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

[Thandal]

The "Pay-what-you-will" model is an EXCELLENT idea.

One that (I think) meets (almost) everyone's criteria.

Except Valve's.

[DavidJCobb]

In response to post #23777014.

It doesn't even necessarily have to be bugs. If people download a mod and find something they don't like, that alone could be enough to kick off a firestorm. Two years ago, people harassed and threatened a Call of Duty: Black Ops II designer en masse because he slowed a gun's firing rate by 0.2 seconds. They attacked him over a fractional-second fix.

[anubispriest]

I would have a hard time paying for a mod, a very hard time, unless there was a trial time involved like 7 days or something.

 

Why do I download mods? Two reasons: Primarily to get the "unofficial" fixes and bug/glitch repairs left over in a game. Second, to either help me learn to mod or to get mods that do what is beyond my abilities.

 

My history here at Skyrim Nexus shows I downloaded 105 mods while I have kept and still use 50 of them: only 18 of them have .ESP files (so the other 32 are meshes, textures and sounds replacements only), and 10 of the 18 I downloaded to fix/de-bug/repair issues I feel are in Skyrim (the Unofficial Patches for example). That leaves only 8 that are for enjoyment and game immersion to do what I cannot mod myself (like Helgen Reborn, etc).

 

That makes me a very "light" mod user I believe, but the mods I use I am not sure if I could play the game without them; and I could not imagine having to pay for an unofficial patch to find out it "breaks" the game more than it fixes. Here on the Nexus I can test out the mod, run it through its paces, try and see the great work the author did for myself in the CK... and then donate if I wish.

 

Lastly, I do know how to mod to some limited extent: occasionally I will "tweek" an author's mod to suit my game play or the "role play" I am doing with my current game's character. I don't see the harm in downloading someone's awesome follower and tweeking an outfit or changing the display name to better suit the game I am playing. I would be afraid that in ensuring mods were paid for the system to do this might "lock me out" of those mods.

 

Overall, I prefer the donation system.

 

p.s. Thank you to all the modders out there I have downloaded: I always endorse every one I use, vote for the better ones and occasionally donate to the best. Thanks again!

Edited March 27, 2015 by anubispriest

[Pixeldust]

Paid mods? If I wanted to pay for custom content, I'd go back to playing the Sims. If Bethesda joins in on this, I officially am never buying an Elder Scrolls game again, nor a Fallout game. If I wanted to pay more than once to have fun, I'd play an MMO.

 

I guess it's a good thing I have the mods I like on a portable drive, as while I love mods, they certainly are not taking any of my money.

 

I'm not a modder, but if I ever was, I definitely wouldn't charge for content, I'd give to the community to help make it better. When modders discover things, the whole community benefits from it, by learning interesting things they wouldn't of been aware of otherwise. Putting this in, will ruin this in a way.

 

Regardless of how people decide to distribute their stuff, I'm going to only use the free stuff rather than give Valve any money, along with even modders for that matter. I appreciate what they give the community, but not enough to pay out of my own pocket. I need money for more important things, like college, food, and living expenses.

[NeoNord]

An intriguing topic. I have done MMOs and at first they were fun but people starting bringing money into the games other than the purchase price or monthly fees. People would buy their experience and the accompanying power it brought you in the game and there were and are businesses (often in Asia) that paid people to play the game and amass skills,points,in=game money or whatever that would then be sold for real world money. The MMOs became a way for people to achieve status (in their own mind) It spoiled MMOs for me and I think a great many other people. But there are always new players, many of them young who apparently still use games to achieve some kind of status. I say apparently because I am no longer young so I don't really know what is floating their boat. I was pleased when Skyrim first came out because it avoided many of the MMO pitfalls and had superior graphics and an interesting story line. The DLCs were also good with the additional story lines etc Then I learned about modding and all the things that were available. I use mods for multiple reasons but mainly to keep the game fresh and introduce new aspects. I have spent many happy hours in Skyrim. The prospect of mods costing real money could really impact the way things are done. There is a plethora of mods out there for Skyrim many of which do nothing more than create big busted followers in ridiculously skimpy outfits that get called armor. I suspect that this is because many of the players are young males. Please note I am not complaining, I think some of the creations are amazing and attractive though I have different taste in body type than many of them. I just differentiate them from mods that create new areas or new quests or both. I also note that they are not in keeping with the "lore" of the game. But I also realize there is plenty of room for both and as a user I get to pick and choose which ones I download and use. In the years that I have been playing the number of mods and the number of modders has increased dramatically. I have no doubts that the people whose main interest in life is to make money (so it seems) will change all this and probably fairly soon. I feel fortunate to have gotten in and experienced what you have described, free and open modding, while it lasted. Sometimes we get lucky and get into something when it starts and that is often when it is most wondrous. I am pleased Nexus will preserve that as long as it can. I fear that the free and open modding may get relegated to the new and inexperienced modders that do it til the exigencies of real life require them to either do it for money or move on to other things. But the technology for games will also change and perhaps this discussion will, as a result of those changes, become irrelevant. In any event you made very good points that can also be applied to other areas of life. I am sure things will change , whether it is better or not is open to debate but change will occur. Again ,I just feel fortunate to have been part of this at this wondrous point in its evolution. I guess I better go back and follow up on the modding tutorials if I want to help preserve this best part of gaming. Edited March 27, 2015 by NeoNord

[NeoNord]

In response to post #23595219. #23595369, #23595554, #23725649, #23781804 are all replies on the same post.

Well said! The only thing is, it seems you are confusing the people who reply in forums with modders/modding. Perhaps I am misreading you but while there is crossover I think forum inhabitees and modders are to a large extent different groups. If you are talking about comments made specifically to a mod in the comments section that is much different than comments in a forum. I was not sure which you meant as there seemed to be aspects of both in your comment. I have not experienced anything like what you have described by submitting comments on a mod but I have seen it in forums and it is one reason I don't bother with the forums much but I have also experienced some extremely helpful people who were quite patient with my lack of knowledge on a number of occasions in he forums.

[NeoNord]

In response to post #23719594. #23737919, #23743949, #23746339, #23751059, #23751089, #23758904, #23759199, #23759404, #23763944 are all replies on the same post.

well and truly said!

[Thandal]

Carrying on with personal attacks over something that happened some time ago (posts now removed) has no place here.

Let's be polite to each other and stick to the topic :armscrossed:

[TehKaoZ]

In response to post #23595219. #23595369, #23595554, #23725649, #23781804, #23812314, #23813704 are all replies on the same post.

The reason this happens is because mod authors and frequent users of mod threads have to deal on a daily basis with people who do not read descriptions, read me's, bold lettered posted stickies, ect. They instead choose in favor of heading to the comments section and demand that someone hold their hand through the process, or complain about stuff clearly mentioned that they didn't bother to read, or worse yet, threaten and insult mod authors over endorsements and votes because their needs were not met.

I have a frequent saying "mod authors are not customer service at Wal Mart". If people come off as "toxic" it is because they are tired of these types of entitled users who post these comments when they get to use a mod authors hard work completely for free. Granted not all comments deserve to be replied to in a hostile manner as some users do try to provide feedback, seek real help and report problems but until you have to sit through hundreds or thousands of comments from entitled users who think you owe them something, I would just give them (the authors) the benefit of the doubt.

Problem I think that could arise now is that if mod's start to cost money, these entitled users will actually be entitled to say whatever they want because "they paid for it". I think that the general appreciation for authors will go down honestly simply because you are now providing a service to people. Edited March 27, 2015 by TehKaoZ

[SoMteam]

When they are done corrupting modding, payed patches will be next. Guaranteed.. Edited March 27, 2015 by SoMteam