Paid mods are now available on the workshop

[Shadriss]

I'm already up later than I should be reading this... but given it's potential impact not just in Skyrim, but across the entire spectrum of moddable games, I felt compelled to read it all. I don't usually do that - usually, I'll skim unless it directly relates to me. This time, I read every word.

 

I don't really have anything revolutionary to add - the key points are all up in the myriad posts above me. I've made reference to the fact that I spent about seven years of my (much) younger life doing mods and maps for other games, mostly in the Jedi Knight series. I poured hours, weeks, even over a year in once case into individual projects. The concept of being paid for it was, as has been mentioned, a complete non-started. It simply wasn't permitted. The fact that donation were finally allowed a few years ago was, I feel, the right way to go. Modders, as a whole, are generally in the game because they love it and enjoy it, not due to any real thought of gain. As put in Tron:Legacy... the Game Has Changed.

 

Chesko made a point that I wish to re-enforce: This was going to happen, with or without his (and, by definition, any other modders) direct participation. As he said, when Valve contacts you directly, you listen. And when they tell you to be quiet about it, you listen (though I agree, this was a HUGE point against him and Isoku in particular). I don't, as a ex-modder myself, feel that they made a bad decision. Chesko, in particular, was very clear about how he would continue to keep his mods free... after a period of time. Honestly, that's likely about as good as it would ever get.

 

I've had the morning to think this over. A large portion of mods, in particular recolors, retextures, and similar, have no buisness being paid for. Plain and simple, to my mind. Others, however, akin to Frostfall, Falskaar, and even iNeed add entire new SYSTEMS or WORLDS into the game. They do stand as equal to, if not better than, the official release DLCs. These, I can see supporting as Valve has pushed forward... but not in the fashion that SW itself works. We all know how finiky Skyrim is, and the need to masage the data into it's correct place to make it work even tolerably is... well, it's a lot. And part of that massage is data management, which the SW environment doesn't really allow for.

 

Legalities and licences aside (many of these are rapidly being resolved while we sit here flapping our gums, I'm sure...), even with what I've just said, I have no choice but to side with the vast majority of mod creators and consumers - this was ill advised. Modding has been, and I think will always be at it's heart, a work of love. It's not about cash - it never was for those who took up the tools. Even if this paid-for wall continues, and I have no doubt, sadly, that it will, those who trully love the game will continue to create the content we love and release it as it has always been released. WIth hope that it is well recieved, and the prayer that it didn't have too many bugs left after it left you own hard drive.

 

Best of luck to those who attempt this in the early days... but they will be dark ones.

[oqhansoloqo]

I just checked the Steam site - Chesko's mods are gone too (in addition to the situation with all the other mods giving the "sorry, unavailable unless you already purchased it" message).

Edited April 24, 2015 by oqhansoloqo

[Neovalen]

Now getting this screen when clicking on all the mods, maybe they already took it down?

 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=429076429&searchtext=

Now that is interesting, indeed.

[oqhansoloqo]

I wonder if Steam is getting a lot of hack attacks too since yesterday?  I wouldn't doubt it.  I'd think that modding might be a past time for a lot of internet hackers... Don't want to get that crowd infuriated at your online business all at once.  lol

[Octopuss]

Now that is interesting, indeed.

He did.

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/33qcaj/the_experiment_has_failed_my_exit_from_the/

[hishutup]

I havent been following this discussion but Nexus took a step in what I believe the be the correct direction.

[Neovalen]

He did.

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/33qcaj/the_experiment_has_failed_my_exit_from_the/

I was referring to the fact that ALL mods are currently unavailable. Not just his. :)

I havent been following this discussion but Nexus took a step in what I believe the be the correct direction.

I agree.

[Octopuss]

I hope Chesko won't simply leave everything. He has just deleted his reddit account, which doesn't have to mean anything, but something tells me there is a chance of this thing being too much for him and he'd just disappear. That would suck a LOT.

[hishutup]

If chesko does leave he'll probably do the same as acceq.

If you dont know the story, basically he left to his own site and then came back a few months later.

I hope chesko doesnt pull a mysterymodder. I completely dislike mystery's decision by removing all his content.

 

I prefer the "No support" and open perms decision when mods/modders abandon their work.

[EssArrBee]

If I was isoku or Chesko I would probably delete all my mods and leave. For the Skyrim community to act like spoiled children who have a sense of entitlement on the level of royalty is absurd. To overreact and be so terrible to people is just awful. I'd bet that they even received threats from people who are completely disconnected from reality. Isoku probably did get threats since in his Nexus article he said something about leaving his family out it.

 

Regardless, paid mods are coming. They already exist in many games (TF2, DOTA2, bunch of MMOs) so it's not going anywhere. Free content will still be available, but some won't. Crying isn't going to change that. People are entitled to make money off of their work and will do so when given an opportunity to do so.

[TehKaoZ]

I also fear Isoku might disappear. The comments on his all his threads are pretty bad.

[Hazado]

I hope that they realize that threats are not protected speech and go after these people making threats against them.

[Octopuss]

If chesko does leave he'll probably do the same as acceq.

If you dont know the story, basically he left to his own site and then came back a few months later.

I hope chesko doesnt pull a mysterymodder. I completely dislike mystery's decision by removing all his content.

 

I thought he was working on that game that eventually failed? Which site do you mean?

 

P.S. MysteryModder aka skunky123 actually left in the most hillarious way: "I can't trust this site after my work being stolen and nothing being done about it so please delete this account."

[Aiyen]

The main difference is that in all other cases paid modding have a QA that accepts the mods, and they are almost exclusively cosmetic in nature. They are not content altering mods. 

 

That sort of system I would encourage... There are also no sticky legals or compatibility issues, and it is win win win for everyone. (except people who feel they are entitled to have other people create free stuff for them). 

 

It is sad to see the authors who have been more or less taken hostage from this whole situation. One can only hope they will see the few people who are grounded and can take a civil debate and lock out all the noise from the... rest. Also hopefully also show to other authors that some legal counseling is probably a good idea before you go and do stuff like this, just so you at least can pull the plug on your terms. 

[Neovalen]

Harassment, slander, and threats to mod authors are not OK under any circumstance. Speaking your mind and/or expressing your disappointment with explanations on why modding behind a pay wall is bad is perfectly valid. I do not support the hate, that is just horrible.