Skyrim Workshop Now Supports Paid Mods Options

[Acadian]

Gstaff, of Bethesda, announced on the Bethesda forum that Skyrim Workshop Now Supports Paid Mods. Here's the thread.

To say the reaction there has been underwhelming is a massive understatement. If I spend more than a moment pondering unintended consequences and pitfalls, I’m afraid I must agree with the ominous implications this has for the future of modding. A ton of posts on that thread already beat up the subject pretty well.

I confess I prefer as little to do with Steam as possible and have never touched their 'workshop'. I get my mods from Nexus, but the implications are disturbing - even for private hobby modders. Naturally, Steam is taking a big cut of all proceeds. Does this mean that for future games, the CK/CS will only be made available to 'for profit' Steam workshoppers? This seems to validate the concerns many of us have about Steam and their ability to control what you thought you paid for.

[haute ecole rider]

Like SubRosa, I first read about this over on the Nexus site. I have mixed feelings about the recent move to a curated workshop.

First off, I enjoy the hard work of modders like Chesko and Hothtrooper, AFK, Arthmoor and AlienSlof who put a great deal of work and detail into their mods. I may not use every feature, but that does not mean I appreciate their skill and knowledge any less. If they put a large amount of time and care into crafting these mods, shouldn't they be compensated for it? I don't necessarily see it as greed. After all, I'm asked for free veterinary advice all the time. But do I give it away for free? No. Simply because I worked so hard for that degree, and I am still paying off the student loan debt I ran up, I expect to be compensated for my knowledge.

But these guys are doing it as a hobby, because they love the game! some will argue. It sounds uncomfortably close to the arguments I've heard from pet owners in the past - But you love animals! Shouldn't you treat them for free? Does that mean my knowledge (and these modders') have no value in this society? Does that mean you appreciate my work more? Or does that mean you get to use it up and cast it aside (and believe me, I've had my share of ungrateful clients)?

Am I willing to pay for their mods? At this point, I am not sure. I'm a big fan of freebies, but I'm also aware of Heinlein's Basic Principle: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL). Someone somewhere pays the cost for a product or a service that we consume. When mods are free, the cost is paid for by the modder, in terms of opportunity cost (the cost of their time which could be spent doing other things). For me, it's one thing to do it for yourself and maybe a few friends (as SubRosa does with her mods), but if I'm going to put it out there for general consumption, I would prefer to be compensated to some degree for my work and effort. I wouldn't expect to get rich off of this, but even if I make just enough each month to pay for one tank of gas in my car, that would be fine.

That said, I do not think the Steam Workshop is the place for it. For one thing, the way the fee structure works, modders are being ripped off.

The mod may or may not be accepted, but if it is, the mod author will receive a 25% cut (Valve take 75%) of any revenue generated from the sale of the mod.

(from DarkOne's blog piece? at the Nexus) Why does Valve get to reap the profits of modders' hard work?

Let's take an example that applies directly to me. I've thought about self-publishing e-books through Apple's iBooks. If I went that route, and decided to sell my stories through this forum, Apple would take 30% and I take 70% of the book's sale price. I believe Amazon takes a smaller cut if you sell through their Kindle forum. Either way, I, the author, profits from the sales of my imagination and creativity. I'm basically paying Apple and Amazon for the use of their forums to sell my products.

Using this as a basis for comparison, I find it extremely difficult to believe that Valve's terms are fair to modders. Umm, no.

There is also the thorny issue of who pays the modders whose work is being used in the paid mods? How is the income in sales distributed among the different modders? If I took Hothtrooper's Warchief Armor mod and incorporated that into my own mod, then put said mod up for sale on the Steam Workshop, who is responsible for compensating Hothtrooper for his work? Or do I have to have a written form from Hothtrooper giving me the rights to use his mod as I see fit?

There are too many issues and too many questions not being answered by Valve (and Bethsoft, for that matter) that I won't be paying for those mods anytime soon. I have yet to download a mod from Steam Workshop - simply because I do not feel that site is as well maintained or (dare I say it) policed as the Nexus is. I just can't support a framework that is so blatantly in favor of corporate greed (as opposed to modder's greed ).

Like Grits said, it's happened. And it's going to take some time for the dust to settle down. I'm going to hang back and wait to see what happens. I'm not in a hurry to buy any more Bethsoft games. I'm happy enough playing Oblivion and Skyrim - I don't feel the need to get into more. My spare time is tight enough that I don't need more games to fill those hours (more like minutes).