The Video Game Industry's Monetisation of Mods discussion

[HeyYou]

Paid mods 1.0 was actually quite successful, it was the public reaction to it that killed it. Essentially, valve chickened out. It was almost ideal for beth, all they had to do was make games, which they were doing anyway, release the construction kit, which they were doing anyway, and give mod authors the option to put their mods behind a paywall. Nothing changed for beth, except that they now had a new revenue stream, with zero cost. Why WOULDN'T they do that? But, then came the vocal minority, that raised all sorts of hate and discontent, and valve shut it all down. (the day after Beth had been singing its praises.) In that model, authors would set the price on their mods, and then they would get a cut of the proceeds, once they passed a certain threshold. Valve got their cut, Beth got their cut.

 

In the "new" model, authors get paid a fee for their work, and then it belongs to beth. Beth gets ALL the proceeds thereafter. Of course, this also means that beth has to have the infrastructure to support it, along with the software to make it work. Which was the whole idea behind migrating to their 'new' website/layout/software package. (the original truly sucked, and wouldn't do what they wanted it to, so, after being up for less than year, they replaced the software, with something very similar, that actually kinda/sorta did what they wanted.... but it still sucked......) This way, beth had 100% control over everything, and weren't dependent on some third party chickening out, and screwing their revenue stream.

 

I suspect the second scenario was going to happen when beth started making noises about their 'new' site. I KNEW it was going to happen when they announced mods were coming to consoles, which account for more than two thirds of their game sales. And with the restrictions Sony put on the PS/4, beth had a captive market for mods.

 

But, in usual beth fashion, their implementation SUCKED. Can we actually browse CC content that we might be interested in OUTSIDE of the game? So far, I haven't seen that. Not to mention beth making every single rookie mistake when they set up their mod sharing site....... Three teenagers with a zero dollar budget have done a better job than what beth did..... and it still has its issues.

 

And then there is the whole 'pushing out updates ONLY to support more cc content', but NOT fixing any of the glaring bugs in the game..... on a monthly basis....... Shows what their priorities are, eh?

 

I suspect this is going to be the prevailing condition though. CC is here to stay, and subsequent games will support it. They will still release the CS, and support free modding, as much as they do now..... (for what it's worth.....) But, I fully expect that we will see the exact same issues on later games, as we do now on SSE, and FO4. Beth seems completely incapable of learning from their mistakes.

[Arneercool]

One common thing I noticed by browsing through hundreds of mod pages these past few weeks is former (usually) authors / modders (call them what you will) leaving the stage / abandoning the project with a sour taste because of the negative feedback or lack of appreciation on the part of the users. My first thought is the users are younger, and lack what might be considered common-sense. The whole situation / reactions feel exaggerated. But indeed actors, while they don't give up on their profession because of being overwhelmed by negative stuff such as being assaulted by fan hordes when they've become a star, don't work for free... It makes sense that mod authors expect something back and getting negative responses would have more of an effect on them. I think mods generally do get good feedback too though, and I expect good quality ones are probably not affected by this negative feedback issue as much / often, since they have a larger user base, which should be a positive fact / feedback / confirmation in itself. But I haven't really been involved much with the modding community honestly, so it's just what I've noticed, and, for this reason, I am not the guy to propose solutions.

 

Modders leaving while slamming the door, is not really a new thing. And who can blame them? With that said. If you set yourself up as an 'pro' modder/semi business, people are going to expect a lot from you. And some have an tendency to think that they are some kind of NexusJesus. Entitlement all around sours the whole thing.

[HeyYou]

 

One common thing I noticed by browsing through hundreds of mod pages these past few weeks is former (usually) authors / modders (call them what you will) leaving the stage / abandoning the project with a sour taste because of the negative feedback or lack of appreciation on the part of the users. My first thought is the users are younger, and lack what might be considered common-sense. The whole situation / reactions feel exaggerated. But indeed actors, while they don't give up on their profession because of being overwhelmed by negative stuff such as being assaulted by fan hordes when they've become a star, don't work for free... It makes sense that mod authors expect something back and getting negative responses would have more of an effect on them. I think mods generally do get good feedback too though, and I expect good quality ones are probably not affected by this negative feedback issue as much / often, since they have a larger user base, which should be a positive fact / feedback / confirmation in itself. But I haven't really been involved much with the modding community honestly, so it's just what I've noticed, and, for this reason, I am not the guy to propose solutions.

 

Modders leaving while slamming the door, is not really a new thing. And who can blame them? With that said. If you set yourself up as an 'pro' modder/semi business, people are going to expect a lot from you. And some have an tendency to think that they are some kind of NexusJesus. Entitlement all around sours the whole thing.

 

Its the users that drive most of them away. Demanding this, that, and the other thing, from a person that provides them with their work, for FREE. I will grant you that we do indeed have some authors that are prima donnas, but, they are a TINY minority of the 70 thousand plus authors that host here.

[Deleted92948618User]

Just a thought here. Users are paying for mods from Nexus right now. They are doing it with reduced download speeds and ads for users who will not directly provide financial support to Nexus.

But with paid mods ...

As of this writing, nexus brags they have had in excess of 4.1 billion (yes, with a 'b') downloads. At two bits a pop, that is still over one billion US dollars. Split that between Nexus, the authors and Bethesda, and everyone would have made some real money. but alas, users would rather have (and whine and complain about) ads and reduced download speeds so the mods remain free.

[HeyYou]

And for two bucks, you can get 'supporter' status, and not see any ads, and get a slightly bumped download speed. (2mb/s, I think)

 

That said, I have NEVER seen download speeds above 1.5mb/s. But, I think that is more due to my ISP, than nexus servers.

[Arneercool]

And for two bucks, you can get 'supporter' status, and not see any ads, and get a slightly bumped download speed. (2mb/s, I think)

 

That said, I have NEVER seen download speeds above 1.5mb/s. But, I think that is more due to my ISP, than nexus servers.

technically I should be able to download at 12mb/s , and that has never happened around here.

[HeyYou]

 

And for two bucks, you can get 'supporter' status, and not see any ads, and get a slightly bumped download speed. (2mb/s, I think)

 

That said, I have NEVER seen download speeds above 1.5mb/s. But, I think that is more due to my ISP, than nexus servers.

technically I should be able to download at 12mb/s , and that has never happened around here.

 

Yeah, and there are a lot of reasons you will never see those speeds. Most of which, Nexus has zero control over. I have a 15mb/s connection here at home, (yeah, slow by a lot of folks standards these days.....) but, the only time I see those speeds, is when I am doing a speed test....... For the most part, no matter where I am downloading from, if I see anything over 1.5mb/s, I consider myself doing good.....

 

It isn't necessarily Nexus, or your ISP that is the problem either, it's everyone in between... Some folks purposely limit speeds on certain types of traffic...... according to theory, that isn't legal, but, it's done anyway.

 

WHEN you download is also a factor..... if the servers are really busy, you get slow speeds.... if the servers have very little traffic, your speed is better. Tracking down these problems is just so much fun.... :) There is a 'troubleshooting guide' around here somewhere for download issues. (as they seem to be kinda common.....)

[Arneercool]

 

 

And for two bucks, you can get 'supporter' status, and not see any ads, and get a slightly bumped download speed. (2mb/s, I think)

 

That said, I have NEVER seen download speeds above 1.5mb/s. But, I think that is more due to my ISP, than nexus servers.

technically I should be able to download at 12mb/s , and that has never happened around here.

 

Yeah, and there are a lot of reasons you will never see those speeds. Most of which, Nexus has zero control over. I have a 15mb/s connection here at home, (yeah, slow by a lot of folks standards these days.....) but, the only time I see those speeds, is when I am doing a speed test....... For the most part, no matter where I am downloading from, if I see anything over 1.5mb/s, I consider myself doing good.....

 

It isn't necessarily Nexus, or your ISP that is the problem either, it's everyone in between... Some folks purposely limit speeds on certain types of traffic...... according to theory, that isn't legal, but, it's done anyway.

 

WHEN you download is also a factor..... if the servers are really busy, you get slow speeds.... if the servers have very little traffic, your speed is better. Tracking down these problems is just so much fun.... :smile: There is a 'troubleshooting guide' around here somewhere for download issues. (as they seem to be kinda common.....)

 

I'm not quite sure what is at play here, but i get my moneys worth on both steam, origin, uplay, rockstar launcher, and so on.

 

A direct download through google will even sometimes top out at 14mb/s.

[HeyYou]

 

 

 

And for two bucks, you can get 'supporter' status, and not see any ads, and get a slightly bumped download speed. (2mb/s, I think)

 

That said, I have NEVER seen download speeds above 1.5mb/s. But, I think that is more due to my ISP, than nexus servers.

technically I should be able to download at 12mb/s , and that has never happened around here.

 

Yeah, and there are a lot of reasons you will never see those speeds. Most of which, Nexus has zero control over. I have a 15mb/s connection here at home, (yeah, slow by a lot of folks standards these days.....) but, the only time I see those speeds, is when I am doing a speed test....... For the most part, no matter where I am downloading from, if I see anything over 1.5mb/s, I consider myself doing good.....

 

It isn't necessarily Nexus, or your ISP that is the problem either, it's everyone in between... Some folks purposely limit speeds on certain types of traffic...... according to theory, that isn't legal, but, it's done anyway.

 

WHEN you download is also a factor..... if the servers are really busy, you get slow speeds.... if the servers have very little traffic, your speed is better. Tracking down these problems is just so much fun.... :smile: There is a 'troubleshooting guide' around here somewhere for download issues. (as they seem to be kinda common.....)

 

I'm not quite sure what is at play here, but i get my moneys worth on both steam, origin, uplay, rockstar launcher, and so on.

 

A direct download through google will even sometimes top out at 14mb/s.

 

May wanna have a read here, and see if anything shakes loose.

[Arneercool]

 

 

 

 

And for two bucks, you can get 'supporter' status, and not see any ads, and get a slightly bumped download speed. (2mb/s, I think)

 

That said, I have NEVER seen download speeds above 1.5mb/s. But, I think that is more due to my ISP, than nexus servers.

technically I should be able to download at 12mb/s , and that has never happened around here.

 

Yeah, and there are a lot of reasons you will never see those speeds. Most of which, Nexus has zero control over. I have a 15mb/s connection here at home, (yeah, slow by a lot of folks standards these days.....) but, the only time I see those speeds, is when I am doing a speed test....... For the most part, no matter where I am downloading from, if I see anything over 1.5mb/s, I consider myself doing good.....

 

It isn't necessarily Nexus, or your ISP that is the problem either, it's everyone in between... Some folks purposely limit speeds on certain types of traffic...... according to theory, that isn't legal, but, it's done anyway.

 

WHEN you download is also a factor..... if the servers are really busy, you get slow speeds.... if the servers have very little traffic, your speed is better. Tracking down these problems is just so much fun.... :smile: There is a 'troubleshooting guide' around here somewhere for download issues. (as they seem to be kinda common.....)

 

I'm not quite sure what is at play here, but i get my moneys worth on both steam, origin, uplay, rockstar launcher, and so on.

 

A direct download through google will even sometimes top out at 14mb/s.

 

May wanna have a read here, and see if anything shakes loose.

 

Not really, only nexus throttle, and i'm practically neighbors with the UK.

 

My country has the best digital infrastructure of all of Scandinavia. The only logical answer is revenge for Lindisfarne

 

Don't really matter actually, i can live with it, 6mb/s is fair enough