When Beth wins, and mods cost money...

[zanity]

Like it or lump it, Beth is going from strength to strength- building its OWN first class engine for the first time, and working on record numbers of titles, each with incredible sales potential. Even after all these years, no other developer has bothered to copy the (very simplistic and easy to replicate) formula of Fallout and Elder Scrolls- so for the type of open-world games Beth makes, gamers have no other option, and neither do modders.

 

And now, with the emergence of the gaming console as conceptually the same as a good mid-end gaming PC (and Microsoft with Scorpio and Windows 10 is fusing the PC and console next year), paid modding cannot be ignored by Bethesda any longer, so paid modding is coming with 100% unstoppable certainty.

 

My question is this. What form do you think paid modding should take?

 

1) pay per mod, with the mod author setting the price.

2) pay per mod with Beth using some formula to set the price

3) subscription model, where paying a monthly sub gets you access to mods in general, and Beth works out how to divvy up the subs amongst mod authors

4) mods as paid DLC, where beth approaches mod authors to build DLC packages that combine a bunch of mods- tested to work with one another (and maybe on a theme)

5) 'humble bundle' buyer 'guilt' driven model where the user pays what he/she thinks the mod is worth

6) 'season pass' where one payment gets you access to all mods.

7) so other scheme I haven't listed

 

REMEMBER, paid mods mean ABSOLUTE censorship, and mods only on Beth.net. But also remember that we can cry as much as we like at the prospect, but future open-world games on Beth's new engine will have mods that can only be hosted on Beth.net, so everything is changing no matter what people may say here.

[Bhanqwa]

Seems like your battery has recharged, I'll just stick with my delusions and falsely believe in nexus free modding to stay relevant in the future.

[maload]

i cant believe that this company will use mods for money. their game is too poor and they need mod to improve their game.

 

funny how i first play skyrim with no mod and i feel like i play pac-man that can use sword

[SergeantGrrock]

If what you predict actually happens, I won't buy any more beth games. I'm almost to that point anyway. So to answer your question... 8 ) None of the above.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Sergeant Rock

[smooster]

Beth can charge for whatever they like.

Whether or not that ill pay for it is in extreme doubt.

Their vanilla games are trash and I wouldn't pay extra to bring it up to the standard it should be to start with

[zc123]

The only way I (and I think many others) would be ok with paid mods is if it was done in the following way

 

1: The modders decide if they want to charge for their content and how much, after which they get at least 50%.

 

2: The modders know some basic economics and realize that if they make a good mod it can still be incredibly cheap while making them allot of money (50 cents times 50k divided by 2 is still a large chunk of money for a few weeks or even a couple months worth of work.

 

3: If they are being paid for their work they do need to thoroughly test it before hand to eliminate bugs

 

The last few are big ones on Bethesda's part

 

4: If paid modding becomes a thing then Bethesda needs to have a full time staff for the site 24x7 for most of the year for policing & customer purposes.

 

5: Assuming uploading mods requires you to link your steam account & CD key (which it definitely should) the punishment for stealing mod content should be a swift harsh permanent steam ban & invalidation of said CD key. Otherwise paid mods will encourage every thief imaginable to come out of the woodwork.

 

 

This is in addition to the fact that Bethesda would need to bring up the quality of the base game greatly in a number of ways like story, quests, NPC AI etc...

Edited July 1, 2016 by zc123

[ad3d0]

 

3: If they are being paid for their work they do need to thoroughly test it before hand to eliminate bugs

 

Ha, show me one game or software program witch was released without a single bug ;)

[Reneer]

Ha, show me one game or software program witch was released without a single bug ;)

I see what you did there. :3

[zc123]

 

 

3: If they are being paid for their work they do need to thoroughly test it before hand to eliminate bugs

 

Ha, show me one game or software program witch was released without a single bug :wink:

 

Perhaps I should have been clearer.

 

It doesnt have to be completely bug free. But thorough testing for bugs (especially game breaking bugs) will be better for all involved.

 

I say this both for the benefit of the mod author and the consumer. Less game breaking bugs due to testing means more sales & a better rep for the author which will likely lead to even better sales in the future.

Less game breaking means the consumer is happier with the over all product. _(and more apt to spend money in the future.)

 

And at the end of the day lets face it, if your making a decent - good amount of money from the mod then taking some pride in your work & doing extra testing isn't out of the question to ask for.

Edited July 1, 2016 by zc123

[bLakZmOkeareOoouYyye]

If your theory becomes reality, I'll stop making and using mods. Untill then I won't treat this idea as relevant