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

[pnar]

I feel that there is room for both if done properly. I was always disappointed that Bethesda only produced a few DLC's and then practically abandoned the game for 4 years when they released another completely stand-alone game. I wanted a way to motivate them to produce more DLC's. They had a video when Skyrim was released that showed what their developers could do in a single day, and that was amazing. But none of that was released.

 

Getting paid Mods to work along side free Mods will be difficult, but I do feel that restricting free Mods in favor of curated Mods would make things worse. I have almost 3000 hours playing Skyrim now, and I was not even going to buy the game when it came out. I got it for Christmas and the Mods have made it both tolerable and kept things interesting enough for five complete play-throughs so far. I hate the level-balancing of opponents for example, I feel like I am not advancing until I hit about level 40 because roaming wildlife can still kick my ass. Encumbrance is tedious, so I just modav carryweight 7500. There is no way to have all your alchemy ingredients stored and still use them. Stores never carry anything that you cannot find in the field or make yourself. Mods allow us to overcome these limitations and tweak the game to be more realistic to our own opinions.

 

I have purchased all DLC's though, and want to see more. Many of the big independent Mods could use just a bit more to make them professional in my opinion. Mostly the voices do not sound right to me. I think that they need a sound studio that matches what the other characters were voiced with. Professional voice actors would be great, and maybe paid Mods will bring that. Serana sounds awesome, but I've never heard a Mod actor sound nearly as good.

[pnar]

In response to post #24083444.

If these curated Mod authors knew that they were building a Mod for money, then they would know that they need to follow copyright. And only respected authors should be accepted into the curated store to begin with, so there should be very little overlap. Getting into the curated workshop should require a contract that indemnifies Valve and Bethesda if the Mod Author has stolen any content. It should also require that the authors maintain their Mod and make changes and updates when required, be it compatibility or copyright concerns. At least for a certain time period, say one year or until the next Elder Scrolls game is released maybe.

Amazon was already bit with consumer lashback when they removed an ebook from consumers' Kindle's. Amazon maybe should not have sold it, but that does not give them the right to take it back after the sale.

[Arthmoor]

In response to post #24081879.

Look at it this way. If such a system comes into being on the Workshop and mods can be sold, it'll be useful as a test case to prove to Microsoft and Sony that mods would be viable on the consoles as well.

I wouldn't expect console mods to become a thing for Skyrim since both of those platforms are now obsolete. It would be more likely to see it happen for FO4 (and TES VI later) on the new generation if it happens at all.

[jim27]

Hmm. Well, I disagree on a couple of your premises. There isn't a finite amount of money, for one, either in the world economy or in peoples' pockets. If I were a kid again and I found out that I could enhance all of my favorite games far beyond what they already were, I wouldn't mind getting a few odd jobs to earn that money. The money in our pockets is finite, but our income is usually flexible. Even when our income isn't flexible, our expenses usually are. A teenage kid can still choose whether to pay $10 for a movie ticket or $10 for one or two awesome mods. People who really don't have a choice are probably struggling to buy a $60 game and own a good gaming rig to begin with.

 

Second, you don't mention the positive feelings that money can bring. Everything you said is definitely going to happen, but there's more to it than that. Being able to earn an income from modding encourages modders to do even more of it, encourages them to keep going when they might otherwise have given up. Modding is a work of passion... right now, it's ONLY a work of passion. It requires sacrifice of time and sometimes other things. Life can kill that passion in a million ways, especially when your work isn't justified by income. Just look at how Patreon affected Minecraft modders. Many projects were revitalized rather than being abandoned, including major mods that have been around for a long time.

 

I think the positive force of income and competition will be better than the negative, just like it is in nearly every case. People who will compare their income to others and get mad about it, well, that's the same kind of person that does this in the other parts of their life.

 

It's fair to say that the "purity" of modding might get sullied a bit once money is introduced, but the end result will be a much stronger, more varied and vibrant community than if it just remains a hobby. And the hobby won't go away.

[ImsumDave]

I've been making mods for a while now. I started small back in Oblivion, when I didn't have a clue how to model. Modding was a secondary thing to 3d modeling. I used modding as a driving factor to motivate me to see a model through to the end.

 

I have always been interested in mods. I downloaded many a mod for Oblivion and Skyrim. Unfortunately, I was bit late to the party for Morrowind, playing it a couple years after it's release on a sligthly smashed xbox. It's still my favourite of the series.

 

I've never considered the possibility of making money off of modding. Even with the donate button, I have yet to receive a single penny for my mod work. I never expected to and it's not why I do it. However, if the opportunity arouse, I think it would be stupid of me to not take advantage of it. It's true that the thought does make me feel a bit uncomfortable. Money complicates things. At the moment, I like how things are and I wouldn't mind if they stayed that way.

 

[Anasctazia]

In response to post #23836199. #23839154, #23845829, #23853369, #23858174, #23858619, #23868714, #23869794, #23870749, #23874494, #23889664, #23897239, #23907889, #23916764, #23947279, #23954734, #23963714, #23965734, #23966599, #23968049, #23982619, #23991979, #23996044, #23996969, #24003409, #24065404, #24074259 are all replies on the same post.

deleted Edited April 6, 2015 by Anasctazia

[jchaosmaster]

The part that scare me is that because I see this as a triple sided Knife then a double edge sword. Modder's do deserve something for there work. I have had to replay Skyrim more then once because "Vilja in Skyrim" by Emma Amgepo Lycanthrops. You can feel all the hard work the people that made her put into it. Almost to the point that All follower mod's are measured against it. But if they put a financial gain to it we would never see something like Gabby the Cute Pastry Chef Companion by squ1g9y. Only because they couldn't see it "Earning" enough to warrant the release of it. Then you would have where people try to hard to get denied and so you would never have something like Convenient Horses by Alek. Which put Mounted combat into the game where it was never meant to have it.

 

If a Modder puts/asks for a donation after they released it for that money to then be used to continue the growth of the mod and maybe pay the eclectic bill that month then that's all well and good. But if vale plans/hopping to turn mod's into their DLCs then I see only grim things for all.

[1erCru]

How much money are you making off modders?

 

I mean you have a paid position promotion preceding this post.

 

It's really all the same thing, Nexus happens to be sitting smack in the middle of a really good situation, a situation that could easily be turned on its head.

[RGMage2]

In response to post #24081879. #24094574 is also a reply to the same post.

Yes probably true. If they are serious about doing this, then at some point they need to take the first small step and prove that it can work, so the workshop for PC would make the most sense.

[RGMage2]

In response to post #24083444. #24089834 is also a reply to the same post.

Whatever they decide to do, clearly they would need to take a hands on approach and hire the right person to be in-charge of it. Prerequisite for the job would be a suspicious nature and trust no one. On the other hand they have a lot of in-house talent with a depth of knowledge, so maybe not too difficult to put together a list of things to look for and the types of files to flag.

Mistakes will be made, but if they operate with the expectation of making mistakes, and have a plan in place on how to deal with those situations, and it's been vetted by the lawyers, then it is probably manageable.