Valve monetizes mods (With Bethseda Launcher and Open Beta for Modding Released, Possible Return?)

The internet's made people more openly aggressive. It's not 'wrong' to cry foul over someone you don't even know and call them all sorts of names or ruin their lives - how is it ever going to affect you directly?
 
  • Agree
Reactions: lurkermouse and c-no
I didn't say I was defending it. See those quote marks?

Plus I've been staring at a bunch of people being unfairly called some of the worst things ever and people who should know better think they're okay to do it because they're self-righteous for months now. So I was mostly stating my feels.
 
A Random said:
I didn't say I was defending it. See those quote marks?

Plus I've been staring at a bunch of people being unfairly called some of the worst things ever and people who should know better think they're okay to do it because they're self-righteous for months now. So I was mostly stating my feels.
Click to expand...

I didn't say you said it, I was also stating my feels.

It's getting too feely in here.
 
  • Feels
Reactions: ZehnBoat
MiloWuCollusion said:

I think that is borderline whisful thinking with that share percentages and conditions....
Click to expand...
George Broussard would be doing wishful thinking. Would he even bother to read the terms and agreements to know how much modders would get paid in along with what quota is needed to even get said pay?
 
It's nice they took it out of Skyrim, but I doubt this will stop them from doing it to newer games as they roll out. Sounds like they'll be making sure you're aware you're paying for mods the moment the game arrives, as opposed to incorporating it into older games.

So it's a small victory, but methinks this isn't the last time they'll try to enact something similar.
 
jharwel1 said:
This is a hypothetical question that I know the answer to from a business standpoint, greed, but don't understand from any other perspective. Why should companies recieve money from a paid mod born in response to obvious design oversights like skyui and SKSE? Does this mean Curse is going to charge me to update dbm every other week?
Click to expand...

That's why I suspect this is Beth's idea - they stand to benefit most from this system, because it basically means they're outsourcing the QA they always neglect (and paying the modders peanuts)

It's platform economics at its absolute worst.

EDIT: Long live the mob. I hope this doesn't cause an automatic backlash against the idea of modders making money off their work, because I still feel it's an idea that can be done right.
 
Well, glad to see this drama being over for now. I'll admit, this is actually bigger than GamerGate considering the number of signatures in the petition (130k+!!!) and how the gaming community is torn apart by this.

So here's my final post about this drama for now. I don't think I missed anything.

  • http://www.np.reddit.com/r/GamerGha...e_declare_today_a_gamerghazi_holiday_call_it/ GamerGhazi (the subreddit that is against GamerGate) discusses this whole drama. Unsurprisingly they supported the idea.
  • So someone here posted about some of the paid Workshop creators got a lot of hate. Here's one and it's pretty disgusting.
  • AXQrh7q.png
    TIjI9l7.jpg
  • If you don't mind Jim Sterling, he made a very good video about this whole situation and nailed down the problems with this.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: MiloWuCollusion
Wow...I just finished catching up with this situation.

I can back up the idea that GOOD modders should be rewarded for their efforts, but I think the way this paysystem was pushed into a community that has been around for more than a decade was a really bad idea. Specifically when you look at the way Bethesda describes the payout:

"First Valve gets 30%. This is standard across all digital distributions services and we think Valve deserves this. No debate for us there.
The remaining is split 25% to the modder and 45% to us. We ultimately decide this percentage, not Valve.
Is this the right split? There are valid arguments for it being more, less, or the same. It is the current industry standard, having been successful in both paid and free games. After much consultation and research with Valve, we decided it’s the best place to start.
This is not some money grabbing scheme by us. Even this weekend, when Skyrim was free for all, mod sales represented less than 1% of our Steam revenue."
Click to expand...

45% to Bethesda, 25% to the modder. That just feels wrong, and it doesn't feel it will acomplish what they want: Modders to create elaborate DLC-like mods (Falskaar?). Perhaps if they had made it 45% to the modder and to 25% Bethesda the backlash would have been less severe, since this way the Modder is getting the larger cut.

It's easy to label the reaction of the community as "entitled gamers", but it was just a poorly handled implementation. First, it was thrust upon the community with no real prior notice, except for the modders that they contacted. When the pay system was announced, there was the expected backlash...but it made the modders that had signed up look like scabs during a workers strike. It split the community and exposed those modders to horrible harrasment.

Then there's the fact that Bethesda's games tend to be buggy as fuck, and a lot of mods are fixes to either bugs or gameplay issues (Sky UI). My only venture into modding was to fix a bug that kept popping up for me(and for others!), and it couldn't be fixed with console commands. I have it both on the Steam Workshop and the Nexus. A modder on the Nexus PMed me asking if he could use my mod, on his. Of course he could, why not!? It's not like he's making money out of it...oh wait. What happens if he starts selling it?

The mod payment system could have worked, but the people that implemented it either didn't understand how the community worked and failed to predict the most basic of problems (people stealing mods and selling them, people stealing assets from other mods). It's not the job of the community to police something that they didn't ask for. Bethesda and Valve really screwed this up.

Maybe if Valve/Bethesda had communicated this better> Maybe it was just poorly timed. Consumers are getting sick of getting dimed for DLC like mad.
 
Last edited:
Venusaur said:
45% to Bethesda, 25% to the modder. That just feels wrong....

Then there's the fact that Bethesda's games tend to be buggy as fuck, and a lot of mods are fixes to either bugs or gameplay issues (Sky UI). ...
Click to expand...
it honestly feels like they were getting people used to paying for mods, so bethesda could release a buggy half-finished game. have a ton of modders finish the game for them, and grab a bunch of the profit for their work.

i'm surprised EA isn't doing it yet
 
Valve and Bethsoft pulled the plug.

Paid mods are dead! ... for now.

In uncoordinated blog posts, Valve and Bethesda announced they're pulling the plug on paid content for The Elder Scrolls Skyrim five days after it was first introduced. This represents a victory for gamers and the communities of authors creating free content for all games. But some people aren't entirely pleased :(

Arthmoor's Blog Post:http://www.iguanadons.net/Skyrim-Workshop-Paid-Content-536.html
This video is narrated from one of the comments. Here's a screencap should the original ever go missing: http://puu.sh/htXGV.png
Steam's Announcement:https://steamcommunity.com/games/SteamWorkshop/announcements/detail/208632365253244218
Bethesda's Announcement:http://www.bethblog.com/2015/04/27/why-were-trying-paid-skyrim-mods-on-steam/

It's a good day. Good things do happen sometimes. This is not the end though. Valve and Beth have lost this one but are almost certainly going back to the drawing board and try again. Don't let anything slip through the cracks!

I drank real alcohol while making this.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
  • Winner
  • Like
Reactions: Luna, DuskEngine, Vitriol and 3 others
@Red

I am loving this video. I just went back onto arthmoors blog to see if he has posted anything else, and looks like others were calling him out for some of those comments (particularily the "just a bunch of trolls" bit). And in response he just double downed on the "This situation was every ones fault but mine" attitude.

EDIT: Oh yes, I forgot about this comic made in response to the fax saga

LqdJEgB.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Winner
  • Feels
Reactions: Stratomsk, lurkermouse, José Mourinho and 2 others
AnOminous said:
Dafuq? Fax machines with ink still exist?
Click to expand...
The place where I work has a fax machine and we use it pretty often.

There's a lot of clients we attend to that use Dos machines that ONLY either print to dot matrix printers or fax machines.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: José Mourinho
Alan Pardew said:
Welp found this on /v/. Well done, Polygon. You turned a paid modding issue into a harassment issue. :roll:

https://archive.is/eiOqz
Click to expand...

It's not exactly news that when you infuriate absolutely everyone on the Internet, some of the responses are going to be off the chart autistic or even outright threatening. It's sad, but it's not "news."
 
  • Agree
Reactions: lolwut
Batman VS Tony Danza said:
I'm curious what would happen if a base mod that is needed for multiple popular mods (such as SkyUI for Skyrim) suddenly decided to just put their mod on Steam and charge. So much can already go wrong when modding and sometimes you have to step away from a mod you'd otherwise be really interested in because it conflicts with another. I'm not an expert on this and only modded Morrowind and Skyrim but those are the games that benefit the most from them. They're also so big and have so many variables to consider that sometimes a mod just won't work or will break your game regardless of how you change the load order. Most uploaders charging for their content won't be aware of conflicts until people are already complaining

However, there are mods out there that are so big and add so much to a game that they function like a mini-expansion in themselves. I have no problem paying for stuff that overhauls or adds an entire level of gameplay to a game but I think in the end it won't matter. If a mod becomes pay-only then I get the feeling it won't be built upon by others in the community. Another uploader will offer something similar for free and that will become what everyone uses and creates content around. The only projects that might survive are the larger ones that borderline on remaking a game and take so much skill and time that it'd be difficult to replicate.
Click to expand...
If they actually start charging for necessary resources, there is only one way to go
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Accel_Rider and ICametoLurk
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back