How do you rate the success of your mods ?

[TheMightyArchaon]

If you're happy with your mod then it's a success

[NOMOREKINGSINAMERICA]

If you're happy with your mod then it's a success

My thoughts exactly. I define whether or not my own mods are successful by whether or not I like them myself. If I like it then it is a success, if I think to myself "ugh, that went all wrong" when I look at it then it wasn't a success. I make mods for myself first and foremost, I enjoy feedback and seeing others use them yes, but that is only a bonus, my prime motivation is my own enjoyment with using them.

 

Though if I was looking seriously at trying to break into the software industry using these mods to promote myself and get my name out there as I know some have been or are then I admit I probably wouldn't have such a laid back attitude. But I'm not, my degree is in video production not software programming, so laid back it is for me.

[Greslin]

I think that's also probably a big part of this issue. Enough mod-to-pro stories have happened now that we've got an increasing number of modders who are mainly thinking of their resumes. Too few dedicated hobbyists, too many with unrealistic professional ambitions.

[greekrage]

First of all...

 

I didnt really want to comment on this thread because there is no real answer to this query .

Success of a specific mod depends on A LOT of things ,

Examples..

Personal taste

bugs/errors

Type of mod ( location,weapon/s,clothing,building )

Lore friendly

Immersive or not

etc... etc...

 

Since i only do one type and that being location mods i will only speak on that.

 

Ive done over 30 mods with locations...Some are vanilla overhauls and some are totally new locations and even a couple of new land masses.

 

In my experience most were successful judging from user feedback,and a unique downloads / endorsement ratio that was around 10% which is pretty good for location mods IMO.

 

Then we have the ones that cost me a lot of hours to complete but didnt do so well because of one of the reasons stated above and that being personal taste of the users.

Example is one of my latest mods that took me over 120 hours to do but did very bad on downloads due to the fact that it was in the glowing sea.

Funny thing is that i had several requests to do a mod in that area but i guess those people that requested were the only ones that actually wanted one there.

 

 

lets cut to the chase...

 

You never know how well a mod is going to do until you actually release it simply because you cant cater to every ones tastes and desires..

 

Another important factor of success is TRUST.

This is obtained after time and a few "successful" mods where you have gained the trust of your user base and come to the point where people download your stuff because they are sure that they will like it having enjoyed your previous work. ( you can categorize these users as followers,fans etc. ).

 

As you can see ...it really isnt easy to determine success of a mod .

 

Finally ..

The big question.

WHY are you creating the mods ??

Are you doing it for yourself or for glory ?(maybe even for money )

 

My suggestion...

 

IF you enjoy modding for the sake of creating something to share and generally have fun doing it.. DONT LOOK AT THE NUMBERS .

If not....stop sharing your mods and expecting that anything you share is successful because you WILL be disappointed at some point and WILL have to deal with it.

[PoorlyAged]

I dont know if you are still active or not but could I trouble you by asking to create a version with a slithly less caps? Its going VERY high in later levels..

made a version with something like this:

 

<prune>

 

Hope you will consider making this. I would download and endorse immediatly.

thanks

 

 

This showed up in my inbox this morning. It illustrates quite nicely why Endorsements are not a good metric for mod quality.

[chucksteel]

 

I dont know if you are still active or not but could I trouble you by asking to create a version with a slithly less caps? Its going VERY high in later levels..

made a version with something like this:

 

<prune>

 

Hope you will consider making this. I would download and endorse immediatly.

thanks

 

 

This showed up in my inbox this morning. It illustrates quite nicely why Endorsements are not a good metric for mod quality.

 

 

I also would download and endorse your mod if you make your mod EXACTLY the way I tell you too! :tongue:

[Greslin]

Another important factor of success is TRUST.

This is obtained after time and a few "successful" mods where you have gained the trust of your user base and come to the point where people download your stuff because they are sure that they will like it having enjoyed your previous work. ( you can categorize these users as followers,fans etc. ).

 

 

I think this is probably the best answer to this question that any of us here have come up with so far.

 

Very well said. Indeed, trust is at the root of why I'll spend an evening debugging rather than letting a mod problem sit until morning. Because someone out there just downloaded the buggy version and is currently screwing up their game experience. Netflix can wait.

 

I'd like to nominate Greekrage as the official winner of this thread. Any seconds?

[PoorlyAged]

 

Another important factor of success is TRUST.

This is obtained after time and a few "successful" mods where you have gained the trust of your user base and come to the point where people download your stuff because they are sure that they will like it having enjoyed your previous work. ( you can categorize these users as followers,fans etc. ).

 

 

I think this is probably the best answer to this question that any of us here have come up with so far.

 

Very well said. Indeed, trust is at the root of why I'll spend an evening debugging rather than letting a mod problem sit until morning. Because someone out there just downloaded the buggy version and is currently screwing up their game experience. Netflix can wait.

 

I'd like to nominate Greekrage as the official winner of this thread. Any seconds?

 

 

Why don't users download my mods? They don't trust you. How do I get their trust? You get it when they download your mods.

 

Do you not see the circular logic?

 

Don't get me wrong. Trust is important. So is integrity and responsiveness and support. But none are a very good metric for how successful a mod is because you can't measure these qualities objectively.

[Greslin]

Here's where your circular logic argument falls apart.

 

First, we're not talking about any sort of objective success metric. There ain't no such thing. What we're talking about is what we, as mod authors, consider to be signs of success in our own work.

 

Personally, when I'm looking at a new mod and thinking about downloading it, I really could care less about the number of downloads. Or endorsements, really. I'm a lot more interested in what's happening in the comments. Is the author responding to bug reports? Are they copping to the flaws in their work, or are they whining and avoiding? That stuff matters a lot more to me. I've seen plenty of high download/endorsement mods that were just terrible under the hood. Or long abandoned, as soon as the author got bored or hit a problem they couldn't solve.

 

There are certain modders who have been around a LONG time. I know their work, recognize their names. Chucksteel is one of them - I've seen him around for years, and have enjoyed his work through FO3, FNV, TTW and now FO4. I see his name, I know that there's some quality work there. There's no risk involved. Same thing with Imp of the Perverse. His work in FO3/FNV and Skyrim was so good that the other metrics didn't matter. If he rolled out an official supported IMCN or Powered Power Armor for FO4 tomorrow, I'd download and install without a moments hesitation.

 

And don't get me started on Arwen_Eve. I've got a sort of waiting-for-the-second-coming thing for her. I would love to see her triumphant return to this world.

 

It's not just about familiarity, or longevity. It's about being way impressed with the work, over and over again. They've earned the trust of their users, and the download and endorsement counts reflect that. It didn't happen the other way around.

 

If even a few people out there feel that I've earned even a fraction of the trust that these guys have, I'll happily call every one of my mods a rousing success.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Greslin

[EnvyDeveloper]

I rate the success based on how well the mod suits my needs. That's all.

 

Sometimes with smaller mods, I made the mod for myself and when I mention it to other users, they ask me to upload it for them. And so I do. But this often means that for months or even years, I'm the only one to use that mod.