Paid Mods

[ChocolateVillain]

So Steam just announced and implemented a new workshop(mods) feature that allows curators to charge for their work.

We think this is a great opportunity to help support the incredible creative work being done by mod makers in the Steam Workshop and to encourage more top-quality work. This new feature allows mod authors to choose whether to list their items for a fixed price, for pay-what-you-want, or to make their item available for free.

I for one do like this idea but I do see a dark side to this with the dreaded "microtransactions" Like from what I see now already with some of the Skyrim mods that just add one weapon in the game charging a buck or under"
I do feel the people who make outstanding mods for games that could almost be called stand alone DLC (looking at all the mods I have in Mount and Blade Warband that completely changes the game) should be able to charge or even from what I was reading set up like a donation button for people who want to.

All in all I think Steam is doing it right so far with the policy they have in place (yes if you don't like a mod you bought or it is broken, you can get a refund)
http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/refundpolicy
But it will greatly depend of the curators to really make this take off.

Links
http://steamcommunity.com/games/SteamWorkshop/announcements/detail/208632365237576574
http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/aboutpaidcontent

So, again what do you guys think?

*Edit*
TotalBiscuit view on the whole thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGKOiQGeO-k

*Edit*
Kotaku article of the really dark many shades of grey of what has been going on in the past few days.
http://steamed.kotaku.com/skyrim-modder-considers-quitting-after-steam-controvers-1700077114

*Edit*
IGN article about them now adding a "donation" option for modders
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04...mods?utm_campaign=fbposts&utm_source=facebook

*Edit*

Read this guys, seriously, read this and laugh at Valve:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/valve-wont-charge-for-dlc

*EDIT*
Took 3 days but the battle is over. Going to check up on how the modding community is saying about everything that transpired here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3434it/paid_mods_in_the_steam_workshop/

"We've done this because it's clear we didn't understand exactly what we were doing," Valve said in a post on Steam. "We've been shipping many features over the years aimed at allowing community creators to receive a share of the rewards, and in the past, they've been received well. It's obvious now that this case is different."

Valve said its intention in introducing paid mods through Steam was to "allow mod makers the opportunity to work on their mods full time if they wanted to, and to encourage developers to provide better support to their mod communities."

"We wanted more great mods becoming great products, like Dota, Counter-strike, DayZ and Killing Floor, and we wanted that to happen organically for any mod maker who wanted to take a shot at it," Valve said.

"But we underestimated the differences between our previously successful revenue sharing models, and the addition of paid mods to Skyrim's workshop. We understand our own game's communities pretty well, but stepping into an established, years old modding community in Skyrim was probably not the right place to start iterating. We think this made us miss the mark pretty badly, even though we believe there's a useful feature somewhere here."

 

[Fermonx]

I don't like this idea and never will.

Mod creators do a fine job, yes, but mods are what makes PC gaming what it is, free mods made for fun and so modders could show their skills and increase their portfolio for future jobs, ways to improve a game or extend the gameplay of it for free because the original developers didn't intend to do so, now everyone can charge for even the simplest mod, even for a patch, I honestly think this is taking away one of the crucial things for PC gaming.

Valve takes 75% too so its not a big support for modders either, if they wanted to do this a donate button was enough, not forcing us to pay.

 

[ChocolateVillain]

I'm with you. I think they should of just added a donate button. But as of right now it seems to be the wild west on the Workshop for Skyrim...

Already paid mods are being taken down for a verity of reasons it seems. A lot of modding sites are up in arms over Steam for this. Not to much about modders making money but over Steam/Bethesda taking a huge 75% cut of all sales.

Also of note a change.org is up for anyone to sign. Personally I think these petitions go nowhere, but if you want to check it out here.

https://www.change.org/p/valve-remove-the-paid-content-of-the-steam-workshop

 

[Narh]

Im going to make a mod. It'll add Gabe Newell and the CEO of bethesda as merchants. When you sell stuff to them, you only get 25% of its actual value. If you try to buy it back it would be for full price + count as theft so you get caught by the guards, get the item "confiscated" and you go to jail.. Ill put it on the Workshop $99.

 

[erickablyat]

I can already see a new age of decline beginning. Before you know it, this will spread everywhere and since the modder's only gain 25% of the profit, we all know who truly benefits from this...

I hate you Gaben. I hate you Bethesda. I hate you Activision. I hate you EA.

Give me Black Isle Studios or give me death!

 

[ChocolateVillain]

Im going to make a mod. It'll add Gabe Newell and the CEO of bethesda as merchants. When you sell stuff to them, you only get 25% of its actual value. If you try to buy it back it would be for full price + count as theft so you get caught by the guards, get the item "confiscated" and you go to jail.. Ill put it on the Workshop $99.

Someone beat you too it... Already taken down on the workshop but can still be found on Nexus

Cached of the Workshop.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...49163&insideModal=1+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

 

[Narh]

Well. I was thinking about going as far as making custom meshes and textures that look like the two said individuals...

Also, From what I've heard and been told, you're not even paid in cash for this. You get Steam Funds added to your wallet so in essence, valve keeps 100%.

 

[TheJollyRoger]

The guy who made the Skyrim version of Midas Magic is now making pop-up ads in the free version.

The whole concept of paid mods is already that deep in the cesspit.

View attachment 8534

 

[Dr. Doctor (inactive)]

I'm actually going to not use the Workshop or buy a game on Steam until this policy is reworked or removed entirely. This is the most asinine decision I have ever seen made by a company that continues to make and maintain THE most popular PC games.

Best case scenario is that this is just an isolated case with Skyrim, and won't spread to other games or to Fallout 4. If that is the case...it's the beginning of the end.

 

[ChocolateVillain]

The guy who made the Skyrim version of Midas Magic now show pop-up ads in the free version.

The whole concept of paid mods is already that deep in the cesspit.

Even worse is SkyUI is going pay as well.

Which is the backbone of a lot of mods so yeah...

Calling this right now!

Just added an article of the dark side of what is going on.

 

[Dr. Doctor (inactive)]

Even worse is SkyUI is going pay as well.

Which is the backbone of a lot of mods so yeah...

Calling this right now!

Just added an article of the dark side of what is going on.

I see you too browse /r/PCMasterRace

 

[Fermonx]

Even worse is SkyUI is going pay as well.

Which is the backbone of a lot of mods so yeah...

Calling this right now!

Just added an article of the dark side of what is going on.

I love it how in the first picture he says he is trying to build the hype when all he's doing is make more people angry, in the past couple days I've seen so many modders in reddit giving their opinion about this and I see like only 3 or 4 of the big modders are agreeing with this, its such a piece of crap, they've been doing mods for years and now its when they say they noticed the modding community and now is when they care about money? :thumbdown:

 

[DJ TTK]

I see alot of problems with this and issues it is going to cause in the future.

• Moding is allready living on the fringise on what is legal and what is not. With all this attentione given to this it might cause problems for modders in the future. I can see mods being shut down.
  
• What happends to free mods on other sites now? Will they be hunted down and shut down under legal bases because steam/game developer can't make money off them if they are not on steam.
  
• Customer support is going to be a hole new big problem. Yes you can get your money back in the first 24 hours but then you are screwed. What happens if a mod you have bought breaks after 25 hours when the game developer realeses a uppdate to the game?
  
• Hope that the moder fixes it? Mayby he can't because of the uppdate? You now have a broken product that is worthless.
  
• The meager 25% of the profits to the modder? This is nothing and should be much higher. Steam is taking way to much.
  
• Stealing. People are downloading free mods from other sites and adding them to steam under there name to make a profit. Not to mention mods/packs that use other peoples content being sold with out there permission.

These are just some of the issues I see with this and I think many more problems are going to rise in the future.

 

[mdgrim]

About all I can for 'paid mods'.

 

[Fermonx]

[*]What happends to free mods on other sites now? Will they be hunted down and shut down under legal bases because steam/game developer can't make money off them if they are not on steam.

They won't be hunted down, they will stay free as far as I know and from a reddit thread that Gabe made trying to clarify the situation.

[*]The meager 25% of the profits to the modder? This is nothing and should be much higher. Steam is taking way to much.

the 75% doesn't goes completely to Valve, that 75% is shared between Valve and the game developer, so for skyrim mods 25% for the modder and the rest is split between Valve and Bethesda

[*]Stealing. People are downloading free mods from other sites and adding them to steam under there name to make a profit. Not to mention mods/packs that use other peoples content being sold with out there permission.

This will be a great issue and I doubt Valve can control it unless mod developers stop giving the source code so they can use it as proof of them making the mod

 

[Dr. Doctor (inactive)]

The meager 25% of the profits to the modder? This is nothing and should be much higher. Steam is taking way to much.

Its not 75% to Steam. Bethesda actually takes 45%.

 

[Dr. Doctor (inactive)]

A letter from Valve. Read the last paragraph, we just have to keep making noise.

 

[ChocolateVillain]

a reddit thread that Gabe made trying to clarify the situation.

/r/pcmasterrace is not pleased with Gabe's answers, accusing him of damage control, which, based on his posts, he is indeed doing.

Going through that, just wow... Redditors are tearing him a new one.

I hate IGN. But will be adding this to the OP. It seems some ideas did stick and things are changing... But I doubt it is going to change how people feel about everything going on. 25% is still a huge slap in the face to modders who want to get paid for their work.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04...mods?utm_campaign=fbposts&utm_source=facebook

 

[TheJollyRoger]

Read this guys, seriously, read this and laugh at Valve:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/valve-wont-charge-for-dlc

All those guys from the CS 1.5 and Half-Life 1 eras who told us Valve would screw us over were right.

 

[ChocolateVillain]

Read this guys, seriously, read this and laugh at Valve:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/valve-wont-charge-for-dlc

All those guys from the CS 1.5 and Half-Life 1 eras who told us Valve would screw us over were right.

Interesting read but it seems they were only talking about Valve games and not just all the games they host on Steam. I'll added it to the OP tho for people that want to read it.