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

[nesbit098]

Not everything is about money. f*#@ that. The joy of this site and modding is the good nature of the users, site owner, and mod makers. Money is a tool we have to endure in our every day lives and is a trap designed to enslave and divided us, as it is already doing in this thread.

 

UGC will destroy the 'heart' of this site and modding in general; bringing petty issues of greed, jealousy, claims and counter claims of ideas, mods, etc to the forefront of peoples consciousness .

 

Robin should resist this change if it comes with all his might. We should resit this as users too.

 

Sure a few quid is nice some might make loads of dosh. But what will we lose. A f*#@ing lot I say. This might be a online community, some might argue not as important as ones day to day life in the real world. Not as important as a pocket full of 'pretty green'. But I would strongly disagree; I guess it depends where you sit within side yourselves doesn't it. For me unity through a shared enjoyment of gaming is one of the best past times after family and music. I am astounded by the creative and friendly environment of the users of this site.

 

And as for free mods that is not a dirty word. All I ask is that people endorse or acknowledge my mods depending on the case. The shared experience of having a guy or girl from another part of the world who enjoys my mods rocks my boat and does it for me. I do not need a buck.

 

If and when UGC comes watch what will happen very quickly. We will lose the essence that makes this world so special. I for one hope that day doesn't come but alas we live in a world of greed and self indulgence, so I guess I might as well prepare for another good thing f*#@ed up.

 

Long Live The Nexus

 

P.S I am a skint farther. But that's OK.

 

Nesbit098

Edited March 25, 2015 by nesbit098

[lumosriddles]

In response to post #23750734.

I'd love a pledge option! I'm not a modder but I hold great respect for modders for their work, it has made gaming much more enjoyable.
That said, I'm a student and have next to no money most of the time, but of course, if there was a pledge option and I had the money, I would gladly give some.

[nesbit098]

In response to post #23750734. #23762649 is also a reply to the same post.

Not a bad idea? Yeah that could work..... Edited March 25, 2015 by nesbit098

[Ithlia]

In response to post #23719594. #23737919, #23743949, #23746339, #23751059, #23751089, #23758904, #23759199, #23759404 are all replies on the same post.

Well said Shezrie

[AstralBlade480]

In response to post #23697694.

Here! Here! I agree completely. Essentially this "locks out" certain knowledge about modding as those who seek to make a profit will undoubtedly hoard tips or not-so-general-knowledge in an effort to thin the competition. Also it would probably demoralize new modders as their mod might be good, but not "good enough to pay for" and they realize such an investment of time is not a good use of their skills.

Also, the scent of money to opportunists is like a rotting carcass to vultures and there's not much difference between the two. I see modders forming their own businesses where they "capture" new talent and have them sign contracts to prevent them from releasing any freelance material or sharing any "secrets" they learned. How many people do you think are going to decline when they realize they can start getting paid by the hour for modding? When it becomes a part-time or full-time job?

Some games are already made intentionally "half done" with the intent to have people pay more money through DLC. What happens when a company realizes it can sell a half broken game and then have its "modding team" get paid for fixing it? Things like this WILL happen when companies realize they can bilk you for your money at the front door and the back door on your way out. Edited March 25, 2015 by AstralBlade480

[Gracinfields]

Got a feeling their doing this to set a precedent for their up coming games, this way people are use to it and a stepping stone for future changes.

[DeltaE93]

This situation conjures images of a spider in a minefield. With all those legs something is bound to end poorly. Using say, Skyrim, as an example, say I were to buy MOD-A, and then went and bought MOD-B. All is well, BUT WAIT, MOD-A and MOD-B are not compatible! Now if I had downloaded this for free, then I have my the choice of letting the Author(s) know, and if they so desire, they can see what it would take to make them compatible. Option 2, i simply disable Mod-A or B, and go on my merry way.

 

The Mod author(s) have no obligation to make these compatible, but if I bought them, should I be entitled to be able use mods I have spent hard earned money on as I want to and with whatever else I want to use them with? And who would be responsible to ensure this compatiblity? Valve? The game's developers? The mod authors, and if so, which one? Seems a slippery slope to me, and I'd just as soon stay away from that precipice...

[fftfan]

I've been thinking about this, and I'd say that charging for mod content might be ok if:

The mod is on the level of a small scale but high quality and well received official DLC.

An example of a mod I would be willing to buy would be this, a FF XV Combat overhaul: Outfits for each main party member in FFXV, each member available as an NPC partner, some of their well known weapons recreated and their special abilities recreated through scripting. Warp strike, Armiger, Knightsguard, Armiger special warp strike combo. Relevant particle effects recreated. Very high quality.

[Lgm1]

It works for Team Fortress 2 and DotA 2 but it'd never work for Skyrim.

 

Why?

 

Bugs. You don't get bugs in hats. But Skyrim mods? Throw money into that mix and it could get very nasty very fast.

 

When you start charging for a mod it stops being a mod in the traditional sense and becomes a product, along with all the expectations that's saddled with. I've read enough comment sections to see how demanding and unpleasant people can be over completely free mods provided out of the goodness of the author's hearts. Just picture how awful that could get when they paid for a mod that doesn't work, or that has a compatability issue that's not the author's fault but the buyer blames the author...

 

There's too much that can go wrong with Skyrim mods to sell them. 3D modelling and texturing? That you can monetise fairly safely. Coding and scripting? Unless the dev team heavily tests every mod they accept inside out, monetising that is a time bomb.

[WightMage]

In response to post #23773924.

Sadly, even if such a mod were created, it could not be monetised due to copyright.