If Steam and the developer starts making money off mods, they may find a way to prevent them from being distributed on Nexus, or elsewhere, and make mods a Steam exclusive though. I really don't think this move is a good idea for the future of the modding scene.
I have some reservations about how its handled. Especially any licensing issues over the re-use of resources. But I'm also curious to see the end result of this.
Well we will have to see. Steam states that they get the same percentage that they get from all microtransactions. However, Bethesda also gets to set its own rate for how much it charges for the mods. So we will have to wait and see.
So far (at least for what I know) only Skyrim will have this pay mods BS (75% of profit goes to Steam? You have to be kidding me!), which doesn't concern me. What is concerning, however, is that unhealthy trend can potentially expand to other titles... There ARE EE's avaliable on Steam, right?
@bengoshi True, some mods are great so I could potentialy pay small ammount of money for them. On the other hand, there are mods which author would have to pay ME in order to use them.
I don't see a problem with modders asking a little for their product I just think steam is screwing them over.
There are enough modders screaming already about IPs being stolen or used without their permission. Add money to the mix, those screams are going to multiply by ten fold.
People will also be discouraged from downloading mods as even the crappiest ones will be asking for money. People won't get critical feedback on how to improve their coding, story telling, etc, and in turn won't be able to improve their skills to release a better product.
When these modders stop getting downloads and money, they may just up and quit modding altogether since there is nothing in it for them having lost the sense to do it for enjoyment instead of greed.
Let's send all the IE mods there, collect all the money in one pocket and give them to someone, who will create a One-and-Only Absolute Ultimate Crossplatforming Mega Modding Editor Tool whith nice GUI, that will substitute all existing tools
Particularly I have no problem with paid mods as long as:
1) The game developer receives a share of the profit. The modder is using their product to earn money after all.
2) Any intermediaries in the transaction receives a fair share for the work of collecting the money of every copy sold and give the rest to the developer. 75% is way too high.
People won't get critical feedback on how to improve their coding, story telling, etc, and in turn won't be able to improve their skills to release a better product.
It could also impact the free exchange of ideas for creating mods and overcoming any problems encountered while doing so. I've spent a fair amount of time on the Bethesda GECK/Creation Kit forums, and people there are very generous about offering advice and helping others out. But if money becomes a factor, they might not be as willing to lend a hand. Why assist a potential competitor when they can corner the market for their own mods by keeping their knowledge to themselves? All in all, I think this is a bad move for the modding community. It will end up being dominated by a handful of the most skillful modders and squeeze out a lot of the dabblers, who quite often come up with some very good ideas.
I think it could be pretty cool, but I'm not super in to modding so it doesn't really impact me too much. If a modder wants to keep there stuff free they can, and if you don't want to buy it, you don't have to. People selling their projects that took hard work for money is what capitalism is all about. Being "entitled" to that work is maybe what is wrong with you kids today and your fancy interwebs.
One note about the "stolen IP" stuff, you can't sell it without first providing it for free. It will be up to the community to flag disingenuous mods before they can go on sale. It is up to communities to handle themselves. DayZ could have been a finished product years ago as just a straight mod for money.
Personally, I'm all for donating appropriate sums of money directly to mod projects, which I deem to be truly worthy (Shadow of Morrowind, Skywind, or CangLoong City to name but a few). However, I do not agree about valve literally robbing 75% for merely hosting the files.
To be brutally honest... the more I read about valve's new scheme, the less likely it becomes that I purchase anything from steam in the future.
I don't see anything wrong about making mods a way of earning money. It's hard work, after all.
I feel like if your mod is good enough you could get a dencent amount of money from a "donate to future products" button rather than charging,obey directly.
I don't see anything wrong about making mods a way of earning money. It's hard work, after all.
I feel like if your mod is good enough you could get a dencent amount of money from a "donate to future products" button rather than charging,obey directly.
When was the last time you donated money to a modmaker? Donations are generally not a good way of making money, so it is great that they are giving modmakers a tool to do that. How popular it will be is a different matter.
Given that it appears that Steam Workshop modders require their mods to fetch at least $400 before seeing a single cent on their bank account, it is unlikely that many will be able to make worthwhile amounts of money. Indeed, that's not what I'd call a smart way of gaining extra income.
I don't see anything wrong about making mods a way of earning money. It's hard work, after all.
I feel like if your mod is good enough you could get a dencent amount of money from a "donate to future products" button rather than charging,obey directly.
When was the last time you donated money to a modmaker? Donations are generally not a good way of making money, so it is great that they are giving modmakers a tool to do that. How popular it will be is a different matter.
Figuring this is against most ToS, not many.
However, if there was a decent mod that had a donate button, and the donations pay for the hosting of the mod and giving a chunk to the modder, I'd click ot faster than I would a pay DLC.
All of the mods I've made are because someone asked me or because I wanted them for myself, and I don't see the need of getting money out of it, since I like doing so and that's well enough for me (besides being able to play with the mod if it's for myself). This means that I won't charge anyone for my mods, not even if they want to re-use the, but won't allow anyone to use them for profit (after all, I haven't worked for someone else to get money out of it).
I wouldn't say that giving mods for free is part of modding, but I won't give out a penny for a mod if the modder doesn't get all of the money, because, what part of the mod has Steam done? (Besides hosting the mod (and maybe advertising), task for which there are many communities in the interwebz, or even Dropbox if you don't want to join one.) Steam's decision seems stupid to me, besides getting money from people wanting to make of use of mods I don't see another purpose on this as it is right now.
Let's send all the IE mods there, collect all the money in one pocket and give them to someone, who will create a One-and-Only Absolute Ultimate Crossplatforming Mega Modding Editor Tool whith nice GUI, that will substitute all existing tools
Isn't NearInfinity good enough for GUI modding? Or do people require something like an IDE for IE modding? Also, I highly doubt a new tool would replace old ones, there are mods that are solely written in WeiDU for example, and that might make them incompatible.
While I'm not against this in principle I fear that the logistics may mean an end to modding (at the very least modding as we know it). Firstly there is the obvious point raised about how much Valve are raking off the top, it's not modders making money out of the mod its Valve. Secondly the incentive to co-operate is vastly reduced. Thirdly how do you prove that you're modding of a game to do X is different to everyone elses. Who would own the IP. What if you spent ages working on a mod to make it perfect then found out that you had accidentally duplicated someone else's work so you couldn't sell it. Fourthly the game EULA at the moment mods are permitted as free software but I bet some of the big names will be writing in a do not modify the game for profit or something similar. Fithly Mod Tools currently most developers will release a set ofd tools for free so modders can mod the game for free. If modders are asking for a profit devs will too mod tools will start becoming additional purchases so people who would produce free mods will start having to charge driving up all the prices.
Never pay for a mod. The only add-ons I pay for are professionally done works by the game company.
If us BG modders ever charged money, Bioware would have shut us down. Its clearly written in most game EULAs about tampering with the game and its files. Bioware was one of those cool companies back then. We made mods, didn't charge for them and it kept their game series alive with sales. They turned a blind eye as long as there was no profit to be made by us modders.
Comments
At least I silently hope that the money goes to modders. If not, it is even more absurd than now.
Actually steam get 75% of the money which is a dick move.
But I would pay for an SCS mod for IWD and an Ascention mod for BG2EE:) So it seems there can be cases when mods cost some money.
@bengoshi
True, some mods are great so I could potentialy pay small ammount of money for them. On the other hand, there are mods which author would have to pay ME in order to use them.
People will also be discouraged from downloading mods as even the crappiest ones will be asking for money. People won't get critical feedback on how to improve their coding, story telling, etc, and in turn won't be able to improve their skills to release a better product.
When these modders stop getting downloads and money, they may just up and quit modding altogether since there is nothing in it for them having lost the sense to do it for enjoyment instead of greed.
My two cents.
TB's thoughts on this.
1) The game developer receives a share of the profit. The modder is using their product to earn money after all.
2) Any intermediaries in the transaction receives a fair share for the work of collecting the money of every copy sold and give the rest to the developer. 75% is way too high.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140575-Valve-Announces-Paid-Skyrim-Mods
Personally, I'm all for donating appropriate sums of money directly to mod projects, which I deem to be truly worthy (Shadow of Morrowind, Skywind, or CangLoong City to name but a few). However, I do not agree about valve literally robbing 75% for merely hosting the files.
To be brutally honest... the more I read about valve's new scheme, the less likely it becomes that I purchase anything from steam in the future.
Donations are generally not a good way of making money, so it is great that they are giving modmakers a tool to do that. How popular it will be is a different matter.
However, if there was a decent mod that had a donate button, and the donations pay for the hosting of the mod and giving a chunk to the modder, I'd click ot faster than I would a pay DLC.
I wouldn't say that giving mods for free is part of modding, but I won't give out a penny for a mod if the modder doesn't get all of the money, because, what part of the mod has Steam done? (Besides hosting the mod (and maybe advertising), task for which there are many communities in the interwebz, or even Dropbox if you don't want to join one.) Steam's decision seems stupid to me, besides getting money from people wanting to make of use of mods I don't see another purpose on this as it is right now. Isn't NearInfinity good enough for GUI modding? Or do people require something like an IDE for IE modding? Also, I highly doubt a new tool would replace old ones, there are mods that are solely written in WeiDU for example, and that might make them incompatible.
Firstly there is the obvious point raised about how much Valve are raking off the top, it's not modders making money out of the mod its Valve.
Secondly the incentive to co-operate is vastly reduced.
Thirdly how do you prove that you're modding of a game to do X is different to everyone elses. Who would own the IP. What if you spent ages working on a mod to make it perfect then found out that you had accidentally duplicated someone else's work so you couldn't sell it.
Fourthly the game EULA at the moment mods are permitted as free software but I bet some of the big names will be writing in a do not modify the game for profit or something similar.
Fithly Mod Tools currently most developers will release a set ofd tools for free so modders can mod the game for free. If modders are asking for a profit devs will too mod tools will start becoming additional purchases so people who would produce free mods will start having to charge driving up all the prices.
I hope I'm wrong but only time will tell
If us BG modders ever charged money, Bioware would have shut us down. Its clearly written in most game EULAs about tampering with the game and its files. Bioware was one of those cool companies back then. We made mods, didn't charge for them and it kept their game series alive with sales. They turned a blind eye as long as there was no profit to be made by us modders.