Here's a german article on why the Enderal developers decided to stay with not requiring monetary compensation: http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/artikel/enderal_entwickler_zu_bezahlten_mods,45309,3085218.html

Mainly, they calculated what kind of money they'd need to raise by the sales to compensate for the money they'd need to spend on licensing once their work wouldn't be free, anymore. Many licenses are worded such that the licensed work is free to use as long as the result is also not raising money. If a developer decides to charge money, he is facing quite a tail of stuff to pay for, immediately.

Yea they are rolling back the pay wall but i didnt mind people getting paid for mods.

PeterLG wrote:
Yes! We did itttttttttt

Ye ! This is a great victory

Yes! We did itttttttttt

So after a petition with 133,000 backers (myself included) I hear that Valve is rolling back the paywall.

I recently found out that the mod has to make $100 profit before the modder can make money, and they only get a small percentage once they do profit. That's freaking absurd.

Noctus wrote:
Ah, so it makes sense that Bethesda would be all for this, considering that they have one of the largest modding communities ever to help float the bill.

They probably didn't have much of a choice. It was let Valve test this on them, or Valve would stop selling their games on steam.

It's perfectly fine that modders, companies that make modable games and Steam Workshop have the opportunity to make money from their work. The free option should be available too.



However, Valve and the publisher (Bethesda in this case) have an obligation to do some quality control if they plan on making money off of modders' work. Simply providing the platform and expecting the community to self-police is not going to cut it.

Noctus wrote:
Ah, so it makes sense that Bethesda would be all for this, considering that they have one of the largest modding communities ever to help float the bill.

I'm not sure what benefits Bethesda does get, but if a mod developer uses some sounds, for example, and these sounds are under a non-commercial license, at the very moment the mod developers charges anything for the mod containing the sounds, he violates that license. So the mod developer actually needs to pay for a license or to get persmission for using those sounds, beforehand.

All I'm saying is that the modding community that normally is using lots of free stuff faces legal and monetary sideeffects, if they blindly start charging money for their mods. The only vultures who'll be happy about all of this are likely to be lawyers, in my opinion...

Nosferatiel wrote:
If a developer decides to charge money, he is facing quite a tail of stuff to pay for, immediately.

Ah, so it makes sense that Bethesda would be all for this, considering that they have one of the largest modding communities ever to help float the bill.

Starting with Skyrim, Steam has added the ability to charge for mods on the workshop. Not only has this caused a flood of trash pay mods, such as 'premium golden potatoes' or crappy retextured glass swords, but Valve is taking 75% of the proceeds from the modders they claim to 'support', and people are selling mods they didn't even make. could this be the beginning of the end for the Skyrim modding community?



On the other hand, it could generate more competition, but there will always be those derps who charge for stupid things.

I think that if they absolutely have to charge for mods, modders should be required to pay a one-time fee up front, and then get 100% of the proceeds. This would discourage the posting of premium crap mods.

Oh, I signed the petition the day it was launched, just to get Valve's attention. Their system needs a change.



But I don't see why a modder can't be entitled to a reward for his work? Because it's a hobby? There are more the enough hobbies that one can earn money on. My sister dances, and she participates in competitions. If she's good enough she gets a price/reward. Why shouldn't modders get a reward if their creation is good enough?



Like this guy who makes buildings for Cities: Skylines. He has a Patreon page and gets money for making these buildings, and I don't see what's wrong with that. If people are willing to pay (and we're talking 1-5 $ here) for higher quality mods/additions for a game, then let them. Modders need to pay their bills just like any other person.



Having paid mods doesn't clash with the idea that modding is a hobby for many. Fishing is a hobby for some, yet other make a living out of it.

Kingsguard wrote:
I cannot agree with this, I myself mod on many games (Warcraft 3, AOW3, EL...) and I can't stand the idea that modders can make money from their "work".

That king of horrible system is going to corrupt the gamer-community. When I mod, (and when every damn modders make a mod), they NEVER ask you to pay, else than with donation.



Modding is a hobby, not a way to make money... I hope the community will react to this and it is in a good way. Why people would pay today for what was free yesterday ?



Oh I feel I must stop think about else I will go mad x)



By the way, there are already awesome mods on Skyrim and Civilization 5 to denounce the "paywall" ^^



(and a petition that everyone should sign ! : https://www.change.org/p/valve-remove-the-paid-content-of-the-steam-workshop)

I cannot agree with this, any more, physically. Mods shouldn't be made to make money, but to improve people's experiences in the game. Definitely signing the petition, thanks for putting it here!

adder wrote:
I don't feel that the idea an sich is bad, it's just the execution that's flawed heavily.



The idea that modders can legally request a slight financial contribution in exchange for playing with/using the mod is really one that can bring modding communities to a higher level, however you'll need a tight control system and create some kind of regulation for mods based upon others.



Which is where Valve, in its hunger for easy cash, failed. Their attempt of implementing a Laissez-Faire system where the community regulates (probably with the idea that this means less work for them) just doesn't work. With modders using other peoples work asking money for their work, without giving a percentage to these creators is asking for troubles. The idea that everyone just can upload mods and monetise them is also idiotic, as we've seen with people uploading mods that aren't even theirs - lured in by an attempt of receiving easy-earned money.



A 75% cut seems alot, and it is, but there's some justification in this. Though I think there should only be a maximal cut of 60%, with 10%-20% going to valve and 40%-50% to the original developer. This leaves 40% for the modder(s) which seems fair to me.



EDIT: another interesting read: click

I cannot agree with this, I myself mod on many games (Warcraft 3, AOW3, EL...) and I can't stand the idea that modders can make money from their "work".

That king of horrible system is going to corrupt the gamer-community. When I mod, (and when every damn modders make a mod), they NEVER ask you to pay, else than with donation.



Modding is a hobby, not a way to make money... I hope the community will react to this and it is in a good way. Why people would pay today for what was free yesterday ?



Oh I feel I must stop think about else I will go mad x)



By the way, there are already awesome mods on Skyrim and Civilization 5 to denounce the "paywall" ^^



(and a petition that everyone should sign ! : https://www.change.org/p/valve-remove-the-paid-content-of-the-steam-workshop)

I don't feel that the idea an sich is bad, it's just the execution that's flawed heavily.



The idea that modders can legally request a slight financial contribution in exchange for playing with/using the mod is really one that can bring modding communities to a higher level, however you'll need a tight control system and create some kind of regulation for mods based upon others.



Which is where Valve, in its hunger for easy cash, failed. Their attempt of implementing a Laissez-Faire system where the community regulates (probably with the idea that this means less work for them) just doesn't work. With modders using other peoples work asking money for their work, without giving a percentage to these creators is asking for troubles. The idea that everyone just can upload mods and monetise them is also idiotic, as we've seen with people uploading mods that aren't even theirs - lured in by an attempt of receiving easy-earned money.



A 75% cut seems alot, and it is, but there's some justification in this. Though I think there should only be a maximal cut of 60%, with 10%-20% going to valve and 40%-50% to the original developer. This leaves 40% for the modder(s) which seems fair to me.



EDIT: another interesting read: click

They're already probably swimming in millions with such a big corporation. No reason to do this



Gabennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Another ugly system to make more money, this is really shameful, the kind of man who had the idea is a damn b*stard...

Horrible idea in my opinion. Why the heck would they do that?