Getting paid to mod? Great! Paying for mods? Ohh....

[OnlyOneWing]

Steamworkshop could be a blessing and a curse. Here on Nexus every awesome mod is completely free! :D

However you may be able to make money as a modder if you charge for it...

 

I guess some mods may be worth it... If I do pay for a mod, it better be cheap...like .25 cents cheap, and it better be awesome or else I would never pay for another mod from that modder again.

 

Besides, odds are that some one out there will make a free version of most mods.

Edited December 2, 2011 by OnlyOneWing

[stimresp]

I think it would be nice if Nexus could organize a donation button, where people could pay to appreciate the work of all modders - then donate that cash to a charity determined by a poll. If every download was to donate even 1 dollar that would change lives.

[OnlyOneWing]

I think it would be nice if Nexus could organize a donation button, where people could pay to appreciate the work of all modders - then donate that cash to a charity determined by a poll. If every download was to donate even 1 dollar that would change lives.

That is a great idea... So you could link your Nexus account to a paypal account. that will appear in your profile and on select mods that you upload.

 

Some mods could be used to support charities and others to support modders, depending on the modder's selections. These days, with the way the economy is around most of the world I am sure a lot of modders could use some money.

Edited December 2, 2011 by OnlyOneWing

[CasperTheLich]

i'd second that. sadly i'm too broke to donate any time soon. *sigh*

[WarKirby3333]

this would bring a lot of legal hassle with bethesda. The majority of modifications, as the name implies, are alterations of bethesda's intellectual property. Only they are legally entitled to profit from that and they would probably be upset unless you got their permission first.

 

Mods that add completely new, original content, using their own models, textures, etc, would possibly have less legal issues, but i doubt they'd escape it entirely.

 

although it's definitely illegal to sell your mods, I don't think there would be a problem with paying for the creation of them. Eg, someone pays you a few grand and you go work on a mod to their specifications for a few months. As long as the finished result is either distributed for free, or not at all, I doubt any lawyers could have a problem with it, and they wouldn't even be able to prove it happened.

 

there could still be problem areas. If for example, the administrators of this site were the ones commissioning mods. They could be seen as profiting from them by hosting them on a site with advertising.

 

And even having a donation button is legally problematic too. Creative successfully shut down a third party developer who was making better drivers for their products, on the premise that he was profiting because he had a paypal donate button where he hosted the driver files.

Edited December 2, 2011 by WarKirby3333

[stimresp]

No, I doubt people would like to have an open-ended access to their paypal account. But I would certainly make a decent one-off donation, but it should be voluntary. I appreciate the amount of work that goes into mods, and I think it's only fair to give a little back to the community.

 

Also, if there a quality mod that generates new content I would have no problem paying the developer for their work. But the larger overhauls seem to be the amalgamated work of many modder's, so splitting the cash could be tricky. Hence the charity idea.

[OnlyOneWing]

So I guess it will make "paying" for mods to be almost impossible.

 

However there isn't much liability for donations. Donations aren't rendered in exchange for services, they are simply gifts.

So there would be no legal ramifications for Nexus, since they are not taking a percentage of each donations... However Nexus very easily could charge to place a "Donation" link and button on the mod and profile.

 

So long as the Nexus donation subscription is within reason it would be a good deterrent for fraud. Since you must first submit your name and a method of payment before you can even have a donation link placed up.

 

Overall, it may make a lot of money both for people who work hard on their mods and Nexus.

 

I am a business owner, I know a bit about liability... and how Uncle Sam tries to give it to you dirty.

Edited December 2, 2011 by OnlyOneWing

[LadyAubrie]

One way it could end up working out is that Bethesda - or in this case, probably Nexus - would probably end up selling "Bethesda Points" or "Nexus Points" or something, then most modders would probably charge like 500 points for their mod, which would cost the end user $5.00 per mod. That's a pretty popular thing recently. So then Skyrim (and sadly, probably Oblivion and New Vegas and Morrowind as well) would turn into Second Life and IMVU.

 

I truly hope it never comes to that. The thought makes my skin crawl.

[hymhym]

I voted yes, because the way the options are set up.

 

Donations would probably work better for most cases, but I have nothing against the idea of paying, and there are several great mods I use that I would happily pay for. Getting paid for modding is something I have though a lot about recently, and the idea that the work put into modding could also support you financially is an enticing one.

 

Furthermore, I do not see the terms put forth by Valve, concerning their service, as a dastardly scheme to rip modders for ideas and sell them as their own. It's just that the world we live in has all these copyright and trademark laws and the companies that do business must live by them. Even when doing so is not necessarily the best move for the said company. And the terms laid out by Valve are pretty stifling, but unfortunately they have to be. That's just the way things are at the moment.

 

What I see, is Valve, taking the lead once again, and pushing the boundaries. I remember when Steam first appeared and how people predicted it would never work 'cause everyone wants to own a physical copy. But I felt that it was a smart move, and an inevitable move for the industry. However, I do not like Steam, never have. In fact I quite detest it, and the debacles with Skyrim have not alleviated those feelings at all. But I do admit that it is a successful business, and feel that the base concept is sound. I just wish there was some competition out there, but so far no viable candidates have emerged.

 

All in all, this is just like Paypal was - something that people used to say would eventually fail, and that it's an evil organization up to no good and will do dastardly deeds with your personal information. But these days? It's the de facto way of doing online business, nobody worries too much about it. Steam is well on it's way to do the same for gaming.

 

Will Steam Workshop for Skyrim fail? Will people be willing to pay for mods? How much is too much for a mod? How do you cross-share assets between mods, and still give each modder their fair share of the profits? I don't know, but unless someone takes the first move in setting up such a service, we will never get these questions answered. There are all sort of legalities that need to be sorted, and there is much hesitation and wariness from the community towards the whole concept that must be dealt with .

 

As for my self, I'm a freelancer, and the idea that I could start publishing quest mods, not just as a hobby, but as a job, is something I would welcome. It probably wouldn't be profitable enough to support one full time, but at least the time spent on such activities wouldn't have to come out of one's free time.

 

All in all, I feel that it is an inevitable shift in the way user created content will evolve. Eventually we will come to some sort of agreement on what sort of a model works, and how to share assets. One things is clear thought - the way current laws handle these issues, make the whole idea pretty much impossible. Well, beyond simple clothing and armor add on mods at least.

[FireBug3]

I belive in donations, if people like something they will donate to have more, that how whole entertainment industrie should work.