Comment on Steam Workshop Has added support for paid mods

evatronic@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• echo64@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  In addition, mods always end up in a situation where someone’s work was stolen, which no one cares about when it’s free. Everyone’s just using everyone else’s stuff because it’s all working to make a better ecosystem

  That all changes when people get paid, justifiably

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  • Goronmon@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    In addition, mods always end up in a situation where someone’s work was stolen, which no one cares about when it’s free. Everyone’s just using everyone else’s stuff because it’s all working to make a better ecosystem

    Taken from creations.bethesda.net/en/…/bethesdagamestudios

    Creations can range anywhere from simple cosmetics or gameplay tweaks to entire new quests and encounters - it’s up to what you can conjure! Our internal document available to Verified Creators has some specifics, but in general:

    Creations must be standalone, so it cannot depend on other community releases, free or paid.
    
    Creations must be all-new to qualify for release. You cannot re-purpose older releases – or work by other authors, unless contracted.
    

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    • BURN@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah, that’s sure stopped content mods being ripped off and reuploaded to paid platforms.

      This happens every time someone tries paid mods. Someone rips somebody else’s work and profits from it.

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      • Goronmon@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Might not stop it, but having an approval process for developers and clear rules will make it harder.

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    • echo64@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yes, I’m sure that will stop it

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• webadict@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Bethesda’s goal, as usual, is rent-seeking. They can’t penetrate more markets, so they need to make new ones, and what better way to do this then to hire what amounts to contractors doing gig work. They don’t even have to pay them except in commission, which is a really scummy thing to do.

  Some people see this as a way for mod-makers to make money, but mod-makers already have those! Every mod I’ve seen and every modder I’ve talked to has a donation link you can send money to, and the ones who didn’t had organizations and charities you could send your money to instead.

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• paultimate14@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Almost every mod out there is addressing some (real or perceived) deficiency in the base game

  Emphasis on “perceived”. In my experience, the vast majority of mods are for things that I would never have asked for or expected from the developer.

  Like Thomas the Tank Engine being everywhere. Or the other day I visited a friend and he was playing Civ 6 as Luigi from Mario. Or adding guns to Skyrim. Or adding tons of sexual content.

  Should that content just not exist (licensing issues aside)? While I’m grateful to the noble people making and giving away mods for free, if I could start a decent side gig with it I might start making mods myself.

  I can’t imagine myself ever buying a mod, but it seems like opening the platform up to allow creators to monetize is better than closing the platform entirely, or relying on the generosity of a few enthusiasts. Seems like this closes a gap on the spectrum from making your own indie game, getting a job as a developer, or using some DIY creator like Dreams.

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• Goronmon@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Paid mods is almost never a good thing for the game itself.

  Are there other examples of games having paid mods that you can point to for the issues you are concerned about?

  I can’t think of any off the top of my head, mainly because so few games provide any supported tools for mods in the first place.

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  • echo64@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This is the second time Bethesda has done this.

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    • Goronmon@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      This is the second time Bethesda has done this.

      Kinda true in two ways.

      1. There was initial paid mod attempt that they walked back due to player outcry, not because the paid mods themselves caused any problems. Which doesn’t really work as an example of “paid mods are almost never a good thing for the game itself”.

      2. The Creation Club has been around for years, so technically speaking “paid mods” have been around in Skyrim for a while.

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  • kbal@fedia.io ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If you want examples of games where the situation with mods is much worse than it is for Skyrim, you could look at literally any other game that exists. They're mad to try and mess with the model that has proven itself more successful than anything else for more than a decade.

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    • Goronmon@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I would argue that had much more to do with the fact that Bethesda is one of the very few companies who provide a decent SDK alongside their games.

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  • maynarkh@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I have an example, most of DCS World’s content is made by external people, each “mod” that adds a new aircraft priced at full game price, and is actually worth the money.

    Bohemia is trying to do something similar to Arma, with some community mods being sold as essentially DLCs.

    I can’t say I don’t like the model, if the content is big enough. No microtransaction crap though like the first iteration of paid Skyrim mods. Those sucked.

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• DarkMetatron@feddit.de ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Well, Minecraft marketplace for example shows that paid mods can work and be accepted by customers.

  I am not a fan of paid mods but there are examples for it working.

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• Evotech@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Just feels like a nightmare for the devs too. If you push out an update that breaks a mod are you required to fix it?

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