Discussion Time! Paid mods ala Steam

[psychospacecow]

So, one of the frontrunners for The Skyrim Workshop's paid content had stolen content in it.

http://kotaku.com/paid-skyrim-mod-turns-...1699913114

If you're unaware of the current situation, people can now charge money for items they have posted on the skyrim workshop, with Valve pocketing 75% of the profit.
What are your thoughts, and/or opinions on this matter?

Personally, this scares me. There's already a lot of blatant theft on that workshop, and as I figure it, there's probably some financial incentives for someone to try and off the Nexus.

[Kosheh]

Wow, check out that "gaming journalism" web blog using Big Spooky Curse Words in their headline. What happened to journalistic integrity, Totilo?



Personally, I don't think...charging for it is the right thing. Maybe a "donate" button instead - the whole "charging for a mod" thing is sketchy; donating makes it optional. You're still rewarding the modders for their own hard work.

[Gors]

I have the mindset that everyone who works and creates something that is interesting and useful to someone (by useful I am using it very broadly; graphical mods aren't useful gameplay wise but it is sought by many people, therefore there is some use), the creator has the rights to charge for it.

But in this growing market where everyone is a rabid angered fanboys who are disgusted by DLC even if they are reasonable, the safe path is to make a donate button. Donating is highly effective seeing that it's all up to you if you want to pay or not, and you can pay the amount you want.

[Dolphman]

What they are doing is not right. Because it would lead to more pirating, and losing supporters everywhere via boycotting.
This is going to be a bigger controversy than Microsoft's original plan for DRM on the Xbox One, and DRM is bad enough.

If this affects Garry's Mod and Source Filmmaker, there's definitely going to be a huge shitstorm over it.

[psychospacecow]

http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comme..._from_the/
http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comme...tial_mods/
http://www.reddit.com/r/CitiesSkylines/c..._very_bad/
http://www.screwattack.com/news/petition...es-one-day
http://kotaku.com/the-most-ridiculous-sk...1700002072
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65022/?
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65034/?


Relevant links.

[Helmo]

[daemoth]

It would be debatable, if it was not of the 75%. Thats totally ridiculous. It blows my mind...

[psychospacecow]

https://www.change.org/p/valve-remove-th...m-workshop
60,233 already.

[Kriven]

I don't have a problem with this. It's a potential revenue area for fans who want to keep fanning. Basically, it's condoned, paid fanart...

Obviously some people will charge overly much for their mod, but if that's the case... eh, nobody's going to buy those hundred dollar horse genitals. It's a bad business decision, and the people who make those will flounder.

[Lemonray]

>mods become profitable
>mod creators create higher quality mods because of the incentive
>possible DLC-esque collaberations extending the life of games
>junk is mostly ignored by buyers
>everybody is happier

Capitalism wins again.

[TomGuycott]

There are a lot of issues with paid mods, even in the form of donations. I think the main thing is HOW original the content is. Is it from scratch? Is it a small edit of someone else's hard work?

It would be nice if there was some form of incentive for people who make excellent mods to make some kind of profit, because it would give them incentive to keep doing awesome stuff, like Lemonray said.

[Kosheh]

Oh man I hope somebody really needs these hi-res horse genitals
I mean if it's in the marketplace then like SOMEBODY wants them right??? and at $100 these babies are in HIGH DEMAND!!

[psychospacecow]

I know where you can get that mod normally.....


Some of the issues from my perspective:

Compatibility :
If you haven't modded before,there's a lot of issues for mods with compatibility. If someone purchases a mod that is not compatible with their current set of mods, there is nothing you can do about it, but find the mod that doesn't work with your newest one, or remove the newest one. Regardless, you've already paid for it. This incentivizes simpler mods that don't require FNSE, or SKSE, mods like "extra chicken in Riverwood, slightly different iron armor", stuff like that.

Theft:
The Skyrim Workshop is notorious for blatant theft as users of the workshop have a history of uploading the work of others without their consent.

Licensing:
Permissions, licensed items, etc. that require one mod or another. As in, to make this mod work, you need this mod, or this program. So, SKSE, FNSE, ENB, which have licenses are gonna have a lot of legal issues.

[psychospacecow]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2...-disaster/

So, Forbes has decided to jump on this too. I can't say I was expecting that one.


http://imgur.com/gallery/nn47B

[BullockDS]

Ideally, I feel that if a modder is creating original content, they have a right to ask for money. However, I don't feel that this right should equate to an entitlement to money. I too think a "donate button" sort of approach would work better.

Although of course Valve just fucked things up royally here anyway. From what I've been hearing, modders on Nexus have already been deleting lots of their mods because scammers have been swiping their work for money.