LE Am I allowed to commission modders?

[ToTalTw1sT]

I wanted to create a follower with a quest line and possibly new items/areas. I wanted to know if I can pay someone to do that on this forum, my discord is FrostBlood#5640 or you can message me here if you're interested. Basic premise of it is a cynical pos who more or less just berates you for everything, if anyone knows a good voice actor (male or female, as I might make multiple followers) or has experience with mod creation hit me up

[Reneer]

No, you cannot pay a mod author to create mods for you. It is against the Bethesda Creation Kit EULA.

[ToTalTw1sT]

What if I give them a donation to express my gratitude for them working on a mod I thought of? Also isn't this nexus not creation club, and even if it were couldn't I just never upload the mod and use it only for myself?

[Reneer]

Every mod author has agreed to abide by the Creation Kit EULA. It explicitly forbids mod authors from accepting money for developing mods.

[Zombie1Boy]

My question is how do people who make armor mods for Skyrim on Patreon skirt the rules?

[ToTalTw1sT]

Because it's a "donation" for their time, basically the way they do it isn't explicitly saying they'll design your custom armor for 20 bucks, they say for those who are generous enough to donate 20 bucks I can dedicate a mod to you, which is the same thing I'm doing, this isn't paying for a mod it's donating out of respect for a modder who in turn shows their thanks by working on a mod for me

[ToTalTw1sT]

But isn't nexus separate from Bethesda and creation club? It isn't like Bethesda is losing money if I want to pay someone to develop a mod for me

[Pickysaurus]

Here's a snip from our Donation Options Guidelines (part of the Terms of Service)

 

Non-Solicitation Rules

Donations in any form are classed as voluntary monetary transactions that yield no gain for the donator. Requesting or offering donations in exchange for any content or service will be considered solicitation and is therefore strictly prohibited. Withholding or implying any service or creation of content in relation to any donation activity (e.g. reward goals/tiers) is also prohibited.

Donations should only ever be offered as a way of thanking other users for their contributions to our community:

• Do not solicit or request donations in exchange for files, updates, or assistance.
• Do not overtly or covertly hint at the possibility of further development of your files in exchange for donations.
• Do not attempt to advertise the donation options in an exaggerated fashion or otherwise include excessive usage of donation reminders in your files and/or file page descriptions.
• Do not offer donations in exchange for files, updates, or assistance.
• Do not link to external sites where monetisation of mods or modding related assistance is discussed e.g. “stretch goals” i.e. “If I reach $100 in donations I will update my mod.”
• We allow for tactful discussion of donations, such as simple reminders of the donation options. In ambiguous cases, staff reserve the final say in what constitutes an appropriate discussion of donations.

We further reserve the right to make edits to comments, posts and file descriptions at our discretion should users be found to act in violation of the aforementioned. Administrative action may follow in cases where we deem it necessary.

 

So no, we do not allow commissions. If anyone has further questions on the topic, feel free to send me a PM.