Re: Paid Mods....
Posted: Sun April 26th, 2015 5:06 pm
I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually don't see a problem with the concept of monetizing player created mods. There do seem to be some significant issues with how Steam is implementing it however.
1) There needs to be some form of robust rating or reviews system so that mods can be ranked by the players who buy them...the wheat will rise to the surface, the chaff will go away. This should alleviate issues with spam or junk mods cluttering up the sandpile, the best mods will quickly find their way on to the top of the list, and the top modders will see the money they deserve to make for the good work they do. (as to everyone just modding to make a quick buck, sure, you'll see a lot of this, but there will also be plenty of people who will still mod for the love of the game and just charge a nominal fee for their mods, a buck or two.
2) Obviously, as long as modders were modding for free, games who built in the capability to do so loved the players who extended and expanded their games. Being paid for now, there are significant intellectual property issues to be considered. Is Bethesda getting any of the money paid for mods for Skyrim that are sold by Steam? What about someone who creates a Star Wars mod for a non-Star Wars game...is Disney going to have some issues with it now that money is changing hands?
3) The revenue breakdown is backwards....it should be 75% to the modder and 25% to Steam (some of which should go to the game's developers if you really want the system to be fair to all). After all, even in the various app stores (Apple, Google, etc), most of the money charged for third party apps goes to the app developer....shouldn't the same be true here?
Modders put in lots of time and effort to create the mods we all love to use in the games we play...I have zero issue with them getting paid for it. It'll be up to us as consumers to decide whether to buy the mods that people put out, and up to the developers to charge a reasonable fee that sees them receive just compensation for their efforts. Like in most free markets, given a bit of time (and reasonable regulation, which Steam may not be handling in the initial incarnation) things will settle into a comfortable zone.
That's my take anyway...
1) There needs to be some form of robust rating or reviews system so that mods can be ranked by the players who buy them...the wheat will rise to the surface, the chaff will go away. This should alleviate issues with spam or junk mods cluttering up the sandpile, the best mods will quickly find their way on to the top of the list, and the top modders will see the money they deserve to make for the good work they do. (as to everyone just modding to make a quick buck, sure, you'll see a lot of this, but there will also be plenty of people who will still mod for the love of the game and just charge a nominal fee for their mods, a buck or two.
2) Obviously, as long as modders were modding for free, games who built in the capability to do so loved the players who extended and expanded their games. Being paid for now, there are significant intellectual property issues to be considered. Is Bethesda getting any of the money paid for mods for Skyrim that are sold by Steam? What about someone who creates a Star Wars mod for a non-Star Wars game...is Disney going to have some issues with it now that money is changing hands?
3) The revenue breakdown is backwards....it should be 75% to the modder and 25% to Steam (some of which should go to the game's developers if you really want the system to be fair to all). After all, even in the various app stores (Apple, Google, etc), most of the money charged for third party apps goes to the app developer....shouldn't the same be true here?
Modders put in lots of time and effort to create the mods we all love to use in the games we play...I have zero issue with them getting paid for it. It'll be up to us as consumers to decide whether to buy the mods that people put out, and up to the developers to charge a reasonable fee that sees them receive just compensation for their efforts. Like in most free markets, given a bit of time (and reasonable regulation, which Steam may not be handling in the initial incarnation) things will settle into a comfortable zone.
That's my take anyway...
I'm very involved in Skyrim modding. Unfortunately I'm not talented enough to create mods to share, but I mod my game VERY, VERY heavily, and have been doing so since the days of Oblivion.