Link to http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/248210/Video_How_modding_made_Bethesda_better.php

Notes - the first 14 min are a history of modding and user generated content by Joel, then he gets into why Bethesda benefit from mods

1. Community

Interesting how he he explains the way community has grown from the forums to youtube to twitch - and content outside the games such as fanfiction, music, cosplay

2. Sales

He talks about how a developer can increase sales by - well sales but generally after 6 months the game drops off into the bargain bin - he compares Morrowind sales to World of Warcraft which came out in the same time period for longevity due to the amount of content available enabling long-term replay

Mods get stories on news sites for free - he says that the mods can become more compelling than the game and people buy Skyrim not for the game but for the mod - he doesn't fell offended by that

3. Collaborative format

Creating modding tools made it easier for the devs to make the game - as Tamriel Rebuilt or any successful Mod Town will attest to

Making DLC was easier for them than for others (I still can't believe I bought that horse armor!) He makes some nice references to that though

Then it gets interesting as how he gets into revenue of DLC and how huge it is

Yep paid mods - he says he really hope it catches on...

4. Alternate Realities

Nice to see Trainwiz Thomas engines in Skyrim, a green Fallout

He references that it doesn't have to be lore correct - he notes modders intuitively go to fix things and names some modders which have influenced them

He notes the youtube tutorials benefits and how modding helps them hire people

Nice how he references that the decisions made in Morrowind still influence them today

5. The Modder mentality

Worth seeing this for yourself - very encouraging for long term modders about not giving up - MD you will enjoy this bit - I know I found it helpful

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I enjoyed the video - it hit all the right notes for me and confirmed that paid modding is firmly in the sights of the biz cats

Very encouraging for modders and to see the evolution of what we are doing - hope those who watch get some benefit from it

GDC was in March, I can only imagine he learned his lesson the following month. At least I hope he did.

I was going to say the same thing. Poor guy didn't know what was coming.

I agree that paid mods is something that's coming and also not a bad thing, but I don't really understand your 5 point sale's pitch. Zenimax is basically scum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Altman has no engineering, game design or gaming background. He's a money guy, with a somewhat shady history. Everything Bethesda's made since Morrowind has been without heart and real passion. Sales is what drove every design, PR and strategic decision, including shipping a construction set.

Bethesda is basically the worst example if you want to herald the glorious new age of paid modding. They don't provide a mod tool because they're noble and visionary. They do it because of sales. They're archaic and disconnected from their players, run by guys who couldn't give less [censored]s about all of this.

I think there are many interesting things we could discuss about this video. Paid mods is not one of them.

An interesting video! I agree on the count that I have used hacky methods to make things work which then plague me when the project transforms to a larger scale...