or on Steam, for that matter) that I would pay any quantity of money to download and install.

 

The real problem with this initiative is that 99.9% of the mods out there are in no shape to be "marketed" for sale, for any number of reasons, including;

 

1). Still in alpha/beta testing stage after 3 years of development

2). Unfinished/abandoned/no longer supported

3). Require 1 to 5 other mods to function

4). Imbalance core gameplay to such an extent as to make the games unplayable

5). Cause more issues than they alleviate

6). Contain copyrighted materials beyond the scope of the games themselves (including superheroes, popular film franchises, and other video games, for example)

7). Are filled with dirty/wild edits, or bad scripting that causes save bloat

8 ). Ambitiously overreach beyond the capabilities of the game engines, resulting in frequent CTDs

9). Contain assets created by other mod authors (who would most certainly expect a piece of the pie if any money were to change hands)

10). Were created and exist solely to offend as many individuals as possible

11). Contain adult content (when you start charging a fee for adult content, you cease to be an amateur modding community and become......something else entirely)

12). make very minor changes to individual textures, items, spells, quests, furniture placement etc.

 

The only way I could see any sort of monetization on fan-made mods working would be a strict (and draconian) QA process, leaving only the well-made, well-tested, polished, sanitized and professional-quality mods to be monetized. However, this would only serve to divide and/or alienate the modding community; it might result in better, more stable mods across the board, but it would also result in bitter claims of favoritism, discrimination heavy-handed censorship, and the loss of artistic freedom. It would also result in a steep drop of overall interest in the hobby.

 

All that said, I don't want mod authors to think that I don't appreciate their work and their efforts; I most certainly do. I'm just not comfortable paying money for the privilege of TESTING incremental, custom changes (that may or may not even work correctly with my individual hardware/software) to a game I've already paid for.

Edited March 24, 2015 by phantompally76