Sorry to see more great mods removed

[damanding]

 

I for one don't PM mod authors ...snip

Well, with a username like yours, that's probably a good idea

 

:wink:

 

lol, believe it or not, I really am a nice person on this site most of the time. :D I will sometimes make a snarky comment when I can't help myself but I don't get demanding with fellow mod authors. I tend to be mostly demanding in real life with people I know. :D

[genolune]

I ask questions of mod authors but I'm not like "Put your mod back up, now!". Some of my questions get ignored. Oh well.

[Crimsomrider]

What can I say. In the end, the only ones who are punished are the legit users who want to use the mod. The pirate already got what he wanted. He has the file, he can re-upload it whenever he wants.

 

In any war against piracy, the user is always the one who keeps getting the short end. Always. It has been like that with games, it has been like that with movies, it has been like that with song albums. Pirates get what they want to get and you can't stop them. It's the legit user who gets punished, not the pirate.

 

Imagine how people working on movies, songs or games which involve millions, feel whenever someone steals their hard work and even more so when someone is selling their hard work through illegitimate ways. They have millions at their disposal and they're nowhere close to beating pirates because it simply can't be done.

[crawe1x]

" I meant that it makes users sad or upset"

 

Sorry to break it to you, but nobody really cares. If the need is bad enough maybe a small part of them will pick up some tutorials and make the mods they need.

 

This is a slightly disingenuous comment coming from someone who for all his spray-on grouchiness strikes me as one of the most dedicated and supportive members of this community.

It's also a dangerous comment. If mod authors really don't care, then this community is already dead. The moment a mod author releases his or her work, the users become the customer-base. The fact that it's all done for free is irrelevant (though soon, with the return of paid mods, this dynamic will become clearer). Now many mod users, like customers in the real world, can be complete idiots - ignorant, pushy, entitled, unrealistic with their demands, etc. At times it is sickening to behold. But high-handedness on the part of the mod authors isn't the best reaction. And if they can't suffer fools, or at least learn to push back in a reasonable manner, then they probably shouldn't be sharing their work on this site in the first place. No one is being forced to release their work. I spent ten years modding Total War, and although I always shared my findings with other modders, I never publicly released a mod - simply because I had no interest in supporting it for every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Now although I understand the anger mod authors feel when their work is stolen, I don't see what they hope to achieve by removing their work from the site, especially when it's done without forewarning. It feels like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. In the real world, I'm a screenwriter. I've had my work stolen more times than I can remember. As my agent once said, "That's life." I've made a decent living, but I know there are people out there who have made far more money off my ideas than I have. In spite of this, I don't quit because my work is something I'm passionate about.

Regarding the removal of mods, let's look at it logically. An author puts up a mod. Responsible users make use of that mod, enjoy it, and may even help improve it. Then some shyster comes along, steals the mod, and puts it up on another site. In a fit of pique, the author removes the mod from the Nexus. What exactly does he or she hope to achieve? The shyster couldn't care less. He may even savour his 'victory' at having spoiled someone else's hard work. The author, meanwhile, ends up abandoning something that they presumably enjoyed doing in the first place. And the responsible mod users, who have done nothing wrong, find themselves stuck in the middle of a play-through with a bunch of missing or unsupported mods.

Basically, what I'm saying is that yes, mod authors have rights. But responsible users also have rights. This is one of the reasons that, despite some misgivings, I'm open to the idea of paid mods.

[Ethreon]

Wonder if you have an idea of how many mods don't even make it to the public simply because the makers do them for themselves and not others. I support this community wholeheartedly, but I do not support the idea that mod makers are/should make mods for users, and this comes from someone that has been an user for 4-5 years before even attempting a mod. So no, Some care about users being upset about mods, most don't. If they didn't very little mods would get out and see publishing light.

[cossayos]

I ask questions of mod authors but I'm not like "Put your mod back up, now!". Some of my questions get ignored. Oh well.

 

By that you mean PM them?

 

I never did that and never would do that.

[shadowslasher410]

I can see both sides of the issue. I agree with Ethreon in that If I had a dollar for every failed mod I've created, I'd be rich. On the other hand, I feel like now that I have published a mod on the site, I have a responsibility to the people who use it. I know not everyone who mods feels that way, though. I mean, all of my mods have been stolen before. At first I was a little miffed, as was my right to be, but the way I figure is this is the Internet. NOTHING that gets put on here isn't going to eventually be stolen in one way or another. As long as they're not making money off of it, I don't really care. It's not like I can sue them for copyright infringement or something (I have no lawyer, I'm a 21 year old broke college student).

[Ethreon]

You are responsible to yourself and nothing else, at least for as long as your mods are free and offered out of your own goodness. I help users too, I solve bugs, make sure my mods are as polished as possible, but I do it first and foremost cause I really hate having mods with rough spots, unfinished bits etc.

[Crimsomrider]

Ethreon speaks true.

 

I can't speak for others, but I personally first and foremost make mods for myself. I don't care how many people use them, I don't care how many people want me to change something. I make them for myself and after I publish them, I slightly tweak them for the users and make some changes if the comment was inspiring. If my mod has a bug or something, I'll fix it right away. But I won't budge at all if someone disagrees with the vision of my mod.

 

Reason I publish my mods is to get some fresh ideas on what I could do next. Not requests, but ideas.

 

Some people think that mod authors make mods for the community. While some mod authors do indeed make mods based on requests, I am not one of them. I make mods which I'm inspired to make, whenever I want, however I want. Several users I had the displeasure of dealing with can't accept that and end up insulting me in the end, because I don't fulfill their wishes.

 

So in the end, I just prefer to do my own thing. I don't see myself as a big mod author in any shape or form. I just play the game, make a mod for my own amusement, publish it and go back to playing the game. Simple as that.

 

 

If paid mods ever come again, I honestly won't be putting a price tag. I don't even want to think about dealing with the hassle of entitled brats who think they own me because they paid for something. Not to mention paid mods would kill the modding community.

[Ethreon]

I only have one caveat to that - a workshop request page. Mostly because I found people that play that aspect of the game to be generally nicer and cause it helps me inspire more features/new mods for myself.