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Steam and Bethesda remove paid modding from Skyrim Workshop


Dark0ne

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In response to post #24742594. #24742759, #24742849, #24742924, #24742934, #24743009, #24743059, #24743149, #24743254, #24743299, #24743359, #24743449, #24743474, #24743514, #24743524, #24743584, #24743604, #24743624, #24743724, #24743739, #24743769, #24743774, #24743884, #24743929, #24743984, #24744049, #24744139, #24744159, #24744279, #24744479, #24744519, #24744574, #24744719, #24744789, #24744794, #24744929, #24744964, #24744989, #24745004, #24745054, #24745174, #24745279, #24745339, #24745449, #24745494, #24745729 are all replies on the same post.


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The "should we pay for mods" argument went through the sims community like hot fire about five years ago now, too. When certain modders started to hide their content behind "donations" (in other words, you had to donate said amount to get their content).

The debate was long, it was hard. We got pirate sites. People were hacked. People were run out of their homes. Yeah hard to believe about the people who play sims of all things right?

Well people didn't like that what we were doing as a community was going to benefit a few select. We had modders who did it for fun, and we had modders who did it for gain. Needless to say it ended up with EA stepping in and now all mods are free. We can finally have a proper community again where things are done in the spirit of fun and community, not in the spirit of money and undercutting and entitled customers.

If you don't do it for fun and you feel you should be compansated (honestly, the idea that you feel you need to be compansated for CHOOSING to do a certain thing with your own game is absurd to me) then in my honest opinion I don't think you should continue. You're obviously not doing it because it brings enjoyment to you anymore.

I don't mod in the skyrim scene but I mod in the sims scene and I do it for fun. I do it because I feel like I want a certain thing in my game and then I share it with my friends because they might want it too. The concept of money wasn't even an idea before Beth and Valve came rushing in, yelling at the top of their voice. Now we have modders left right and center that feel they're owed something. That they deserve compansation for what they're creating.

People spend hundreds, thousands of hours writing fanfiction, do they demand pay for that? No. Why? Because they did it for fun. They don't expect to get compansated for doing something in the spirit of the community.
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In response to post #24745044. #24745229, #24745464, #24745559, #24745634, #24745674 are all replies on the same post.


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@ ChizFoShiz entitlement works both ways. For nearly 2 decades we've had a community that had no issues with creating content without guaranteed monetary incentive.

Money absolutely corrupts thought process and this is a perfect case study of that social phenomina.
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Yes, like many, I am very pleased (and a little shocked) by this outcome. I mean, Holy Crap - it's like we blew up the Deathstar or something!

 

But... this whole ruckus the past few days really got me thinking about mod authors and all the time and work they put into their hobby. OUR hobby, even if most of us are just gamers and mod users like myself. I mean, mods and the modding community was one of the major reasons I left consoles and became a PC gamer.

 

So, I would really like to see the donation option pushed more to forefront on this and other modding sites. I know some mod authors wouldn't except donations and that's fine, but maybe in that case the money could go to site upkeep or maybe to charity.

 

All I know is that there are some mods that I just can't or won't game without now, and not necessarily for straight forward, utility reasons. Some of the mods I use I really do consider works of art and I wouldn't mind showing my gratitude - beyond the usual "thank you" posts and the endorse button.

 

Live long and game well!

 

SHAZAM!!!

 

EDIT: When I spoke of "this outcome", all I meant was Valve and Bethesda actually listen to, and responding to the gamer community voice - I wasn't talking about any kind of user vs. modder conflict. In fact, I wasn't even aware of anything like that (I had to work all weekend and so wasn't aware of some of the nasty things that were said to or about mod authors).

 

To be clear; if Valve and Bethesda would have ignored us and gone ahead with the "Mods for Money" scheme, I would NOT have liked it, but I wouldn't have faulted ANY (legitimate) mod authors who would have tried to cash in on their creations.

Edited by TheBoogerMan
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In response to post #24743634. #24743894, #24744099, #24744554, #24744644, #24744769, #24744904, #24745164, #24745394 are all replies on the same post.


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I'm completely disgusted. Just reading FavoredSoul's comment thread above really puts the entitlement in perspective. I can't believe so many people think that way...

I was thinking about taking a break from my millionth unlikely-to-be-released indie game project and giving skyrim modding a spin thanks to this now defunct pay system, in fact I JUST finished discussing some possible ideas with my friend for a project, and found this news right after he went to bed.

I was disappointed at first, but now I think I'm grateful. Bethesda's decision to scrap this system has spared me from dealing with these insipid f#ckwits...
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In response to post #24742594. #24742759, #24742849, #24742924, #24742934, #24743009, #24743059, #24743149, #24743254, #24743299, #24743359, #24743449, #24743474, #24743514, #24743524, #24743584, #24743604, #24743624, #24743724, #24743739, #24743769, #24743774, #24743884, #24743929, #24743984, #24744049, #24744139, #24744159, #24744279, #24744479, #24744519, #24744574, #24744719, #24744789, #24744794, #24744929, #24744964, #24744989, #24745004, #24745054, #24745174, #24745279, #24745339, #24745449, #24745494, #24745729, #24745734 are all replies on the same post.


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jfisha that's not even the point here, it's got nothing to do with "not getting my way", I didn't even take part, for me it's mostly about human decency.

Honestly the decision to ditch the system was disappointing but not exactly world shattering.

The hate and the entitlement of the userbase at large however is what's so soul-crushingly hurtful and is clearly what FavoredSoul is getting at too.

That harassment, the threats, the "You won't be missed" comments from ignorant people who've likely never even shared a thing with the community. It all paints an awful picture of an audience that frankly don't deserve to have a single thing shared with them.

And to the people who have posted "you should expect hate" "get used to it" and the rest of this tripe, you clearly have never been on the receiving end of this behaviour, certainly not en masse, so maybe shut up? There *is* no "getting used" to threats from people you don't know, ever, because you've got no idea what's an 8 year old idiot half way across the globe and who's an unstable lunatic on the other side of town, get it into your skulls that this is NOT okay behaviour and that everyone, including you, needs to take a damn stand.

This is getting way too long and seems like I'm directing it all at you jfisha but it's really not. This whole debacle illustrates yet again the major problems with gaming culture and internet culture overall and that there needs to be some kind of major change here.

I'm tired of being an island in an ocean of pricks.
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It just shows that, if a community of individuals who share a common goal get together in this way, great things can happen. And in this case, it resulted in Bethesda and Valve going back on their ideas of paid modding, keeping the status quo community. :)
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In response to post #24742594. #24742759, #24742849, #24742924, #24742934, #24743009, #24743059, #24743149, #24743254, #24743299, #24743359, #24743449, #24743474, #24743514, #24743524, #24743584, #24743604, #24743624, #24743724, #24743739, #24743769, #24743774, #24743884, #24743929, #24743984, #24744049, #24744139, #24744159, #24744279, #24744479, #24744519, #24744574, #24744719, #24744789, #24744794, #24744929, #24744964, #24744989, #24745004, #24745054, #24745174, #24745279, #24745339, #24745449, #24745494, #24745729, #24745734, #24745839 are all replies on the same post.


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@ChizFoShiz

Thanks chiz. Couldn't have said it better myself.

It is very disappointing to think about what COULD have been, had the scheme continued. I would have certainly loved to invest a huge amount of my time and effort into new sets of mods. And its what Valve and Bethesda wanted. They wanted a financial incentive to induce people with real marketable skills to consider creating mods of the highest quality (when they otherwise would not have considered doing it) The less desirable emergence of opportunists, and the inevitable sea of mediocrity, an unfortunate but unavoidable side effect. Edited by FavoredSoul
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First off, a lot of people are acting like this whole deal is equivalent to civil rights or slavery. We are all discussing a video game and user created content for it. In a world where over half the population lives on two dollars a day, I think everyone is getting a bit heated. Taking down the paid for mods system is not a major achievement...sorry to take the wind out of your sails.

 

Second, I think there is no right side here. I believe Bethesda and Valve had the best intentions and it's ashame the system couldn't be adjusted enough to work or that no one was willing to try. As a mod-user, I was looking forward to the increased quality and quantity that paid mods could potentially bring. Sure, instead of 50 mods I could only afford to run 10, but my bet is those ten would contain content surpassing 100 mods. I feel that if Bethesda and Valve had taken some time to announce the system and take a few months to collect feedback and adjust before releasing it, things would have turned out better. The sudden release kind of provoked a bad knee jerk response.

 

I don't think they were being greedy either. 25% towards the mod user is actually alot, especially if the mod has a single author. Think about it; 30% goes to the entire company of Valve, 45% to the entirety of Bethesda, and 25% to the Mod Author. As Bethesda more adeptly said, the Mod Author is receiving more than any single person at Bethesda or Valve is; on top of it, the Mod Author is getting all the resources, distribution, customer base and etc. Skyrim and Bethesda has. From a game development viewpoint that is an extremely good deal. Imagine having to create everything yourself...not saying making mods is easy at all, but it does help having a program and an entire game and fan base to start from.

 

In conclusion, it's ashame. If the community hadn't been so harsh and at least tried to work with this system, a beautiful thing could have been born. Mods the likes we could only dream of could have been developed, with the support the system could have brought. To anyone arguing then donation side; seriously. It's a sad fact, but in 2015 who even has the money to donate? Even if you do, how many really will? I'm not saying anyone on either side is entitled to anything. For me its not about giving the mod author what they deserve (even if they do deserve it). For me, its about the support mod authors could have gained and the more amazing things they could have done with it. As a fan of skyrim and it's mods, I felt like I really lost a great potential thing here.

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I do agree Bethesda didn't have to release an SDK for all their games. But let's be honest, that's where tons of their money comes from. The fact that those games ARE mod-able, and able to be made better by the community is what makes them sell so well. If it was just plain old Vanilla Skyrim, it wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is now.
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