Valve/Bethesda announce paid modding for Skyrim, more games to follow

[Aegrus]

I support this. (incoming hatred towards me, I'm sure.) No one is being forced to charge, I see this as more of an issue of modder's rights. If a modder wants to charge for content they created, I can't argue with that. People who hate it seem to be biting the hand that feeds them; they are not owed mods. If they don't want to pay, they don't have to buy. And that being said, I'm sure many mod authors won't charge anyway. Personally I wouldn't charge for any mod that wasn't incredibly well done and large, and even if I charge, it'd be like $1. I'm sure many other mod authors feel the same. I've made several mods, one has over 3000 endorsements, and I wouldn't even charge for that one. But if a modder wants to, it should be their choice.

[tarathx]

I don't know about you guys, but this whole ordeal has reminded me how amazing modders and their work are. You don't know how good you have it until its taken away from you and gone.

 

Any new mods, and updated mods after the Steam workshop fiasco, I've felt a greater need to thank the authors. I know I don't thank many people and usually just fill comment sections with questions or how to work, I apologise, but I truly thank the mod authors and the work they selflessly put out and share.

 

In the end, vanilla skyrim seems so bare, and all the mods I have make skyrim almost never boring. Even a trudge in the wilderness seems so lovely, yet so dangerous.

 

Hopefully this incident doesn't shatter the modding community or set a dangerous precedent...

[boulegue]

In response to post #24584934.

Aegrus wrote:

i think most people are in a "worlds end" mood right now and fear that the whole free modding scene is over

[kingarthurivvi]

In response to post #24584769.

flexcreator wrote:

I go way back on this myself I got the team together for the first ever multiplatform game server for pso http://www.schtserv.com/info.php I can tell you it has been a tradition and a rule for a reason. Donations are the only way mods can work. look at games like dayz that where huge and free then used donations to actually make a good standalone game. the model works, what doesn't work is letting modders turn their backs on those rules without having any consequences for them. Meanwhile making sure those who call them out on their unethical actions with boycotting or blacklisting them face ridicule. That will not do anything but cause this problem to grow. It is healthy to feel betrayed by their actions and they should have some consequence for making money off the backs of the people who gave them the tools, education, and help to begin with.

[gelf2]

The Vitriol and hate expressed in the comments on the workshop paid mods disgust me to the core, most being levelled at the mod authors not Valve or Bethesda I notice. The games industry as a whole is still dealing with the problems of last year's hate rage against women in the industry, why can't they just get over themselves and start being part of the rational human race. This may be just a cash grab by Valve and Bethesda but what right do people think they have to attack authors who have toiled for hundreds if not thousands of hours to bring forth something wonderful to add to our games without, up until this point, any question of making money. To wrap up I have to say THANK YOU to all the mod authors who have made playing these games so much fun well after the vanilla game would have grown stale.

[kingarthurivvi]

In response to post #24584934. #24585039 is also a reply to the same post.

Aegrus wrote:

boulegue wrote: i think most people are in a "worlds end" mood right now and fear that the whole free modding scene is over

this will lead to overly saturated content, and good luck finding help with mods now. Expect tools to be paid for also. I doubt when you look around in a few years your going to find free mods. capitalism has nearly killed freeware gaming mods are now in the sights i doubt this will end well, hence the rule's existence to begin with.

It is quite easy to see the difference between art that is made to make money and art that is made from passion to share. You can see that real easy right now on steams workshop.

[IgnacyOrder]

In response to post #24584359.

coolystguy wrote:

O_O

Seriously I dont know how to respond to that Edited April 24, 2015 by IgnacyOrder

[Sucaru67]

In response to post #24584934. #24585039, #24585134 are all replies on the same post.

Aegrus wrote:

boulegue wrote: i think most people are in a "worlds end" mood right now and fear that the whole free modding scene is over

kingarthurivvi wrote: this will lead to overly saturated content, and good luck finding help with mods now. Expect tools to be paid for also. I doubt when you look around in a few years your going to find free mods. capitalism has nearly killed freeware gaming mods are now in the sights i doubt this will end well, hence the rule's existence to begin with.

It is quite easy to see the difference between art that is made to make money and art that is made from passion to share. You can see that real easy right now on steams workshop.

I am all for modders making money for their work. It's a part of the whole design that is widely overlooked, and other non-conventional hobbies, such as youtube, have addressed to some extent. But god damn, this is not the way to do it, in my opinion. Obviously this is a mixed bag of emotions, but the huge amounts of issues that can arise from this is overwhelming. The biggest problem is the extremely small cut the modder will be taking compared to the cut Bethesda/Valve take. 25%/75% is just degrading to the amount of work put into these mods and is hardly fair. I feel like we'll also be seeing a lot of rehashed content suddenly being sold for money, when it had been previously free for possibly years. There's also the topic of the intricacies of mod reliances and how teams of mods are paid, but I won't get into them.

Likewise, I think it's important to look at the big picture for the future. What's the next step here? Will steam try to monopolize on the mod scene by trying to shut down places like the Nexus on the sole purpose to push all content through their own channels and therefore make more money? I know there's hardly any evidence for this to be the case, but it's a possibility. Steam already tries to force a monopoly on PC gaming as it is, it wouldn't be out of the realm of plausibility.

I think it's important for content creators to make some kind of monetary gain, and I think modding has room for monetary exchanges of some form, possibly even making modding a plausible job in the same way youtube has become plausible in the last few years. I hate leaving this topic without some suggestion as to how that could be achieved, but the best I have is some form of donation system.

[wndyd]

These are just my current thoughts, but who knows what the future will bring. Edited April 24, 2015 by wndyd

[Aegrus]

In response to post #24584934. #24585039, #24585134, #24585229 are all replies on the same post.

Aegrus wrote:

boulegue wrote: i think most people are in a "worlds end" mood right now and fear that the whole free modding scene is over

kingarthurivvi wrote: this will lead to overly saturated content, and good luck finding help with mods now. Expect tools to be paid for also. I doubt when you look around in a few years your going to find free mods. capitalism has nearly killed freeware gaming mods are now in the sights i doubt this will end well, hence the rule's existence to begin with.

It is quite easy to see the difference between art that is made to make money and art that is made from passion to share. You can see that real easy right now on steams workshop.

Sucaru67 wrote: I am all for modders making money for their work. It's a part of the whole design that is widely overlooked, and other non-conventional hobbies, such as youtube, have addressed to some extent. But god damn, this is not the way to do it, in my opinion. Obviously this is a mixed bag of emotions, but the huge amounts of issues that can arise from this is overwhelming. The biggest problem is the extremely small cut the modder will be taking compared to the cut Bethesda/Valve take. 25%/75% is just degrading to the amount of work put into these mods and is hardly fair. I feel like we'll also be seeing a lot of rehashed content suddenly being sold for money, when it had been previously free for possibly years. There's also the topic of the intricacies of mod reliances and how teams of mods are paid, but I won't get into them.

Likewise, I think it's important to look at the big picture for the future. What's the next step here? Will steam try to monopolize on the mod scene by trying to shut down places like the Nexus on the sole purpose to push all content through their own channels and therefore make more money? I know there's hardly any evidence for this to be the case, but it's a possibility. Steam already tries to force a monopoly on PC gaming as it is, it wouldn't be out of the realm of plausibility.

I think it's important for content creators to make some kind of monetary gain, and I think modding has room for monetary exchanges of some form, possibly even making modding a plausible job in the same way youtube has become plausible in the last few years. I hate leaving this topic without some suggestion as to how that could be achieved, but the best I have is some form of donation system.

I agree that a major problem is how this could lead to people creating fake and/or broken and or/horrible mods, and false advertising for a quick buck. And I fear the steam community is probably incapable of policing as they hope, give how many entire broken games get through greenlight. That's probably the main reason I'd just stay on the nexus and do donations; we have enough broken, dishonest mods as is. We really don't need more. Edited April 24, 2015 by Aegrus