I think there is a lot, lot more to this vexed question than (as this post implies) people who want free stuff and think it should be free because they imagine it's easy to make.

Remember, some of the most outspoken voices against paid-for mods have been very capable and accomplished modders who know exactly how much work goes into their hobby.

There are serious questions about the whole ethos of switching from a hobby where hitherto there's been no commercial aspect, to one where there are contracts, obligations to customers, expectations of quality and mods being 'fit for purpose', commercial competition and rivalry between modders, financial harm (direct and through damage to reputation) from copyright theft, and all the other issues that can go with business ventures.

The fact that some people undeniably want free stuff which they've enjoyed up until now doesn't remove the fact that this would be a very big change which would have to be managed with great care and sensitivity, if the atmosphere of sharing and co-operation that the mod making and using community has enjoyed (with, admittedly, it's own problems) up until now isn't to be wrecked.

Personally I think that paid-for mods could be done, and done well. The way it was handled before and the enormous ill feeling (and bad press coverage) that generated, makes me think that Valve and probably Bethesda aren't the ones to do it. At least... not for a long time.

Certainly seems there are serious hurdles to overcome for something like a mod marketplace to work - how to handle people reselling mods made by others, mods that don't function as advertised, or conflict with other mods, etc.

Hoping someday these guys figure it out, as the end result for both mod authors and consumers of mods could be amazing.

The chance to earn income if you develop and publish a successful mod would result in many more people spending a hell of a lot more time making mods. I imagine we would also see more skilled designers and teams coming together to create some incredibly ambitious projects.

At any rate, I'm sure it will be lots of fun to make new (free) mods for FO4 and I can't wait to get started!

For the concept to actually "work" it's going to take some sort of vetting process with a 'moderator' similar to the way iTunes App store runs and less like a grass-roots sharing site similar to Nexus. Just consider how differently iTunes and Nexus are run, cost and controlled and I think you begin to grasp the major issues with "paid mods" actually happening properly. That's just the business and distribution side. Don't get me wrong, I love the Nexus and all my free mods, but taking "mods" to market is a much bigger deal than most think (and obviously Valve found that out the hard way).

I'm not paying for any damn mod, when I can get it free mods at Nexus.

Lots of the problems was caused by the way it was organized.

You can not suddenly let moders demand money for their mod. Yes it might work for other games but TES or Fallout has a lot of reuse of resources.

Something more in the line of 3rd part DLC should work better. That is its not listed among mods but get another placement.

Not open for everybody, you have to apply not all sort of stuff would be accepted either.

My hope here is obviously more of the large stuff. From things like Moonpath to Elsweir up to Fallout New Vegas.

Various contracts too.