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

[Elegost75]

Workshop authors can select from a pre-approved list of organizations, users, and toolmakers to receive a percentage of Valve's revenue from sale of their items. The specific organizations and individuals are listed below.

 

TOOLS

BlenderFoundation

Blender is the free/open source 3D creation software for everyone, providing individuals and small teams a complete pipeline for 3D graphics, modeling, animation and games.

Mod Configuration Menu

The Mod Configuration Menu (MCM) for Skyrim is a framework that powers user-friendly in-game customization for hundreds of mods. It represents the free and open UI tools and infrastructure provided by the SkyUI team today and in the future.

COMMUNITIES

Nexus Mods

Nexus Mods is a free to use mod hosting platform built around ease of use, creating a positive community and empowering mod authors to share their work with others. Established in 2001, the site has no outside investment and relies entirely on its users for funding and support.

AFK Mods

AFK Mods is a small modding community dedicated to friendly discussions, cooperation, and having fun while doing it. Our primary focus is on the Elder Scrolls games, but Fallout, Civilization, and other franchise modders are welcome as well.

Polycount

Since 1998 Polycount has been offering video game artists a place to learn, critique, and challenge themselves. If you check the credits to your favorite game, there is a good chance a Polycounter had a hand in it.

 

@Dark0ne are you aware of that?

[BounceDK]

Won't be long before all mods are pulled from nexus to be sold on steam. Oh dear.

[WightMage]

In response to post #24583199.

nnstalker wrote:

I'm down with Patreon. If possible, Nexus integration.

[HellfireJags]

In response to post #24583199. #24583509 is also a reply to the same post.

nnstalker wrote:

WightMage wrote: I'm down with Patreon. If possible, Nexus integration.

There we go, on the right track. Constructive ideas. This is a good one.

[Ramon1]

The SKSE folk have issued an statement:

 

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1516811-discussion-for-workshop-paid-mods-thread-3/page-3#entry23943101

 

[Majahalin]

Appologise for poor English, this is my opinion about this event.

While I support the "support mod authors by paying" concept, Valve's decision will cause much more problem if they don't clarify the rules soon.

 

Aside from "Using contents don't belong to author" , "The cut author gets is too small", "Third party free program"...... etc.

The "problems" I would mention maybe more aligned to TES series:

 

1. Combination use of different mods

If you want to have a immerisve survival experience in Skyrim, you would have a combination of "Forstfall" + "Wet and Cold" + "Realistic Need and Disease" / "iNeed" + "Hunterborn"...... etc.

Want to fight more and tougher enemy? "Skyrim Immersive Creatures" + "OBIS" + "High Level Enemy" + "Revenge of the Enemy" ...... etc.

More weapons and armors ? Just bunch of mods for you to choose as they don't conflict.

By different combinations of mods, we can shift the game we play (Skyrim as example) to game we hope/imagine.

 

While there won't be problem if any of them charge money, as they all are indivial mods, removing/replacing one of them won't cause much trobule.

The problem is: What would happen if authors had some kind of agreement to "cooperate", making different mods but all of them are required to work?

Example: Author A's "mod 1" would have some, or large portion of its freatures not able to work, even cause CTD if Author B's "mod 2" was absent, but there were no any parent/child relation between them, just some scripts to check "mod 2" 's presence and tigger different reactions.

 

2. Conflicts between similar mods:

There are mods which work on the similar or same points of the game (Skyrim as example again), and they conflict each other.

Such as "Deadly Combat", "Ultimate Combat", "Duel - Combat Realism". They work on same things with different concepts and workaround, and they won't work together.

When money is involed, the conflicts between mods could be worse, because not only conflicts about program, but conficts about profits are also involved.

While I appreciate "good" competion by polishing their features, fix the problems...... etc.

I afraid the competion would sink to scamming, Guerrilla Marketing, even creating mods that cripple oppoent's by other account.

Combine with the first problem I mentioned above, this could be a total disaster.

Also, if there were two mods with similar, or even same functions, only differnce between them were the prices,

would Valve favour more to the more expansive one and did some nasty things to the cheap/free one, for maxiumize profit?

 

3. Distributions and Authentications

To counter this policy, some people have claimed to become pirates.

While places like Nexus will surpress these illegal activity, I afraid Valve won't do nothing.

Though Skyrim may be free form it, but would it be any possiblity that the future TES games and others' mods will become only able to distribute at Steam Wrokshop, and create some sort of "checking" to prevent pirate mods and unofficial mods (I mean mods not approved by Beth or Valve at here, NOT unofficial patch)? If true, then another rift will be invoked.

 

All of the above are just my imagination, I just can't be optimistic at this issue, Valve need to clarify and improve thier rules.

[Ramon1]

In response to post #24583199. #24583509, #24583529 are all replies on the same post.

nnstalker wrote:

WightMage wrote: I'm down with Patreon. If possible, Nexus integration.

Hellfire_Jags wrote: There we go, on the right track. Constructive ideas. This is a good one.

With the statement recently issued by the SKSE team, there goes one of the biggest chances of shutting this down early, so I fully agree with you, right now the best thing to do is community wise surround the Nexus and hope for the better.

[Terrahero]

I am not against mod authors getting paid for their work. But it's not all their work all the time, now is it?

 

Looking at the Credits/Thanks in Wet and Cold as well as Arissa, the Wandering Rogue. It is obvious they borrowed other peoples work.

Or the people involved in making the mod through support with things like localization or voice acting.

 

I understand other modders whose work was borrowed into making mods like Wet and Cold and Arissa (just, naming two) gave their approval. But this was an approval given when these mods were free.

 

Modding has been this opensource thing, where modders borrow eachothers work instead of inventing the wheel twice. But now that money is involved this is going to get very complicated.

[truehardlol]

In response to post #24583199. #24583509, #24583529, #24583584 are all replies on the same post.

nnstalker wrote:

WightMage wrote: I'm down with Patreon. If possible, Nexus integration.

Hellfire_Jags wrote: There we go, on the right track. Constructive ideas. This is a good one.

Ramon1 wrote: With the statement recently issued by the SKSE team, there goes one of the biggest chances of shutting this down early, so I fully agree with you, right now the best thing to do is community wise surround the Nexus and hope for the better.

Nexus mods need to create their own Patreon-type foundation system where content creators will put their own goal $ for certain mode or updates.I think this is far more better than that 75% greedy cut.

[phellen]

In response to post #24582509. #24582854, #24583264, #24583329 are all replies on the same post.

EnaiSiaion wrote:

marthgun wrote: calm down now. pandoras box has been opened indeed, we are past the event horizon. the last thing we need is pessimism driving talent into the malevolent embrace of Darth Gaben for a mere 25%.

The situation can be salvaged, its not just you that is feeling burnt about this. Alot of us contributed postively for years to mods. I don't want to see it destroyed by valve.

At least hold out on getting better compensation.

Varegi wrote: That makes sense in the one-person-does-it-all-mods. Yes this whole thing is a bloody gray area... Now what about the issues with bigger mods that involve a lot of people and possibly content from those smaller mods? Copyright stuff and all that.

Yes it is a fact that many don't seem to care about the mods and modders, me included.
Yet isn't it also a fact that modders know that their work would be underappreciated by many, and that there are buttholes around the globe that would whine endlessly on their comments section?

Not expecting an answer from you to these, just throwing some thoughts here for no reason really.

Drive-by compliment incoming:
Apocalypse and Wintermyst are awesome. Sincere thanks for those.

- Not here to offend, sorry if did.

etholas wrote: The words "death knell" come to mind.

Enai is right in that "Community" is the key word that has been missing from this conversation, and maybe that's the key to all of this. Steam is literally banking on money being the drawing factor for modders/users. So maybe The nexus should go the opposite direction and focus on improving the community adding features that make it easy to show modders appreciation and a better way to rate their work and interact with eachother. Besides the mods themselves, Community is probably the main thing that keeps modders coming back again and again, and I think true community is something that is lacking more and more nowadays. The nexus is in a unique position in that it offers more in this area than steam and other modding sites currently do but there's also a lot of room to improve upon this, and it would be a good way to stand apart from what the steam workshop is offering.