STEP:Mod Stewardship Service

Mod Stewardship Service

Mod maintenance for mod authors

by: Step Modifications

Step's Mod Stewardship Service is very similar to Nexus Mod's "The Care Taker" service, with some licensing differences. Since Step operates under "cathedral modding" principles, licensing for mods/assets/IP (herein termed 'Creations') provided for stewardship are converted to a cathedral-friendly license.1 By contrast, "The Care Taker" will retain the mod's license "as is," which could lock these mods into the "parlor modding" paradigm forevermore. Which service to choose is for individual Creation Authors to decide; however, Step encourages Authors to "open up" their mod licenses when retiring to allow others in the community to continue using these mods and to service/support them as necessary.

Step Modifications is a legally registered nonprofit, which relies on donations and other voluntary forms of community support. By using Step's Mod Stewardship Service over the Nexus Care Taker program, Authors allow Step (and the larger modding community by proxy) to benefit from Donations and Nexus Mods' rewards system.

All Step staff and board members are unpaid volunteers, and Step never collects any membership or advertising revenues.

SkyrimLE

• Step Skyrim Legendary Edition Guide

Retired

• ENB Presets for SkyRealism and RLwC-RCRN-CoT
• Golden Gods Shrines -- BCF and BAIN Wizard
• Skill Interface Retexture -- BCF and BAIN Wizard
• Static Mesh Improvement Mod - SMIM -- BCF and BAIN Wizard
• Visible Windows -- BCF and BAIN Wizard

SkyrimSE

• Aspens Ablaze Add-On - DynDOLOD 3
• Aspen Realism
• Better Dynamic Ash SE
• Better Dynamic Snow SE
• Dragon Glyphs HD - Fixed
• Enhanced Landscapes - Dilon Vul - DynDOLOD 3D Hybrids
• Enhanced Lighting for ENB (ELE)
• Functional Windmills - Mill Stones
• Just In Time - Remastered
• Lore-Corrected Races
• Morekvior-Myrkvior Visual Enhancement-DynDOLOD
• Myrkvior - TFoS Add-On - 3D Hybrid Trees SSE - DynDOLOD
• Relighting Skyrim
• Step Skyrim Special Edition Guide

Other

• Step No Man's Sky Guide

Terms & Conditions

Transfer of Ownership

Authors who elect to place their Creations into Step's Mod Stewardship Service must authorize the "transfer of ownership" of their administrative rights to any distribution source2 to Step Modifications, herein referred to as "Step".

Transferring the distribution source to Step allows Step to service the Creation and information pertaining to the Creation at the original source. Step does not utilize or operate a content delivery network (CDN); therefore, it is essential that Step have authority to service all aspects of the mod at the distribution source or even to change that source if/when necessary.

1. By transferring ownership to Step, Authors affirm that they own the Creation and may enact such Transfer of Ownership.
2. For any Creation hosted by Nexus Mods, the Transfer of Ownership is complete when the mod page is transferred from Author's Nexus Mods user account to the "StepModifications" Nexus Mods user account.
   • Nexus Mods will not complete such transfers without written permission from the Page Owner (Instructions below).
3. Creations hosted by other distribution sources will complete Transfer of Ownership to Step on a case-by-case basis, and documented in writing via email and/or any relevant private messaging system that can be used to verify correspondence sources.
4. Step gains the right to transfer the Creation to a distribution service other than that of the original service, if:
   • original distribution service does not allow the Transfer of Ownership, or
   • original distribution service is no longer available
5. The Author will be added as an administrator, if possible, to distribution page once Transfer of Ownership is complete.

➕ [Click to show]➖ [Click to hide] Transfer of Ownership Instructions

1. Contact Step via email, and include the URL to the distribution source page(s) along with a note stating your intentions to transfer your page(s) or assets to StepModifications.
2. For Nexus Mods Transfer of Ownership, send a group private message to the Nexus Community Manager, z929669, and TechAngel85, stating your intent to transfer your page(s) to StepModifications

Transfer of License

Creations opted into Step's Mod Stewardship Service shall immediately adopt Creative Commons (CC) "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike"1 once the Transfer of Ownership of the distribution source page(s) is completed.

Transferring to this license effectively facilitates "cathedral-friendly" governance of the Creation(s) by Step and the modding community at large. This is done to prevent legal harm to all parties involved, since the Creation(s) themselves are inherently the property of the Author and licensed accordingly prior to the Transfer of License by proxy of the Transfer of Ownership.

1. Any existing licensing will become null and void upon Transfer of Ownership of the distribution source. If the existing license is incompatible with transfer or 'remix' to CC licensing, the Author must modify or re-license the prior license accordingly prior to Transfer of Ownership.
2. The Creation(s) is irrevocably tied to the CC BY-NC-SA license, granting Step's (and everyone's) right to irrevocably "... remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms."
3. All Step-mediated derivations of said Creation(s) will retain the CC licensing and will follow Step's Versioning Scheme
4. All derivations by third parties of said Creation(s) will inherently and irrevocably retain the CC licensing

Donations

As applicable, donations to Creation(s) distribution page will be redirected to the Step Modifications business account.

1. Author(s) authorize Step to receive 100% of Donations from Creation(s); unless other arrangements are made prior to Transfer of Ownership
2. Step will refund Donations at its discretion and only to cover business expenses relating to maintenance and upkeep of Step's public services. In the event that Step dissolves or otherwise ceases its services, all Donations will be converted to cash and/or awarded to another qualifying nonprofit of Step's choosing.
3. Authors who do not wish for Step to earn Donations from their Creations must state so, in writing, before the Transfer of Ownership. Step will honor all such requests.

Nexus Mods

If the distribution service is Nexus Mods, the Creation(s) will be opted into Nexus Mods Donation Points system.

1. Author(s) authorize Step to receive 100% of Donation Points from Creation(s); unless other arrangements are made prior to Transfer of Ownership
2. Step will convert Donations to cash at its discretion and only to cover business expenses relating to maintenance and upkeep of Step's public services. In the event that Step dissolves or otherwise ceases its services, all Donation Points will be converted to cash and/or awarded to another qualifying nonprofit of Step's choosing.
3. Authors who do not wish for Step to earn Donation Points from their Creations must state so, in writing, before the Transfer of Ownership. Step will honor all such requests.

Mods not accepted for stewardship include, but are not limited to:

• mods containing nudity or sexually explicit content
• mods containing content not relevant to the game subject (e.g., political mods)