Should Bethesda pay mod authors?

[wulfharth]

Since mod authors are growing Bethesda's market share on consoles and they obviously expect the mod authors to sell their Skyrim re-release for them, does anyone else think that Bethesda should have to pay the people who's labor is driving their profits?

 

I'm not saying that mods are the only think good about their games, but they are a pretty big reason for their popularity.

 

I will admit that I may be completely stupid or in the wrong place to talk about this, but I was curious what other people thought.

[lelcat]

I think paid mods are great. For players and mod-creators. It opens up the market to the most experienced modders, who, if they would not get money out of it, would not even mod. Imagine all the modders that started in their teen years, modding Half-Life or even Doom. They picked up some serious skill often with the years. These guys won't be able to spend time on modding like a teen-ager, even if they wanted to. The prospect of money can change this.

[wulfharth]

I know there are topics about paid mods. I was deeply involved in that fight. I'm not even trying to talk about that.

 

I was talking about Bethesda taking advantage of mod authors. This Skyrim "Now with Mods!" thing got me thinking. I see that and them intentionally leaving stolen mods up for weeks and it makes me wonder if they deserve this additional financial gain without offering fair compensation. Do they really just look at mod authors as an untapped source of free labor?

 

If this particular conundrum has been beaten to death, then I'm sorry I dug it up. It just popped into my head and where else could I have a conversation about it?

 

I was also wondering because I'm getting these requests to re-post some mods I pulled down, and I'm having a hard time seeing any reason I should help Bethesda sell their new (old) game.

[lelcat]

 

I was talking about Bethesda taking advantage of mod authors. This Skyrim "Now with Mods!" thing got me thinking. I see that and them intentionally leaving stolen mods up for weeks and it makes me wonder if they deserve this additional financial gain without offering fair compensation. Do they really just look at mod authors as an untapped source of free labor?

Why would Bethesda, on purpose, leave stolen mods up? They are not making any money because you can not buy mods. And where does this hate for Bethesda come from? Do you really think Bethesda, would be nefarious (and dumb) enough to devise a plan that would screw modders out of their work?

 

Modding is an untapped source of PAID labor. Bethesda already attempted to introduce paid mods, but the system got stuck on technicall issues. It is a logical step for the gaming market to blur the line between developers and players. Valve is doing it with DOTA2 and CSGO and some other companies too.

 

And if that topic is posted too ften we can discuss it in private messages too.