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

[phrophet]

I just want to say if the nexus were to bring out a plan like valve i would be all for it! I think mods are pretty much better than the original game its designed for. The only issue i have is i do not trust valve as much as i trust the wonderful people at the nexus so if the nexus ever decides to go this route i am sure more modders would bring their product here! I have done modding and personally its a lot of work and i feel like tons if not all of the mods ever made would be worth buying! I just feel like if i released any of my work i would rather support the nexus!

[EnaiSiaion]

In response to post #24585539.

pacino23 wrote:

Did you play Dota 2?

[Crowing1305]

I could see a system work like this : Mods with a certain star rating ( at least 3.5 out of 5) being able to charge, (every mod starts out at 5 for benefit of doubt) But this would relies upon the community to be honest and one way to keep that in check is to enforce a written review that would be reviewed by a moderator who then can decide rather if to have the review go through or not, To keep folks from abusing the system to make a great mod free when it needs support. The review input could be a pop up after purchase to also keep folks from just giving it a false review without really using it. once a mod drops below 3.5 it loses its right to charge because A. crappy mod B. no real support for released mod unless marked as "discontinued" or "buy as is" this system would force mod authors to either support their charged mod or make good ones. For the authors trying to make a quick buck and marking it "buy as is" well they warned ya and if you still buy a mod marked that then your taking your chance in my opinion. Being able to mark a mod as Discontinued should only be allowed after it as been up for a certain amount of time, not allowed up front and once discontinued no longer be able to charged.

 

Well that's my idea and how a paid system should work, to be honest I agree that if modders want money for their hard work then they should be able to get it and force it if they want, think of it this way, if you have a job and went above and beyond your duties required for your job and they started to expect that from you without giving a raise or promotion how would that make you feel? the principle is slightly different here but still applies. Modders who do honest good work and wish to be paid for it let them, support them. But I do believe crappy work should not be paid for.... would you keep an employee around if they did a crap job? I don't and wouldn't. Also if nexus decides to move forward with a pay system too maybe they can implement an idea like the one i stated above. Its basically a community powered pay system.

[zelazko]

This stinks to high heaven. Bethesda and Valve just destroyed what mods were about.

[LiveOnTheEdge]

In response to post #24581894. #24582039, #24582049, #24582084, #24582119, #24584879, #24585404 are all replies on the same post.

NamelessTed wrote:

akkalat85 wrote: Valve is promoting the view that large content mods should be sold for a price. Whereas before we would release content because we loved to share, now we must decide whether to be taken advantage of, or sell. No they aren't preventing us from releasing mods for free, but they certainly are promoting the opposite idea for the express purpose of lining their own filthy pockets with 75% of your creation's return.

phantompally76 wrote: And who are you to say that if a mod author has been hyping the newest updates for their existing mods for weeks and weeks without telling their endorsers/subscribers that they must pay to download them isn't a HUGE slap in the face to said endorsers/subscribers who have been eagerly awaiting said content?

THAT is why everybody is freaking out over this.

GenBloodhorn wrote: its the reason that the large mods we love will go to the workshop and sell it instead of sharing it free with the community.

The fact that yes, there are good alternative mods, but they cant be as good as those mods. (no offense to mod authors around). and remember, the first batch of corruption included Chesko and Isoku, wonder how many more authors could get corrupted. btw, Im not really mad at Chesko as long as he makes the mods free (wont really care for early access bs).

WightMage wrote: And it wasn't just one author, either.

NamelessTed wrote: You people are using word like "corrupt" is absurd. These people spend a lot of their time on these projects and now they have a reasonable venue to make money off of their hard work if they choose to do so. If you don't find their work valuable then don't pay for it, it is that simple. You don't have the right to the content, and you don't have the right to get it for free.

I have also thought more about the 25% revenue share and don't find it as bad as most people probably think. Realize that in a traditional publishing scenario a developer usually only gets 10-15% of physical retail sales, the rest goes to distribution, retail, license (MS, Sony, Nintendo), marketing, publisher, tax, etc. Getting 25% doesn't sound like much but it is certainly a bigger share than what is already established.

Also, if a mod is actually good and worthy of a few bucks isn't it a great idea that these mod authors could make a living doing this? Instead of only having spare time to work on these mods what if they could do it full time? Imagine if these people didn't have to work a full time job if they didn't have to and they could make more mods or make their current mods even better wouldn't that be better for all of us?

popcorn71 wrote: Its not the moders that are corrupt, its Valve and Bethesda for the way they are handling this whole thing. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Its a precedent that has some rather sinister undertone for how modable games will be approached in the future.

While I'd say 25% is probably a little absurd, just off first impressions. But I do have to say that modders are getting free (or if they're charging, minus the cut, technically) storage, bandwidth, and a storefront on the Workshop. So I can definitely understand there being some cut. As to what's fair, I have no idea. I'm not knowledgeable in that area.

And it's true that the Nexus also provides these things for free, and that's because the owners are bringing in enough money keep this place running. (Maybe?)

[UrGrue533]

Whoever thinks this move by Valve is a good one, is fooling himself. This is just a prime example of corporate greed which almost exclusively benefits the plattform holder Valve and companies that can publish titles which attract a large number of modders.

 

- For those who want to support modders - there is a way: donate.

 

- For modders who want to make a living creating game content: join the games industry or better yet, gather a bunch of talented, like minded people, grab those freely available tools and (almost) royalty-free engines and get to work. It has never been easier to create your own games.

Don't let yourself be exploited by big corporations, who only see you as cheap-labour-DLC-creators!

 

- For modders who don't want to jump onto the DLC-train: your work will be stolen, used in DLC hidden behind a DRM paywall. Watch teammembers quit your team and take their and your work with them and sell it via Vavle's workshop. Fun times ahead!

 

The whole scheme is basically "user created, DRM infested DLC" with no risks or costs to Valve and the publishers. Modding for big titles will significantly change, as the promise of "big money" will have a very negative effect on the willingness to cooperate within the community. Mod and asset stealing will become rampant.

 

I think this marks the beginning of the end of modding as we know it. A shame really, but greed changes people - and not for the better.

[Olurum]

They should've opted for a voluntary donation feature... or even a feature that allows someone to buy things on the mod authors wishlist on steam or something. Anything but this...

Mods will become ' DLC' with unpredictable quality, unknowable lengths of support and the liability of being completely broken by an official game update.

I really hope there will be enough outrage and complaints about this so that the decision is reversed.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Olurum

[cybermitch]

Question, has anyone gone and looked at the mods that are for sale, on the Skyrim workshop and the ones under review for being put up for sale? Most of them seem to be having a go at the pay system and such. So, I am going to guess that most of the mod authors are against it.

[EnaiSiaion]

In response to post #24585729.

Crowing1305 wrote:

Star rating depends on number of votes as well. You need 50 votes iirc to get 4 stars.

Also you can bet I'd give the competition 1 star when they're still trying to get off the ground so they sink lol.

[Musrha]

"I can't be sunning up by the pool fixing/tweaking servers on an 11 inch laptop via SSH with slightly dodgy Spanish hotel internet (no offence, Spain!)"

 

None taken ;)