Encouraging users to donate to authors on the Nexus WITHOUT people resorting to begging

[Rebel47]

 

 

Set up and run a moderated Review page for any and all mods, we could have mod users submitting reviews for mods they use, this would give people more creativeness and it would also shine a much needed light on more and more mod authors. This one could be an extreme pain to initialize as it would probably require more hosting power and would ultimately cost more, still worth a suggestion though.

That may be the understatement of the year. Time is a finite resource. And there already isn't enough of it to go around.

/warning sarcasm follows/ :tongue:

While the moderated review may look like a great idea, we currently support mods for a LOT more than just Skyrim - in fact currently about 173 games. That means that the staff will have to somehow acquire all of these games, and play them each enough to be familiar with their various quirks and play styles - that will take more time than we have - More time than another 30 moderators will have - Just to learn the games. Then, we get as many as a hundred mods here a day - meaning that someone will have to spend a lot of time just downloading and playing new mods. Add in the 115,843 mods we already have and you just took my next 200 years doing nothing but playtesting and writing reviews for mods. Then that number is constantly increasing so we will never catch up. When do we get to sleep? :ohmy:

 

Oh, so you think we should only work with those games you like. And forget about those that other members like? Yeah, that will go over real well with people who like some other games. :pinch: Even if we were to limit this to Skyrim alone - there just isn't nearly enough time to do a reasonable review of every new mod that comes along. How about we allow members to comment on each mod in that mods forum page - that allows anyone to submit their own personal review of any mod they play. And that is exactly the system we have always used. Unfortunately, a lot of members just skip over this obvious place to make and find reviews and just use the mod forum as a place to demand the author change the mod to suit their personal preference. Or just "Your mod sucks." With no explanation of why they think this. :rolleyes:

 

The main reason many mods haven't been covered in a YouTube review is there are just too many mods to do them all. Besides, you don't have the time to watch all of the already existing YouTube review videos anyway. :cool:

 

 

 

I appreciate the input, the original idea was something of a forum that could be policed by someone whereby mod users could post reviews up, but I totally understand the constraints of members and moderators within the website and as such I will continue to try and think up new ways of enhancing the community, what are your thoughts on the other ideas, is there also a way for users to host an outside webpage whereby reviews could be posted up and linked to the mod in question.

 

I understand that at present a lot of members don't use the mod pages for what they are currently designed for and that is a problem that cannot be fixed by myself or anyone else except the people who are doing so. I am just trying to offer any and all help I can in furthering the longevity of this great community.

[bben46]

We really do appreciate feedback. :thumbsup: At present, I have not formulated any specific opinions on the other suggestions. But the rest of the staff will also see them and some of them may have ideas.

[Stunami]

I'm just happy knowing ideas are being listened to. I want to support modders, but I don't want to do it simply because their content is locked behind a pay wall. Feels too impersonal and starts to turn into PSN/XBL/Steam etc.

 

Another idea I had was perhaps gifting users a very small period of premium membership if they donated, or perhaps even giving them access to premium servers for a specific author if they donated enough.

 

e.g.

 

1) You have donated $5 to T3nd0, you have been given three days premium membership as a gift.

 

2) You have donated $50 to Apollodown, we have given you access to all premium servers across Apollodown's files for life.

 

These are just examples and most definitely would require tweaking to be feasible, but they're nice little incentives to donate to specific authors. Whether Dark0ne would be up for it or not I have no idea, as in his Totalbiscuit interview he said he didn't want to handle exchanges of money between users.

[Thandal]

As you noted, Indraroh, the problem with that last suggestion is that it would require the Nexus to keep bank, or at least score.

 

Dark0ne has been adamant that he does NOT want to even know who is contributing, much less how much. Donation transactions stay between the player and the author, with the Nexus merely "introducing" them, then stepping aside to allow whatever payment scheme to do its thing.

[Stunami]

While I'm sure he has his reasons for not wanting to know who is donating to whom, I feel it's one of the barriers that is preventing people from donating as much as they possibly could.

 

I know it's meant to be donating, to be done out of good will and you shouldn't expect a reward out of it other than knowing you supported somebody, but I find most people aren't interested in that kind of system. I learned that the hard way working in a charity shop. People will however donate if it's seen as a competition with (optional if you want to be known) names and ranks, or if there's even just a teeny tiny little reward for doing so.

[Thandal]

If "I can't get recognized for it" is why some people don't donate to the author of a mod they feel deserves it...

Well! I don't even want to know them. :no:

 

Once you make anything a "competition", (and anytime you "keep score", some will see it as a competition) especially if it involves real money, it becomes very different.

Very. Different.

 

Just look at how much rage there is in other communities over the micro-transactions that allow some players to purchase better gear than those who can only afford the vanilla game! And obviously those with more disposable income could donate lots more than those with less.

 

Do you really want that kind of classism spilling into the Nexus? We have already had some who thought that their Premium status meant their opinions should matter more than those of others.

[sunshinenbrick]

All apologies but I took this whole idea as "an idea" and that it could be built upon. I think a more personalised approach from Beth is a really great opportunity. While I do not like the idea of hundreds of thousands of "micro mods" I feel the collective garnering of passion and culture into the nominations of BIG mods (SkyUI, SMIM or Falksaar, for example) into becoming fully supported Bethesda projects is not always a bad idea.

 

People like to feel they are a part of something, even if they are "not". It also will usually lead to people being a great deal more likely to donate/buy if they feel like it is something they can connect with something beyond just the clicking of a mouse.

 

But that's just me.

[Thandal]

@ssb; If I understand your point correctly, then maybe I see a middle ground; a scroll that says "Mod Donor". No identification of which mod(s) or how much, but an acknowledgement that the member contributed monetarily to the Author Community. :mellow:

 

NOTE: This would have to replace the current "Premium" or "Supporter" one if a member already had that, since the IP Boards software only allows one.

[sunshinenbrick]

This is definitely something I would support the further development of. If at all possible the titles could change (like the Enthusiast, Fan, Old Hand etc...) as you gain more experience and knowledge within the communtity.

 

It would also be nice for younger (poorer) people, who do not have much money sometimes, to earn points by being helpful to authors. The authors could then "endorse" this member. Once the member gets, say, 250 of these they go up a level. It would be this encouraged feeling of, if I support I am actually gaining something back.

 

I do not know the technical implementation of this but I feel it will help to create a stronger atmosphere of "we can all contribute".

[Stunami]

If "I can't get recognized for it" is why some people don't donate to the author of a mod they feel deserves it...

Well! I don't even want to know them. :no:

 

Once you make anything a "competition", (and anytime you "keep score", some will see it as a competition) especially if it involves real money, it becomes very different.

Very. Different.

 

Just look at how much rage there is in other communities over the micro-transactions that allow some players to purchase better gear than those who can only afford the vanilla game! And obviously those with more disposable income could donate lots more than those with less.

 

Do you really want that kind of classism spilling into the Nexus? We have already had some who thought that their Premium status meant their opinions should matter more than those of others.

Personally I'd argue even if lots of people are donating to authors for the wrong reasons, it's still a better outcome than very few people donating for the right reasons which seems to be the current situation on the Nexus.

 

Knowing others are donating and seeing it happen can also help nudge others into actually making a donation.