A thing about "the community", donations, and endorsements

[BigBizkit]

This is not about paid mods.

[maheo30]

This whole controversy opened my eyes to the necessity of being part of the community, which I wasn't, and supporting the modders, which I didn't. I just downloaded and played. I have started donating to the mods I love if the modder is accepting donations. At the very least, I endorse and leave a comment. I've found some great mods that are mostly unknown. Endorsing helps those kinds of mods.

[vram1974]

Why are you having to endorse again after having already endorsed once? Once should be sufficient no matter how many times you downloaded. As for downloading multiple times, instead, I use the manual download - that way the mod is on my hard drive and available for the next time I want to use it. This is one reason I just don't bother with the Steam workshop at all. Not having used MO, I'm not sure how it handles installing from a file instead of directly from a download. NMM, Wrye Bash, OBMM and the other managers I have used all do this as well.

 

Doesn't matter if you download manually or with NMM, the file is stored locally.

[rms827]

OK, I admit I didn't read all the replies thus far, but I have to essentially agree with what the original poster said. I see it here and at the Steam Workshop... Modders put together real nice mods and NOBODY endorses them.

 

I have ONE mod out (&working on another), and it will be Forever Free. This is a hobby for me and I do it for love of the game, so I'd never charge even if I could. My mod (Dawnguard Sentries) is only on Steam for the moment, so I'm using that terminology to refer to my mod. Hitting that thumbs up to give it a positive rating is what keeps me going to continue to tweak and improve it. Seeing those 5 stars up there makes my day too. It means the horrible amount of hours I've spent stumbling through learning to mod and trying to beta test the mod are actually appreciated by people; my effort counts for something.

 

I'm sure people that do huge mods would appreciate a donation, most people would. Speaking for myself, and I imagine many others, that endorsement here or thumbs up on Steam can mean just as much if not more. In the case of Steam, your positive votes can help offset nitpickers and trolls who vote negative just to spite people too. "Thumbs down, one seam on your otherwise perfect armor is a bit off". It happens, and it can make modders feel unappreciated. Nowadays here on the Nexus, you have to deliberately choose to avoid an endorsement too sine they give you those pop-ups while downloading. Yes, those are annoying too, BUT think about the modders who do this only for that encouragement.

 

No mod is perfect, if it adds to your game though, at least think about giving it an endorsement.

[Ceruulean]

I think if someone downloads a mod several times due to updates, etc. that would skewer the endorsements-to-downloads ratio. So, endorsements aren't really important. Yeah, there are people that never endorse but there are people who often endorse. I don't want to be obligated to endorse a mod just for its existence, and other mods I download to test compatibility for mine, not to use it.

[nikoligrim]

I endorse mods I like and use, approximately 60% of the mods I've downloaded for actual game-play I've endorsed. I usually reserve my endorsements for a mod that someone has taken time and creativity to make though I have endorsed several that I only downloaded to see how they made it, and then made my own version for my game.

 

Mods that I've downloaded and used for a couple of hours, found I didn't like some aspect of it, and then discarded it, I don't bother to endorse...

 

I must be doing really well, seeing as mods I've uploaded are averaging a 9% endorsement rate to unique downloads...

[paradoxnrt]

My mods also get around 5% endorsements.....heh, here is a funny story!

I worked hours for some guys who wanted custom changes....posted the update. After a while, I get a response in the comment section....one user loved the mod, but wanted me to spend a few additional hours adding more content/changes.

I pointed out that I did hours of work for them + this one guy wanted even more work done for a mod he clearly said he enjoyed.....but this guy couldn't take one second to endorse my work.

It was around this point that I realized that most gamers are sociopath punks! ....I still post for the 10% or so percent who are decent people, but it really shakes my faith in humanity that so many gamers are so selfish/self-centered.