Paid Mods return at E3 2017

[Sonja]

I'm going to essentially re-post something I just wrote elsewhere:

My thoughts on the entire concept are exceedingly mixed, to put it mildly, and I don't trust Bethesda in the slightest, so like much of the community, I'm taking a "wait and see" approach.

One thing I *do* think seems to be better this time around is that those modders whose work is chosen will be treated as temporary developers, and paid accordingly....rather than being "generously" offered the remaining crumbs after Bethsoft and Valve sated their gluttony. This particular issue was a major reason why I was against the initial attempt to introduce paid modding, especially given that in many cases it are the modders that fix and polish the subpar material that Bethesda is prone to releasing. They were basically saying, "So we want you to pay twice, first for our bug-ridden, mediocre product, and then again for the improved/repaired version. Oh, and we're going to be bending mod creators over a barrel in the process." Pretty bloody galling....

As I said, I have little confidence in Bethesda, so while I'm not, necessarily, out there foaming at the mouth, I remain extremely wary.

At the end of the day, this feels like Bethesda attempting to reintroduce paid modding through stealth because they're looking for continued profits after ESO didn't do as well as they'd hoped, and they had the rug whipped out from under their feet when FO 4 didn't get GOTY. I ultimately see this as a means for Bethesda to assert increasing control over modding in the coming years. In the short term, we probably won't notice the impact very much... but in the future, when the very best modders have been more or less pulled beneath the Bethsoft umbrella? At that point will Nexus simply be left with bimbos in slutty "armour?"

Here is where I especially have mixed sentiments... On the one hand, I feel it's monetising a hobby. On the other hand, there are many excellent modders out there whom I'd be happy to see financially compensated... I'm also fairly certain there are quite a few mod creators who wonder, despite having completely unrelated backgrounds, if they could actually make it in game development.. not exactly an easy mid-career switch for the majority, I'd think. Maybe this could be a way for them to break into the area?

Finally, I shall be brutally honest... My own financial situation is frequently precarious. If somebody offered me the chance to get decently paid for doing something I love... I would likely take it. The reality is that principles are often a luxury for the privileged. When the choice is between values and basic survival.... guess which usually wins out?

Ugh... I don't know.. it's complicated.

(and meanwhile... we have CD Projekt who releases exceptionally high quality games, sells excellent DLCs for reasonable prices, offers many small addons for free AND unfailingly provides permissions for their resources to be used in OTHER games)

[NexBeth]

I'm not offended, I wasn't even targeting you with any remarks, but I cannot stop being annoyed at the doomsayers. People will continue making free mods in plenty quantities, and seeing how this club is played out I doubt there will be many people in.

Well, at least so far its doomsayers, and not a frenzied brigade with pitchforks and foul slurs aimed at MAs.

[FrankFamily]

They might be sharpening their pitchforks... who knows.

[zlycher]

I find it odd Bethesda announced this new platform with so little information provided. Of course more answers will be forthcoming, but I've seen so many posts just randomly making assumptions about easily answered questions. At the very least, I would have liked to know what the % split will be for the modders. Everything hinges on that. If it's apparent Bethesda is still trying to take too much of a cut none of the other details will matter much.

[EnderDragonFire]

My thoughts:

 

*No mods that are already free may be ported to Creation Club; all mods are made specifically for the program.

>This means nobody is going to lose access to their favorite mods, and also encourages modders to make more mods!

 

*Authors get paid much better than last time. The exact cut is unclear, but apparently they will get similar pay to official Bethesda employees.

>This was an issue for many people last time, which is no longer an issue.

 

*The mods are going to be vetted by Bethesda for quality; not all applications will be accepted.

>No overpriced $100 joke mods cluttering the store front like last time.

 

*Bethesda will be actively helping make some of this content!

>This means we may get high quality mods made using Bethesda's in-house tools, and possibly types of mods that have not been possible before!

 

*(Pure conjecture): It looks like there might be some officially-sanctioned ports appearing on the store front.

 

---------------

As far as I am concerned, this IS VERY DIFFERENT than last time, and all the major issues are resolved. Valve is not making money from the mod makers or Bethesda. There are no existing mods going behind pay walls. No stolen or broken mods will be for sale. I was personally quite vocal in criticizing the last Paid Mods attempt, because of these issues, but I am actually hopeful that this time things will be different.

[FrankFamily]

@EnderDragonFire: check the FAQ on the site, it covers most of your thoughts. There has been little information but many people aren't even reading that.

[woodsman30]

I would like to think Bethesda has good intentions but I have my doubts. it seems very complicated what about mods with dependencies? What about many of the mods that require SKSE and FNIS? I see this turning into crap storm of lawsuits and more people leaving and/or quitting the mod community again :(

[Ethreon]

I would like to think Bethesda has good intentions but I have my doubts. it seems very complicated what about mods with dependencies? What about many of the mods that require SKSE and FNIS? I see this turning into crap storm of lawsuits and more people leaving and/or quitting the mod community again :sad:

 

What about them? Do you really think that inhouse content will require any of those?

[woodsman30]

 

I would like to think Bethesda has good intentions but I have my doubts. it seems very complicated what about mods with dependencies? What about many of the mods that require SKSE and FNIS? I see this turning into crap storm of lawsuits and more people leaving and/or quitting the mod community again :sad:

 

What about them? Do you really think that inhouse content will require any of those?

 

Who really knows but who in the PC world has not benefited by using SKSE?

[Ethreon]

 

 

I would like to think Bethesda has good intentions but I have my doubts. it seems very complicated what about mods with dependencies? What about many of the mods that require SKSE and FNIS? I see this turning into crap storm of lawsuits and more people leaving and/or quitting the mod community again :sad:

 

What about them? Do you really think that inhouse content will require any of those?

 

Who really knows but who in the PC world has not benefited by using SKSE?

 

 

I fail to see the connection here. If they need functions to make the DLC content work they will be added as an update, or there will be ways found around it.