Question about donations: How much is a "fair" amount?

[Calzien]

So like the title reads, how much is a fair amount to donate? So far I've only donated about $10.00 spread across 4 different mod authors but I don't have a huge sum of cash just throw around. I know it probably seems like a paltry sum to be worrying about but when funds are short I can't afford to be dropping 3-4 bucks per mod author out there. So I was thinking a minimum of $1.00 per author depending on the content offered in their mods, how many of their mods I use, and how much I use their mods. Does that seem like too little? Too much? I'm genuinely curious what mod authors are asking/hoping for in donations.

[DDProductions83]

Umm we tend to do it without expecting anything anyway so anything you give is a fair amount in my opinion. If my work is good enough you hit the donate button then w/e you decide to do is fine by me :P

Just my thoughts

[Calzien]

Yeah I know people usually do (And did prior to Bethesda/Valve's actions.) but I'm seeing a lot of authors also upset that people consider or at least believe people consider their work isn't worth anything. More than anything I'm curious because aside from supporting Gopher's videos via Patreon for awhile because I loved the content he makes I'm just not sure what may be a fair incentive for mod authors whose content I do enjoy to continue making their content and updating it when needed. Prior to this I've rarely donated so I'm trying to change this habit. Skyrim is the out of every other game I own the one I spend the most time playing, and that's all thanks to mods. It's almost come to the point I look at other games and if I can't mod the crap out of it I tend to pass it up.

[RurikNiall]

Well, myself, I would think it should depend a lot on the mod itself and your opinion of it, I don't think it's unfair at all to say some mods really are objectively worth more than others. Skywind has had doubtless hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of hard work and love poured into it by everyone involved, it's certainly worth more than the dinky Shrouded Cowl fix I threw together in an hour or so years ago, for example.

[ShadowDragyn]

So like the title reads, how much is a fair amount to donate? So far I've only donated about $10.00 spread across 4 different mod authors but I don't have a huge sum of cash just throw around. I know it probably seems like a paltry sum to be worrying about but when funds are short I can't afford to be dropping 3-4 bucks per mod author out there. So I was thinking a minimum of $1.00 per author depending on the content offered in their mods, how many of their mods I use, and how much I use their mods. Does that seem like too little? Too much? I'm genuinely curious what mod authors are asking/hoping for in donations.

Theoretically, it doesn't have to be much at all, because multiple people would be giving donations. And giving less to any particular person ensures any particular author is likely to get more donations overall, or any at all. With that in mind, it's actually better to spread your money out more across multiple authors, rather than giving large lumps to just a few.

This makes it more likely for all deserving authors to get any donations at all, rather than it all going to the few best.

Feel free from that point to adjust the ratios based on how much you like the mod.

 

Like instead of splitting $40 among 4 authors, you would be better off giving $2 to 20 authors (some might get 3-4 in reality, some might get 1, etc).

If it would take too much time to split it among all those people, then just reduce the number to whatever you can reasonably handle.

 

On that same note, if you have hundreds of mods and very little money, rather than not donating at all it would be preferable to at least just choose a few favorites to give a couple bucks to.

It may seem insignificant, but when many people hold that ideal it seriously adds up.

 

Say a mod has 100,000 unique downloads, which is not unreasonable for a good quality one. If each person donated just a single penny, that author would have earned $1000.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Shadow_Dragyn

[Deleted31005User]

Please don't donate just 1$.

 

Paypall takes away 0.4$ per transaction and they also keep 0.5% of the full transaction, nothing can be done about that 0.5%, but if you only donate 1$ then the mod author only gets 0.55$.

So that's almost a 50% loss for 1$, you should at least give 3$ because then the mod author gets 2.5$, going below 3$ is just silly.

 

Imo Nexus should make this clear because its not "100% goes to mod authors", the lower you go with the donation the less % the author gets, and lately Ive been getting nothing but 1$ donations...

Don't get me wrong, its nice to see people donate, but some knowledge about the real % would go a long way.

 

 

If each person donated just a single penny, that author would have earned $1000.

That author would get nothing then, in fact the person donating one penny would have to spend 0.42$ just to make that 1 penny transaction even possible, lol.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Guest

[ShadowDragyn]

Please don't donate just 1$.

 

Paypall takes away 0.4$ per transaction and they also keep 0.5% of the full transaction, nothing can be done about that 0.5%, but if you only donate 1$ then the mod author only gets 0.55$.

So that's almost a 50% loss for 1$, you should at least give 3$ because then the mod author gets 2.5$, going below 3$ is just too silly imo.

 

Imo Nexus should make this clear because its not "100% goes to mod authors", the lower you go with the donation the less % the author gets, and lately Ive been getting nothing but 1$ donations...

Don't get me wrong, its nice to see people donate, but some knowledge about the real % would go a long way.

 

 

If each person donated just a single penny, that author would have earned $1000.

That author would get nothing then, in fact the person donating one penny would have to spend 0.42$ just to make that 1 penny transaction even possible, lol.

I thought they only took a percent. Didn't know about the flat cost as well.

Wonder if the Nexus could start promoting Patreon to circumvent that. Or allow money sent to an author to be pooled somehow, and sent in bulk each month to circumvent multiple charges.

Paypal does really hurt donations if this is the case.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Shadow_Dragyn

[Deleted31005User]

Sorry I misspoke earlier, it seems to be 0.3$ fee per transaction and then the 0.5% of the full payment.

But still, if you donate 1$ its far from giving 100% to the authors.

http://static-2.nexusmods.com/15/images/110/31005-1430366457.jpg

 

Though I must admit, before this whole "paid mods" ordeal I almost never got any donations, the last week or so it has seen a steady incline, probably because everyone became aware and also because the "donate" button is literally in everyone's face now, whereas before it was quite hidden away in a corner somewhere.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Guest

[ShadowDragyn]

Holy hot damn, those are all donations people sent you? Impressive. Many top modders hadn't received that much in all the time donations have even been an option.

[RurikNiall]

Holy hot damn, those are all donations people sent you? Impressive. Many top modders hadn't received that much in all the time donations have even been an option.

 

According to Hoth he's been getting more donations as well ever since he announced his mods would always be free. This whole debacle seems to have really raised awareness about donating and endorsing.