Steam: Paid ModsFollow

Uh huh...can't wait for the $5 item reskins.

Horse Armor v2.0

True, although it's a 24 hour refund for Steam credit, not your money back.

... I mean, yeah, we're still going to spend it on Steam games, but still!

The other concern I've heard raised is that Steam takes 75% of the cut; modders only get 25%. I mean, sure, they still make some money, but it's not going to be much. Perhaps enough for the modder to buy a new game or two, I guess? Unless it's an insanely popular mod, in which case people were probably donating already...

Edited, Apr 24th 2015 7:49pm by LockeColeMA

Are those hard numbers, or just rumours? I didn't see anything on the FAQ page, and didn't look too deep into any other pages.

I'm imagining that there has to be a cut for the game developer in there, like there is with trading card and market purchases. (Supposedly 10% Developer, 5% Steam, the rest to the seller.). Otherwise there wouldn't be any incentive for developers to add modding capabilities and agree the the setup

Edit:
That was meant to be added to the previous reply.

Edited, Apr 24th 2015 7:57pm by TirithRR

I guess that is understandable. Valve's not pocketing 75%, I'd imagine the Developer/Publisher is taking the largest portion. They did create the game after all.

If you were Bethesda, and Valve approached you about them letting their users sell stuff for profit from your games, you'd probably want to make sure you got a good cut.

Edit:
I am not too keen on the idea of a store front for mods like this though. Modders asking for donations, I'm fine with that. The idea of a store front dedicated to selling mods... no thanks. Seems like it changes the mentality too much.

From a "Hey, I can make a mod awesome enough that people will be willing to donate to me."
To a "Hey, I can make any mod I want a put it on this Store to make some quick cash!"

Edited, Apr 24th 2015 8:39pm by TirithRR

From what I was reading earlier, the developer gets to set their own percentage and Valve takes 25%, same as they do for other community created stuff (TF2 hats and whatnot). In this case, Bethesda decided on 50% for them, plus Valve's 25% leaving 25% for the mod creator. In theory, a developer could choose to take 5% and leave 70% for the modder (after Gaben's tithe).

That didn't last long.



Edit:
I will say though, that it lasted much longer than it should have...

Edited, Apr 27th 2015 8:28pm by TirithRR

It was (still is) a pretty horrible idea. Turning mods into essentially Steam DLC, and would have led to eventually locking out external modding of any supported Steam games along with DRM and licensing methods to prove you were actually allowed to mod the game.

The idea of paying money to a mod developer was the least of the concerns. What would have to follow afterward would have ruined modding for Steam games.

Already there has been damage done to the modding community. The whole ordeal has put certain modders who had some very good and useful mods at odds with the game community. It will be a little while before things get back to normal.

Edit:
The trading card thing was quite different. It's something by the publisher/developer and Steam. Not a third party or user. And it doesn't exist outside of Steam already.

Edited, Apr 27th 2015 9:18pm by TirithRR

There was only so much information available, as it only existed for four days over the weekend.

The issues only arose once you stopped and thought about the system, beyond just whether or not a person who creates a mod deserves to be compensated for the time and resources spent on development.

I'm also sure it's not the last we've heard of it. It's a Pandora's box thing. The box has been opened, there's no real putting a lid on it now. Just a matter of time.

There were some quotes from a Bethesda rep "poo poo"ing the concerns about mod DRM and not allowing third party mods to the Steam version of Skyrim as a result. Basically saying how Bethesda is anti-DRM, and how their DLC is DRM free (which is true). The counterpoint being that while Bethesda may not feel that way, some other developer would/could, easily. And then it's too late.

There is still a lot of anger in the community as a result of what Steam did. Certain members of the game community continue to call out greedy modders. Certain modders continue to accuse the game community of being entitled cheapskates, etc. It has put a noticeable dent in the community.


As for a real solution, if they really must...

Maybe Valve should, instead of just opening the flood gates, give the developers/publishers the same ability that Valve has with their community games. Instead of the modders choosing what to sell, Valve (or maybe part of the community, I'm not 100% sure how those games work) decides what gets integrated into the game.

Of course, that would require effort from the Developer/Publisher. And would ultimately create a responsibility on their end to make sure what they choose is usable and worthwhile. Which is a good thing for the community, but a negative for the Publisher. Since if they just let the modders do it, they get all the free money, and none of the responsibility and effort.


But, I'd still rather avoid the system all together. Too many potential negatives in my opinion, even if this one developer says they won't ever try to put DRM on mods.

Edit:
And of course, that possible solution would not be a solution to the issue Joph raises about it promoting competition and information hording amongst modders instead of them working together to solve things.

Edited, Apr 28th 2015 7:31pm by TirithRR