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

[JimboUK]

In response to post #23598784. #23599049, #23599254, #23599614 are all replies on the same post.

@EnaiSiaion or doing an EWI and uploading bits of it on a daily basis.

[numeriku]

If you want to make money (not a pathetic 25% cut) from all your hard work, then study/apply to be a video game designer/programmer etc.

If Bethesda allowed such a thing for their games, it would ruin modding. Modders assets? You can kiss those goodbye. The sharing of ideas and/or modding knowledge? Comes with a price buddy; and so on.

 

Oh so wrong… so very, very wrong. I hope Bethesda doesn’t allow such a thing, but my gut tells me otherwise… this is grim news indeed :(

Edited March 19, 2015 by numeriku

[sirname95]

I just want to say, Thank you Dark0ne.

 

Thank you.

 

I've always loved modding as a hobby and nothing more. Having a community where I can mod just for fun will forever be a joy for me. No stress, just peace.

 

If there are other people out there who feel so thankful for what you've done for us, this community, your hard work, Everything, let me just speak for everyone of them and me and say

 

Thank you.

 

:)

Edited March 20, 2015 by sirname95

[fireundubh]

I'd love to make money from my mods. If I could make a living from modding, I'd make more mods more regularly, and keep my mods constantly updated.

 

I hate that EnaiSiaion updates Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim every five minutes, but I am incredibly impressed by his/her dedication! Personally, I have real-world career and professional obligations that put food in my belly, and those obligations will always have priority over modding for that reason.

 

Food is important!

 

—fireundubh

Creator, Master of Disguise - Immersive Disguises for Skyrim

[pleasenoname]

In response to post #23594324. #23595389, #23595539, #23596279, #23597084, #23598029, #23598694, #23598769 are all replies on the same post.

I started using the Unofficial patch for the Bethesda Hi-res textures recently, because I read the entire change log and all the changes seemed appropriate (applying correct path for texture and such).
However, I don't use the other Unofficial patches. Mainly because I like to use the bugs as an opportunity to learn, by fixing them. I'm noticing now that some people are beginning to make their mods dependent on the Unofficial patches. This could lock out many people from playing their mods that don't use the Unofficial patches .

With Monetization there could be a similar issue. Say a mod gets popular and 75% of people decide that it is essential. All of a sudden it must be bought to make some other change.

That already happens with the base game. Not many people want to make multiple versions of a mod with and without the DLC. Which is fine for me because I have the DLC, Some people get the DLC in stages or not at all though. Which is why I like keeping it modular.

[chaptermaster21]

In response to post #23596219. #23596384, #23596664, #23597949, #23599274, #23599649 are all replies on the same post.

I agree with Arthmoor, although what Enai said is true. Even when modding is being done for free, people still compete against each other for the hot file and mod of the month. When money enters the playing field then we can bet our hats that people will use every dirty tactic to get their stuff to the highest list while sinking the rest. That being said i still think that companies might try to utilize some sort of a plan to stop such tactic, the question however remains to what degree,if at all?.

[Natterforme]

I wonder what this sort of system would do to updated mods. If you release a mod and then update the mod an hour later because major bugs were brought to you attention, do people who paid to download the mod have to pay again to download the updated version? Or would the one time payment grant access to all future use of that mod? Its these sort of problems that add money to the mix would generate.

 

-Natterforme

[chaptermaster21]

In response to post #23598479.

Fun part is when that happens it will contribute even more to an already stale gaming market which in turn will contribute to its seemingly ever nearing crash. Lets take notes and think about this for a second, back when the first crash happened at 1985 if i remember right, everything was monetized bad games and consoles filled the gaming market until it bloated and crashed. The same thing is happening now, everything is being monetized and being filled with bad stuff just to squeeze that one extra dollar from the consumers. modders will simply act as dlc makers for the games they work on, sparing developers the time and money to make the dlcs, and that means milking the games even more than before and at 0 cost. Even when problems from said mods (dlcs) arise the developers will simply point their fingers at the modders.

[chaptermaster21]

In response to post #23600774.

Maybe and maybe not. But why worry about this when you make a dlc out of your dlc mod lol. say i release a new land for the next bethesda game and charge people 10$ for it, then shortly after i release (new) updates to said new land and claim its the next big expansion for it and then proceed to charge then extra 5$ for it. An even dirtier modder can do exactly what developers do nowadays, release only 50% of his/her mod for say 10$ then release the rest in pieces for 5$ each.

[Ghostwalker71]

While it is nice to see more companies accepting modding in general it is sad to see that they will be putting a monetary value on it. While I do believe that good modders should get some jink for their efforts I am certain many crap modders will do everything they can to scam the system and gain as much coin for as little effort as they can.

The best of both worlds would be for them to do as the nexus has done, Keeps the mods and all modding efforts free to download and use but allow people to donate to specific peoples according to what the users think is proper and can afford. That way large group effort mods can still be done with ease, allowing the user to donate to each content provider if the provider wishes to accept any monies.

It also allows more people to use and evaluate the mod so that more people are made aware of it and, if it is deserving, then more people will download and use it. As a result there will be more possible chances for donations to the provider/s.

The pay to download scheme, before ever seeing what the mod does, will lead to many unhappy users who are scammed by bad/lazy mods and many unhappy modders who have a much lower exposure and very little payment which will likely lead to them leaving the modding scene.

No matter our opinion though the devil is at the doorstep, paid user content is here and looks like it will be expanding. I think the modding community will be worse off for it over all.