Associate
- Joined
- 26 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 197
I co-develop a mod and have literally spent 1000's of hours on my mod over the last 5 years so I have put the time in but I nevertheless think this is a really bad idea. When my mod is in it's finished form I would hope that it would be of a quality and bring the level of enjoyment that would make it worth the value if it did cost a couple of bucks to buy but I still would never do it. That is not what the modding spirit is about and what eggyoke posted at 15:40 is a prime example of what the side effects of this probably will be. I don't think paid mods will destroy modding but it will have such a detrimental effect on the community and the spirit of modding. It won't be instant, it will probably take about 18 months to happen (provided the paid mod models keeps spreading to new games) but a change will happen. Many posts in this thread highlight the issues.
There is also the issue of plagarism and while I would not wish for financial benefits for my modding but if someone hypothetically took my stuff and started to make money on it I would be really angry about it and would probably feel like quitting modding as a consequence as would many others. Some are going to preempt this and sell on steam just to stop it happening.
I agree with what gopher said that the community has been awful to mod makers over this, especially Chesko, you can be outraged but still polite and dignified but what we have seen is quite the opposite to an extreme. I do understand the outrage though, so many communities have rallied against this cause as one and when that happens you know something is wrong.
Ultimately for all the shouting and screaming now that mods are monetised it is a monetary issue. It doesn't matter what is said only wallet speech will matter. I will not pay for mods and I doubt I will buy a future bethesda game if it going to be like this from the outset, but that is not because I don't think they are all not worth it, mods like frostfall, OOO, Tamriel rebuilt (when finished), propesy of pendor and stalker complete for example are worth a pound or two imo as they are quality and bring a greatly improved experience but I wouldn't pay for them as I don't want to encourage the practice. I don't begrudge the mod authors though and if I hypothetically charged for my mod I would not feel bad if I could afford a bottle of wine at the end of each working week as a consequence. As totalbiscuit said in his video so much goes into some of these mods and value for money can definitely be found (although most are trash at the moment). I wouldn't do it though, I think all mods should be free, not out of entitlement but for protectionism for the spirit and cohesiveness of the community and great value and longevity of PC gamers who already invest so much in their hobby.
There is too much to lose though and I wish this never happened. All you can do now if you are against it is not give the mods your money. I don't think any amount of vitriol or amount of signitures on a petition will change anything. I am gutted though as this probably will irreversibly change modding in the long term and modding was the best thing about PC gaming. All my best experiences on PC has come from mods, it is just a real shame this threat has appeared from nowhere and cast doubt on it all.
There is also the issue of plagarism and while I would not wish for financial benefits for my modding but if someone hypothetically took my stuff and started to make money on it I would be really angry about it and would probably feel like quitting modding as a consequence as would many others. Some are going to preempt this and sell on steam just to stop it happening.
I agree with what gopher said that the community has been awful to mod makers over this, especially Chesko, you can be outraged but still polite and dignified but what we have seen is quite the opposite to an extreme. I do understand the outrage though, so many communities have rallied against this cause as one and when that happens you know something is wrong.
Ultimately for all the shouting and screaming now that mods are monetised it is a monetary issue. It doesn't matter what is said only wallet speech will matter. I will not pay for mods and I doubt I will buy a future bethesda game if it going to be like this from the outset, but that is not because I don't think they are all not worth it, mods like frostfall, OOO, Tamriel rebuilt (when finished), propesy of pendor and stalker complete for example are worth a pound or two imo as they are quality and bring a greatly improved experience but I wouldn't pay for them as I don't want to encourage the practice. I don't begrudge the mod authors though and if I hypothetically charged for my mod I would not feel bad if I could afford a bottle of wine at the end of each working week as a consequence. As totalbiscuit said in his video so much goes into some of these mods and value for money can definitely be found (although most are trash at the moment). I wouldn't do it though, I think all mods should be free, not out of entitlement but for protectionism for the spirit and cohesiveness of the community and great value and longevity of PC gamers who already invest so much in their hobby.
There is too much to lose though and I wish this never happened. All you can do now if you are against it is not give the mods your money. I don't think any amount of vitriol or amount of signitures on a petition will change anything. I am gutted though as this probably will irreversibly change modding in the long term and modding was the best thing about PC gaming. All my best experiences on PC has come from mods, it is just a real shame this threat has appeared from nowhere and cast doubt on it all.
I did NOT expect that. 