Steam enables the Sale of Mods on the Workshop

[Blake81]

http://store.steampowered.com/news/16509/

It seems we're upon a new age of darkness...

Since the days when the first gamer sticked the face of his boss to the head of a monster in Doom, mods have been a great way to enrich our games and extend their length beyond what the creators made. And although some modders had often asked for donations, most everyone always made their creations out of pure love and enjoyment, or to fix some bug the developers didn't patch. And all that made them great and enjoyable.

But, not anymore; these glorious years are about to come to and end if Valve keeps this policy around...

Not only mod usage will go down severely (because you now gotta pay for it; you can't just DL a thousand-some of mods, even if each of these is worth only $0.25, which is most unlikely), but now the modding world will become full of mediocre re-skinners or thieves who stole someone else's work and are now trying to sell it for just a quick buck.

Of course, this doesn't mean that free mods will stop existing. But if you, as a decent and recognized modder, suddenly had an urgent need of cash, would you be able to resist the temptation of selling your work?

And worst of all, if you sell a mod for, let's say, 1$, you only get 25 cents off it; the rest goes to Valve. In other words, even if you made the best mod ever and it sold plenty despite being priced $40, you'd only get 25% of that price while Valve gets free content AND cash.

This is going to create arguments and fractures all over the game community. I'll quote a comment I saw where I got these news who explains it better:

What the gullible idiots who are in favor - or neutral - towards this toxic practice completely miss, is that teleologically speaking there is a certain objectivity to what ends up being beneficial to everyone in the long run and what doesn't.

This objectivity (of what is good and what is bad) is correlated with ETHICS and that is what ensued this incurring shitstorm.

The people who say that this practice is legitimate are the same who won't mind loads of DLC, cut-content, on-disc DLC, season passes, micro-transactions, early access and the like. Please, do notice that all the previous examples have one thing in common: To detach you further away from your hard-earned money in exchange for an ever lesser service.

Paid mods will result in legal conundrums of epic proportions since most DLC infringes on various IP copyrights at the same time, and with publishers meddling in a world previously untouched by corporate lawyers and legalese experts, WE THE GAMERS, in due time, will see our mods reduce in quality, variety and spectrum.

In due time, Modders will also be substituted: From being enthusiastic fans who want to introduce new content to the games, to being money hungry prostitutes from poor countries who want a quick buck selling tasteless re-skins. These new modders will whore themselves out to corporate interests in exchange for a meager 25%. Yet again publishers win and WE lose.

This new practice is completely outrageous, no matter how one looks at it. The idea of paid mods is also against the spirit of entrepreneurship, voluntarism, and capitalism. It symbolizes the ascension of monetarism, and the commoditization of every single aspect of content creation.

So, modders out there, people who enjoys mods, or just games in general, rise your voices against this; this cannot be allowed to start, let alone continue and grow. This madness must be brought to a halt before it shatters the modding community as we know it.

[Pierce]

*Facepalm* It seems Corporate Greed has no boundaries, however I won't be expressing my opinion on this due to the thread severely bordering on business politics.

[Scrapmaster]

God have mercy on us all.

*Headdesk so hard the bloody thing implodes*

But still, sad, so sad...I do hope Nexusmods doesn't do this, PLEASE DON'T, PLEEEEEEEEEASEEEEEEE!

Seriously...this is bull.

[Blake81]

This is yet another rotten fruit of the ''Monetize Everything'' tree, along with the Shovelware, On-disk DLCs, Pay-to-Win FTP, Paywalls, etc.

All I can hope that the community on steam roars hard enough for the admins to take back this shit before it starts...

And although I highly doubt that sites like Nexus and the like will cater to this, there's a high chance that their populaces suffer a decrease. After all, you can charge for your mods on the other site.

[Drazzimyr]

As someone who frequently mods their game (largely through Nexus because it's become easier to download something in the NMM and organized the mods with BOSS or manually, than to get something form the Workshop, as I have some many mods that require SKSE that I feel unsafe downloading from anywhere else, without the knowledge that it'll work), even I didn't immediately think "coporate greed bullshit"

Though I don't personally make any mods, I had to look at the idea from a modder's perspective: An opportunity for a modder to provide for themself. Albeit, only getting 25% of the money made, is quite low while Valve and Bethesda (who I'm quite disappointed in, they're usually a company that avoids this kinda industry bullshit) getting a split between 75% of the cut is more than a little greedy.

I mean, mods being free is great and all, but it's hard for a modder to devote hours of their time to make something for free, with the equal chance of being praised is everything goes right by some and bitched at if something goes wrong for just a small few.

I didn't want to look at it from a company perspective though, since I'm not a capitalist.

But yeah, it's an opportunity to provide, one that can most certainly be abused and exploited wrong, but still some way to get some disposable income.
#
So I'm not for it, but I'm not entirely against it.

EDIT: Video by modder Gopher

[youtube]MaQTgYCRS2w[/youtube]

[Severontous]

I personally simplify this as the deaths of mods. Because paid mods is just dlc. So now we will have dlc, and more dlc. The only difference is who makes it.

[Raet]

I mean, mods being free is great and all, but it's hard for a modder to devote hours of their time to make something for free, with the equal chance of being praised is everything goes right by some and bitched at if something goes wrong for just a small few.

Actually it is very easy to spend hours working on something I could charge money for, but don't because I simply enjoy doing it. I made massive maps, far more detailed than the stock HOMM 3 maps, also NWN character packs and a campaign which due to hard drive failure was lost, and I did it merely for enjoyment and in the hopes that others would play it and enjoy it. So no, I am against the modding for cash scenario that Valve has created.

[Blake81]

Actually it is very easy to spend hours working on something I could charge money for, but don't because I simply enjoy doing it. I made massive maps, far more detailed than the stock HOMM 3 maps, also NWN character packs and a campaign which due to hard drive failure was lost, and I did it merely for enjoyment and in the hopes that others would play it and enjoy it. So no, I am against the modding for cash scenario that Valve has created.

THIS my friend, THIS! This is the reason of why mods are sometimes much better than any half-baked DLC the company just to add those features they cut off the game just to meet the deadline.

Mods are first made for simple personal enjoyment, and then we wish to SHARE that enjoyment with all those who are playing the game with us. (And of course, the desire of being recognized and admired as someone who created something cool).

This has been the beating heart of the modding community since its birth. It's what has made mods flow here and there; to be seen and used by millions of people and sometimes even inspiring the game creators themselves to integrate it in the main game (Bethesda's Devs admitted that FNV's weapon mods and accessories had been based on Antistar's WME Mod for FO3. That's the greatest compliment any modder can receive).

So, if we restrict this; if we choke this flow by adding a price tag to it, all of this will come crashing down.

Mods will no longer be mods; they'll be ''Fanmade DLC'', and when this happens, the attitude of those who use them will change greatly...

Y'see, when we spend our money on something, our attitude towards it is not the same as if we had gotten it for free.

If you downloaded a free mod and it was ridden with bugs, you just say ''Oh well'', delete it and find another or wait some time until the creator updates it. Maybe even tell him ''Hey dude, there's an issue with your mod, this and that bug out all the time. Hope you can fix it for the next update.'' to increase your chances of it being fixed.

But now, imagine if said mod had costed you, let's say $5. Would you've reacted in the same reason? NO! Of course not! You PAID the creator; gave him YOUR hard-earned money, and expected something back. And when that didn't happen, you see the same immature reactions you see on most Crowdfunded games that are at Early Access and advancing slowly; the ''WHEN THE $%&# ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE ME WHAT I PAID FOR INSTEAD OF THIS BUGGY PIECE OF SHIT? I GAVE YOU MY MONEY, DAMMIT! IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA GIVE ME WHAT I ASKED, THEN GIMME MY MONEY BACK!!'', you'll see this on the forums/blog of every Crowdfunded or Patreoned game that didn't deliver a full game after the first six months of Early Access. And the incidence of this is proportional to the price; if a $5 Mod happens to be buggy and the creators don't seem to be fixing it anytime soon, expect for these comments to start popping up after your buyers find out that your latest patch didn't fix it, and if it was a $50 Mod..... God help you. Ppl will start calling you swindler and thief in less than an hour after the initial release.

And you know, if there's some one thing that has made many Modders rage quit, are annoying users complaining about stuff. Imagine if the 100% of your userbase became this. Would you still be happily working on your mod just to keep getting that lovely 25% and see those guys who did NOTHING get their big, fat 75% off your back? I think you'd be much better with just your RL life job than break your back and your mind trying to please all the complainers.

Not to mention that, in a world with paid Mods, it wouldn't take long for a whole new thing to appear: Mod Piracy! YARRRRRR TORRRRRRENTZ!

What would stop one buyer from sharing the mod he just bought, and greatly reducing your sales? Or, does Valve plans to make DRMed Mods now as well? (As if that would help, anyway)

On today's internet, pirates are like cockroaches; no matter how many you squash or how many times you fumigate their hideout; they'll be back and probably in greater numbers in less than a month or two. How would any modder make profit like that? Would he be able to make any profit when 7 out of 8 people who use his Mod are using the pirated version they got off some pirate site? If they got lucky, the'd get profits for the first week or so. From there on, it'd be: Argh! Avast, you scallywags! Therrre be a Mod herrre we want to grahb, mateys!

Yet, as it usually happens with the bulk of the AAA World of the Game Industry, they care only about their initial profit; to cabbage as much cheddar they can before ppl realized that the stuff isn't worth their money.

[Flare]

You know what else I see coming?

C&Ds and copyright infringement claims flying like the fall leaves.

[Raet]

And it is dead... For now. Valve and Bethesda have both cancelled monetised mods in Skyrim. Hopefully now they have gotten the message!

[Blake81]

Mhm, it's dead. FIRETRUCK YES!!

And rumor has it that the final nail in the coffin was that someone with knowledge of laws took the care of carefully examining the Terms&Conditions (Y'know, that thing no one ever reads and always agrees) of the whole Sale agreement and found one, tiny clause that said something along the lines of:

''Each and every part of your Mods, even those you made yourself from scratch will become property of Bethesda as soon as they're for sale (it doesn't even have to sell for this to apply), and the company will be allowed to use them as they see fit without ever crediting you or giving you any money about it.''

And apparently, this caused the Modders and many of the sites hosting them to rise up in arms of fiery shitstorm. After all, that clause was pretty much a ''We'll steal your work, your credit, and your money, and there's nothing you can do about it.'' and Modders are a pretty proud (and angry) lot when it comes to deal with someone who steals your work.

I am not yet certain that all of this is truth (seems too.... fantastic to be. And I doubt Bethesda's lawguys would've messed up THAT big.), but since the whole thing is over, it's clear that SOMETHING indeed happened. (Some of the more exaggerated rumors even claim that even Nexus's Staff had gotten royally pissed Bethesda, and were going to remove their sites ''No Piracy'' rule if that clause wasn't removed. But once again, that all seems too fantastic).

In the end, I'd love to know who or what killed this catastrophe before it even started. Because it saved the world of modding....

[Raet]

Well that Gabe Newell guy also got sank to oblivion on reddit as well, that couldn't have felt good.