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

[WightMage]

In response to post #23697694. #23763969 is also a reply to the same post.

From what I've seen, this is already the situation with several "AAA" games today: Destiny, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect.

[WightMage]

In response to post #23595219. #23595369, #23595554, #23725649 are all replies on the same post.

No, you're right. Don't be sorry.

[kolostalker]

Bad news for players, good news for modders, charging from $5 to $30 for a cosmetic mod (Dota, cs go)is ridiculous, specially if valve takes 75% of the money, imo a good compromise is that the players pay a subscription $10 a month, and they can download all they want, and the modders gets a monthly check like a regular job

[WightMage]

In response to post #23613924. #23632044, #23644849, #23647209, #23647479 are all replies on the same post.

With some notable exceptioms, not much beyond "dress your avatar like a schoolgirl" or "this expansion has 'new content' that totally isn't a excuse to patch our incredibly unbalanced, rushed, beta-stage game."

[KamSolastor]

Though the idea of being able to donate to a mod author is cool, I don't think paying for mods is the way to go. Valve will just be riding on their work (at a nice 75% cut) - and as other have said, modding for RPGs is a whole lot different than making a hat or a skin, or anything else simple. If Bethesda really wants to make money, announce Fallout 4 :P

[ilDuderoni]

In response to post #23613924. #23632044, #23644849, #23647209, #23647479, #23781994 are all replies on the same post.

If it's legal persecution that's the threat, then modding will return to it's underground roots. Possibly tagging along in the lines of how piracy functions, hiding out and spread over websites in such a convoluted way that no company can properly fight it with any legal force.

As long as modding is a thing 'of the people' then 'the people' will seek to have it remain free, or at least unbound.
The only way this can change is when deception is involved. And seeking prohibition is anything but subtle.

A prime example:
A decade ago, I don't think I can think of any company that approved of nudepatches on their game. And yet they are still being made, steadily.

In fact, some companies are getting aggressive about them, to no avail I will expect.
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/team-ninja-threatens-perverted-dead-or-alive-5-modders/ Edited March 26, 2015 by RJ the Shadow

[Alecu]

What if I do not want the companies to rip off my assets? I mean I make my own stuff and I own my models. Some greedy company should not have any rights over my assets. Even if I include them in their mods.

 

They should pay me money if they want to use my assets for anything that I do not agree with.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Alecu

[TheVampireDante]

What if I do not want the companies to rip off my assets? I mean I make my own stuff and I own my models. Some greedy company should not have any rights over my assets. Even if I include them in their mods.

 

They should pay me money if they want to use my assets for anything that I do not agree with.

 

Your actual models and such are yours by default, they cannot be used without permission - but you there's little you can really do about the company making something of their own in a similar theme or style if they choose, it's been done before in a few occasions.

 

You never know, if some company does like your work that much they may decide to attempt to "buy out" your content fromyou for their exclusive use. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened either.

[Natterforme]

In response to post #23613924. #23632044, #23644849, #23647209, #23647479, #23781994, #23792089 are all replies on the same post.

@Lisnpuppy-

The day a company bans mods for their games on non approved sites (ie ones that are not their own) is the day that 15 new sites pop up to provide that content. Banning something on the internet is the surest way to get people to want to have it. And if no sites sprouted up to fill that void, modders and the community would probably get creative and use a dropbox/mediafire/torrent/other system to spread and share mods if such a scenario were to occur.

A similar situation occured back in 2010 with manga. OneManga, a website for reading manga online, was so popular it was (I think) ~#75 in the top viewed websites list at the time. Manga artists and their publishers tried to crack down on that sort of behavior and threatened to sue OneManga and other sites that were posting that content illegally on their sites. At the end of it, OneManga got the axe ( pretty much no one uses it anymore) but the purpose of cracking the whip was not achieved. Numerous sites sprouted up to provide that content and a simple google search can direct you to any of that content you wish to consume.

Let this be a lesson to the Nexus community. While large sites like the Nexus might be at risk, the ability of a company to control their content once it is online is very difficult. These sort of actions cant prevent someone from torrenting their mods or (more simply) putting their mod on google drive and posting the share link in a buried twitter post or blog.

-Natterforme

[Thaiauxn]

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145595

 

BEND OF BROTHERS is a fun little script for 3DsMax that takes a flat geometry and bends it into a circle, a sphere, or a U shape - lots of options that would otherwise take a long time to create.

 

It is PAY WHAT YOU WILL. You go to the website, type in what you want to pay, and download. If you type 0, it's free, fully featured, and there you go.

 

It just passed 2000 sales. Got the email this morning thanking me for my 5$.

 

It conflicts with two other plugins, and will not work on Max 2014 or Max <2010. Dumb folks didn't read the read me. You know what the author did? Fixed the conflicts.

 

I'm saying that if you let professionals make mods, as the title of this thread suggests is the big division (modding as a hobby versus modding as a career,) that the same scruples that Lextripper uses would apply here.

 

If the only reason we want modding to be an exclusive hobby is because it excuses mediocre performance and behaviour, well that's just a terrible thing to say. It sounds prejudiced against professionals and ingratiating while still patronizing of hobbyists. It effectively aborts what could be a beneficial marketplace of ideas and opportunity before it has a chance to iron out the bugs. It sounds dismissive and spiteful towards the modders that poured their souls and risked all to make a great mod already. Worst, it makes villains of people that have sacrificed so much to bring us mods for free for two decades, saying we're greedy and lazy and all we want is to hunch over our territory and profit from our poor users.

 

That isn't true, and we all know it. Modders would do anything to make this community happy and better. We know that some modders will do extreamly well, that they produce Top 100 results only out of 20,000~40,000 others who 'many not do as well. If there was a reward for that, even if it's pay what you will, then this "hobby" could do as equally well as "career hobbies" like cosplay, miniatures, cars, bikes, 3DsMax Plugins, After Effects Plugins, Photoshop brushes... 95% would still be totally free of charge. The next .8% pay what you will, and .2% pay only. That's not the end of the world. It's the equivalent of the Top 6 mods on each nexus being pay, and the next 24 being pay what you will.

 

If the reasons for not doing something that could be beneficial is:

 

People will complain.

People will be stupid.

People will be lazy.

People will steal.

People will not cooperate.

People will be obstinate.

People will be greedy.

People did it poorly already.

It'll only benefit a few at the top.

Bad things might happen.

The gods will be angry.

We can't change the law.

It'll be hard.

I'm not good enough.

It'll cause strife.

It'll cause arguments.

It hasn't been tested.

It hasn't been done.

 

Then you'd better believe that we'd all still be sitting in a cave grunting at each other with disdain around a dying campfire, watching as the darkness swallows our dwindling species.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Thaiauxn