Steam introduces paying for mods; starts with Skyrim

[Hooahguy]

Im pretty surprised this hasnt been posted yet.

Link to announcement

This is a terrible, terrible idea. First off, most of the revenue doesnt even go to the modders- Valve takes 75% of the revenue. Modders across the game spectrum are already railing against this new change. One Mass Effect modder I think put it best:

I am a modder. I helped contribute to Mass Effect mods (MEHEM, CEM, and Harby Module, specifically). Now, I have not contributed to Skyrim mods, but I feel that I have enough experience on modding itself that I can at least have a justified opinion on the subject of Valve charging for mods. Basically, it is a terrible idea.


"Why is that? Don't good modders deserve support?" some may ask. Absolutely. Black Mesa, for instance, is a good example of a mod that might deserve monetary compensation. Counter Strike started as a mod too. As a modder and a human, I like money. But this isn't the way to go about it.


This situation Valve started is terrible, because it has resulted in, or will result in, the following:


First, Valve, you have now made "modder" a dirty word here on the steam forums almost overnight. Thanks a bunch. You have now divided PC consumers and modders, when we used to be a pretty tight bunch.


Second, I now see mods going up that are little tiny swords and whatnot going up for sale. Bundles already that cost more than the game itself. In other words, I am concerned about a complete influx of mods that are completely useless and tiny and unsupported and updated, just because of money-grabbers who want a piece of the pie.


Third, this leads to microtransaction hell. Hell for consumers, and a deluge of stuff to compete against for us modders. This isn't healthy competition. It is gonna be cutthroat. Thanks again for taking the fun out of it.


Fourth, there will be inevitable stealing of other's people's content and then selling it as their own. Some may claim that because they modified another mod's content, they now have created their own mod and are free to sell. I disagree. They are making money at the expense of others.


Fifth, you have a "return policy," if it is even worth of the name, that is full of holes. First, 24hrs isn't much time to test if a mod will glitch out or not. Ever heard of a standard 14 or 30 day return policy? Let's say a consumer buys a mod, then one week later the modder releases an update. This update has a bug, and the game crashes or glitches out. Then let's say, for whatever reason (even a good one. Like real life got in the way) the modder doesn't release an update to fix the bug. Before today, big deal. You could either uninstall the mod or revert to a previous version. Given it was free, most people wouldn't complain too much. But NOW, a consumer will likely be stuck with a useless piece of software they paid good money for. Software that now is worth zilch. They will be, understandably, really upset, with no way to get their money back.


Lastly, you, Valve, are likely hurting good, legal sites like Nexus Mods as some greedy people take their mods, or the "premium versions" off the site in favor of posting to the Steam Workshop. These sites rely on advertising revenue to run, and you will very likely hurt this revenue. Why do that? You used to have a reputiation of siding with the underdog. It is not like you are in competition with people like Nexus. It is not like they are EA, taking a corner of the market. And it isn't even like you really need the money Valve. This just feels to me like a cash cow. A move EA would be proud of, sadly.


As a modder, I disapprove of this move Steam. This may have far reaching consequences, for everyone involved.


As for the rest of you, if you are still reading (thanks by the way) please support the effort against this initiative by Valve. Sign the petition here https://www.change.org/p/valve-remov...steam-workshop


More importantly, speak with your wallets. The best way to change this policy is to not spend One. Single. Cent. on mods. No matter what.


Keep mods free!
Ad Astra per Aspera

Already there are a number of paid mods out there. One mod was actually taken down within 24 hours because it was discovered that he was using assets from other mods without their permission. Apparently Valve refused to let the modders involved in the pay scheme reach out beforehand to the creators of the mods that their mods rely on to work.

Personally, Im not against the idea of paying modders for their work. Of course it depends on the mod, so I wouldnt be paying for a mod that retextured a sword, but I would probably give a donation to the modder who made a real work of art, like the Falskaar mod for Skyrim, which the creator basically made a huge quest line with a whole new world. He deserved money for that. But Im not going to give money for it if the mod creator is only getting 25% of what Im giving them. This is pure greed on Valve's part and I worry about the future of modding. This is certainly one of the issues with relying on Steam for everything, they were bound to abuse their power at some point.