Discussion for Workshop Paid Mods - Thread 7 : V - Skyrim

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:33 am

This. A thousand times this.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 6:09 am

Actually, would http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34307/ be a good alternative?

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:13 am

So Valve is now turning mods into something proprietary instead of open source or free software

I looked up an article on the GNU licence about free software and here is their definition:

Note the values of sharing and cooperation - what Valve has done is remove those values from modding

How so

Can a paid mod can no longer be studied and changed nor redistributed with or without changes? while most of us wouldn't redistrbute a mod without permission we do use modders resources whether they are scripts or assets and redistribute them in our own mods - you can't use a paid mods resources - it has moved into a proprietary state

Didn't Valve use to complain about Microsoft being a closed platform

Look what they have done - where's the vision of open source from them now?

This is not about money or paying for mods - this is about your freedom which just got taken away

And while there are still free mods available - those of us who have been around a bit or who have studied history are all to well aware that once you start giving up some freedom the rest is soon taken.

Is Valve anti open source? - it would seem Valve is behaving less like Gordon Freeman and more like GLaDos

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:37 pm

Stuff like this is shocking.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=431272581&searchtext=

charging for stuff available via the console...

tgl1992 dunno if you use the console commands but for fast leveling http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Console_Commands_%28Skyrim%29/Skills

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:45 pm

Wait. What? Any screenshots or proof?

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:24 pm

No just seen convos. Apparently he took it down and then put it back up so pop ups now appear randomly during casting.

He was getting hateful comments and now it's gone from the nexus.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:30 pm

I hope this is just a rumour. If it's true, it's one of the most distasteful and ridiculous things in modding history.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:05 pm

Agree.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:30 pm

I've seen two separate people say it. And now after alleged backlash the free version is gone.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:57 pm

I really hope this doesn't ruin everything. I was pessimistic, then Gopher's vids made me a little more optimistic, and now reading this thread I am again pessimistic. I didn't realize so many mod authors were switching to the paid SW so quickly. If this does ruin everything, please oh please Bethesda, don't use the monetization model for Fallout 4 mods!

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:07 pm

I haven't posted here in a long time and I might never post here again. Might get banned for this, but here are my two cents:

Go on the app store on your phone. Go ahead, do it. Whether you're Android, Windows, or iOS, I guarantee you that if you remove all filters and just look at the newest uploads 99% of it will be barely-working crap that costs from one to five dollars. It's also worth noting that back in 2012 400,000 of the Apple App Store's 650,000 apps had never been downloaded. That's right, 60% of the stuff on the App Store was never downloaded once. (Most recent figure I could find).

Part of the problem is that monetizing mods turns a good chunk of the ecosystem into a bunch of shameless cash grabs. This is not really empowering modders so much as it is inviting commercial companies to start churning out BS mods at a staggering rate. The ecosystem will be polluted by a ludicrous amount of worthless content, small groups of people just throwing a bunch of crap at the wall to see what sticks. And Valve doesn't give a damn. They've explicitly stated that they're going to do the bare minimum to police the community, and rely on users to do most of the heavy lifting for them. Reporting stolen content, reporting inappropriate content, reporting stuff that's just plain broken, and you can put money on Valve taking their time with responding to these reports, and profiting from every second of procrastination. Because remember, if you get a refund within 24 hours, it's not a real money refund. It goes into your Steam Wallet. Your "refund" is something you can only spend by giving it back to Valve.

And even if Valve doesn't officially promote any mods (they will), there will be lots of shady guerrilla marketing going on, artificially inflating the reputation of crappy mods. Even if they quash it with their minimum $5 spending to truly activate a Steam account, this will be done on external sites that have no such protections in place. John Q. Modder, your everyday Joe, will simply not be able to compete with that.

Everyone who's saying this is good for the modding community or even for the modders is stupid. And I have no respect for the modders who bought into this. It's not just about selling out. The fact of the matter is, how stupid do you have to be to not see an offer of 25% of gross sales as an insult? To not understand that it makes you the ho to GabeN's pimp? To not realize that Bethesda is doing literally nothing and taking the lion's share of the sales for user-generated content of a game that came out three and a half years ago?

The more I think about this thing the more holes I see in it. The more reasons to be pissed off. The more reasons to sit in silence, incredulous that it's actually come to this.

Monetized mods. That's seriously something P4RGaming or TheBestGamers would write about for a laugh.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:28 pm

It's true. He reduced it to once per game and after even more backlash pulled it.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:00 pm

I hate spamming as much as the next guy, but people should really learn to think and not act on impulse. If a modder wants to go that route, it's his right to do so. Doesn't mean we have to like it. If you don't support you can say so with a polite comment, vote with your waller etc.

I suspect modders wouldn't be leaving or removing their mods as much if there wasn't such hostility. But what can you do? Majority will always be majority.

» Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:09 pm

At this point I'm wondering if this will set a precedent for future gaming, how badly has this affected the community and in the future will this turn some modders away from helping others for profit?