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

[Phychosis]

Chesko starting charging for his mods, but still says "The first thing I want to point out is that I intend to continue releasing my mods for free on Skyrim Nexus , after a period of time spent exclusive on the Workshop. You will not be locked out of my work." I hope he keeps his word as he is one of my fav modders. People don't attack those who go to the money system though just find new modders to follow and start doing it yourself. I for one have no problem donating to the modders when I can if they set the base price as $0 or pay what you can and go up from 25 cents to 5 dollars. They do deserve money for their time but it shouldn't be about the money it should be about getting their work to as many people as they can and only making money from those who can afford it.

[Burnout122812]

In response to post #24427299. #24436169, #24559099, #24559199, #24559584 are all replies on the same post.

RandomAcronyms wrote:

Zaldiir wrote: Could we please stop tossing around the word "greedy" just because people want a little bit of compensation for their work?

Donseluke wrote: No, its greed, plain and simple. Modders wanna make money? Do what everyone else does. Become a developer.

cplfernandez wrote: Are you serious? A guy spends hundreds of hours making a mod for you which gives you 50+ hours of additional fun on a game and then he asks you for 5 dollars(I'm guessing the mod price will be more like $1 when the system settles) and you call him greedy? No man it's you who is greedy.

Leros wrote: The sense of entitlement some of you people have borders on a personality disorder. Modders do not owe you anything, if they can make a couple of bucks off their work, good for them.

This reminds me of this article http://www.pcgamer.com/gta-4-icenhancer-creator-taking-break-from-modding-after-years-of-abuse/

No wonder some modders don't release their mods to the public at all.

The way people react to this by insulting the modders and saying "I can get this for free on the nexus" is crazy. Of course you get the mod on the nexus, because modders uploaded it here for everyone to enjoy as well.

I don't hate this idea or the modders that are using this method. Modders have a right to do what they want. Just like I have the right to not pay for it. Which is exactly what me and the majority of the community plans on doing. Good luck with trying to cash in on this. Your hobby is not a career. Nobody is forcing you to make mods or update mods or even share your mods. To ask us to pay for it is like having a lemonade stand to make a quick 50 cents. Edited April 23, 2015 by AtirusGaming

[SolidusEkans]

Can't wait for Mods Pre-Order Bonuses... or Mods Paid Early Acess.

[ToxicBrown1]

Its happening now!!

 

You could have stopped this!!

[Deathlocked]

EVERYONE NEED TO START SAVING EVERYTHING LISTED ON THE TOP MODS PAGES

 

ESPECIALLY EVERY FILE USED TO MAKE UP FCOM.

 

SUSPECT EVERYTHING

 

NO ONE IS SAFE.

 

 

[Kokop]

The are only two thing we can do, either the people don't pay for the mods, or modders stop bringing their creations to steam and keep releasing their work in webpages, if either of these two things fail then the modding community is lost and we may as well call mods "DLCs".

[notjustsomecat]

So what about the people who are not greedy? the people who simply can't afford to throw away a few bucks here and a few bucks there? What about the people who simply want to get a mod, play around with it and relax? Just because you can play a game like skyrim doesn't mean you can't be cash-strapped or in a negative financial situation and this should NOT be the determining factor in what mods you are allowed to use or install.

[orcinator]

In response to post #24427299. #24436169, #24559099, #24559199, #24559584, #24559909 are all replies on the same post.

RandomAcronyms wrote:

Zaldiir wrote: Could we please stop tossing around the word "greedy" just because people want a little bit of compensation for their work?

Donseluke wrote: No, its greed, plain and simple. Modders wanna make money? Do what everyone else does. Become a developer.

cplfernandez wrote: Are you serious? A guy spends hundreds of hours making a mod for you which gives you 50+ hours of additional fun on a game and then he asks you for 5 dollars(I'm guessing the mod price will be more like $1 when the system settles) and you call him greedy? No man it's you who is greedy.

Leros wrote: The sense of entitlement some of you people have borders on a personality disorder. Modders do not owe you anything, if they can make a couple of bucks off their work, good for them.

This reminds me of this article http://www.pcgamer.com/gta-4-icenhancer-creator-taking-break-from-modding-after-years-of-abuse/

No wonder some modders don't release their mods to the public at all.

The way people react to this by insulting the modders and saying "I can get this for free on the nexus" is crazy. Of course you get the mod on the nexus, because modders uploaded it here for everyone to enjoy as well.

AtirusGaming wrote: I don't hate this idea or the modders that are using this method. Modders have a right to do what they want. Just like I have the right to not pay for it. Which is exactly what me and the majority of the community plans on doing. Good luck with trying to cash in on this. Your hobby is not a career. Nobody is forcing you to make mods or update mods or even share your mods. To ask us to pay for it is like having a lemonade stand to make a quick 50 cents.

Beth/Valve are the greedy ones, I'd support an integrated tipping function for modders but putting a price tag on stuff will just damage the community. And it's obvious why they're going this route since this allows them to take a cut from every mod purchase.

[Thaiauxn]

Even if it comes to Fallout New Vegas, I won't be charging for my mods. There's no point. In my eyes they shouldn't qualify. not enough of the assets are proprietary.

 

I do advocate for a pay what you will system though, and making the donation key more obvious. Just like was mentioned by Mil in the private forums, a reminder, just like the endorsement reminder, would be nice.

 

"Thank you for your endorsement! Did you like this mod? Consider donating by clicking here..."

[serveral]

It's kind of sad because looking back to around a decade ago Gabe Newell stood for this kind of stuff, he was against DRM, he was against DLC and making, in general, what should be something fun and a hobby (as gaming, for most of it's time and still for most of it's demographics, has been just a hobby) into a fully monetized business, turning every aspect of it into a service, like running water and electricity, instead of it just being a commodity, something like having a jar of water being displayed in your kitchen, you can either use it for it's purpose or just have it sitting somewhere just to look good, but nevertheless that'd be your choice, not someone else's.

 

I don't know what happened to him, (Gabe) but it's sad seeing a figure as big (no pun intended) as him pretty much abandoning his own old ideals. It's like if Richard Stallman suddenly started supporting proprietary software and stopped caring and mentioning anything related to free, open sourced software.