Valve and Bethesda certainly ruffled a few weathers this week when they announced the Skyrim Steam Workshop was now going to begin selling mods. Up until now the status quo had been set in stone for years - mods were free, but now that’s all set to change.
The community is up in arms. There’s petitions going. There’s talk of jumping ship from Steam. You can almost smell the fire and brimstone as people decry Valve for killing the modding community. There’s two sides to every coin of course, but Valve has certainly begun an interesting time for the PC modding community.
Okay, so let’s look at this objectively. Right now, the vast majority of Skyrim mods are still completely free on the Steam Workshop. In fact, there’s barely any paid-for mods whatsoever. After all, why pay for something when you can get something similar for free just a few clicks away? All them Skyrim mods aren’t going anywhere.
What it does do is open up a potential revenue stream for the top-tier modders, a reason for them to create a mod rather than make an actual game. The slice is a bit small, just 25$ of sales, but for some of the large-scale mods this could make a huge difference.
Mods have been on a downward spiral for a decade now, locked out against a mass of DLC, online integration, and indie developers finding it easier than ever to actually get a real game out. This could reinvigorate the scene, meaning bigger, better mods for Skyrim.
On the downside, none of us like to pay money for what was previously free. Mods have a long history of being free, but you only have to look at Counter-Strike, DayZ, and DOTA to see where this eventually ends up. The best of the best become money-making machines regardless.
Anyway, enough rambling, it’s time to hand it over to you. We want to know what your opinion is on Valve’s latest groundbreaking move? Is it for the best, or a fatal mistake? Let us know your thoughts below!
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Mods : By the fans, for the fans!
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MODS: The Fans Make Them... The Fans Play/Use Them.
This is pretty much like fansubbing. People do it out of kindness and because they like it and want to share with everyone.
This is my opinion... ^^
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Who cares if they start charging money for mods. Everyone has to make a living somehow.
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Where the modders only receive 25% revenue on mods that are usually not going to cost more than £3?
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and they only get paid after they reach 400$
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Complaining about the amount is moot if you want them to get nothing at all though. As it stands 25% of $400 will always be better than 25% of nothing. Meh, if the move means more mods then that can only be a good thing.
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I believe it could work especially if there was a donation option rather than a separation between paid and free mods. Donate money to modders who've done a good job or have consistently produced quality mods or for example projects such as Skywind who with a large dev team would benefit from donations. But the cut that modders get at 25% is not enough and needs to be more if this is to work and not just be another way for Valve to make money at the expense of the community
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Btw are there any Skyrim modders on GD? Or any modders in general? I'd like to hear what they think :)
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Have a free option right next to a donation slider, sure most people will get it free but there will be some who pay a bit and others that pay a lot. Even then, donate to the mod author directly as they'll then get all the money.
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I agree completely
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This option sounds great!
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remove the option to only have paid mod and just give an option for donations this will make everyone happy.
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I think there will be nothing bad with something like "pay what you want" option. Something that will allow you to get mods for free as it was till now (and was good), but if you like the mod you can "donate" the modder for his work on the mod.
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If valve would just put a donation box,everyone would be happ.I personally would donate to mods I like and I'm sure most people will do the same.Forcing you to pay for mods it's more like EA marketing strategy and its rude and greedy
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And what makes it even worse for me is that Valve gets 75% of the money you pay, I mean, if I'm going to pay for mods I'm doing it to support the modmaker, not to support Valve who frankly had nothing to do with Skyrim.
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Also I generaly dislike the Steam workshop and never use it. Compared to a modmanager the Skyrim launcher is pretty rubbish and auto updates your mods without having control over them which can mess up your game real bad. But because this new development a lot of my favourite mods have switched to the workshop :(
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This is the reason why Skyrim got -5% like just in 3 days, wow, superb ... XD
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Let them create this pay-for-mod system. Every modder worth his salt creates mods for the sake of mods. A serious modder will never charge for their mods. As can be seen from the state of the workshop now.
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sign this petition if you disagree with valves new addition to the workshop
https://www.change.org/p/valve-remove-the-paid-content-of-the-steam-workshop
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Already signed...
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A donations box would have a been a MUCH better idea. Having mods locked behind a potential pay wall is irritating to say the least, not because I'm a cheapskate but what it could potentially mean for future titles such as Fallout 4 and elder scrolls 6. You combine this with mod authors only getting 25% of the cut. :(
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Now one thing that not being thought about by anyone is what happen when some one make free mod thats so popular but then someone else take it and add it to there mod but charges for it wiht out maker knowing what gonna happen then
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They've done a good decision I mean the mod creator is the one who is going to decide if they want to get paid or set it free but the workshop idea is good.
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There should be a "only a donation button" bar
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I completely agree.
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This generation of gaming is tearing apart gaming industry as we know it! I've been gaming since 1989 and I feel disgusted with the downhill developers/publishers are taking! The answer is a BOLD NO NEVER!!!!!!
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'This generation of gaming is tearing apart gaming industry as we know it!
I guess it's easy to think that if you focus only on the negative, but alot of positive and interesting things are also being set in motion this generation as well, virtual reality and ultra immersion for instance..... not to mention an ever increasing nod to old school retro gaming.
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What if they are doing this so people would stop gaming and turn to productive matters.
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It won't let me vote, so I'll post it here: Yes, if curated by Valve to ensure the mod is worth the price.
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This will ruin the modding community, the majority of good mods will be for sale. What's wrong with free mods? The majority of people who mod do it as a hobby, now they'll look at is a pay-check. Plain wrong.
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In a way it's kinda the same thing that happened with youtube......used to be an interesting community, then they introduced partnerships and now everyone and their grandmother is looking to make a buck..... don't get me wrong, it has somewhat improved the quality of the content, but sheesh, look what hell it hath unleashed upon the earth.... justin friggen bieber :(
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At least we don't have to pay to watch videos on Youtube.
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Two amusing articles posted right on Steams Skyrim page suggest this paid mods idea is already crumbling before their eyes.
here and here
Something tells me the days of this really stupid idea are numbered. ;)
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Good to know there is protest. i'm staying on the nexus for now. Steam is selling the wet and cold mod for 4.99, wtf!! it's free on the nexus
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Being a modder, you could join in the fun and release your own protest mod, I browsed through a few, some are pretty creative and humorous.... and who knows maybe someone will pay some ridiculous price to play it! ;)
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Haha maybe. sounds like fun ^_^
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With all of the dumb decisions lately, it seems like GabeN put his spoiled brat nephew in charge of the company or something...... I mean seriously it seems like overnight Steam has went from awesome to crap, seriously there has to be a logical explanation..... a change in management or something, maybe they let one of those corporate consultants in, those guys have a knack for wrecking business
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Yeah it would seem so. Skyrim went down to 5 bucks which is awesome but all of a sudden they slapped price tags on their mods. I hope they see the error of their ways and drop this silly idea
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what?! As a modder i find it preposterous. Modding isn't a job, it's a hobby.
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donations to show appreciation, sure.
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This would have been a better move from Valve, and would definitely have attracted more people to the modding community. They should just add a nice visible donation button either on the mod page, or the author's page. There are people willing to donate, and if 90% of it went to the modder, things would seem more fair too.
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I strongly agree !
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Basically this is a fine possibility for modders to be rewarded if they deserve it. The problems are the legal rat-tail that follows if you want to monetize your work and the unanswered questions like the support question.
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If they are going to sell mods better be cheap because the game itself (without DLC) cost 6€ a mod shouldn't exceded 1€
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the wet and cold mod is 4.99 USD :|