Steam Workshop now monetized: Gaming is dead

[MadeManG74]

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/aboutpaidcontent/

The Steam Workshop has always been a great place for sharing mods, maps, and all kinds of items that you’ve created. Now it's also a great place for selling those creations.With a new, streamlined process for listing and selling your creations, the Steam Workshop now supports buying mods directly from the Workshop, to be immediately usable in game.Discover the best new mods for your game and enable the creators to continue making new items and experiences.

You can even buy Unfinished mods.

YOU CAN BUY UNFINISHED MODS FOR UNFINISHED GAMES.


I'm exaggurating about gaming being dead, but this is a potentially bad thing.

[Moody]

This can do a lot of good, but people have taken it entirely the wrong way. The thing you have to bare in mind is that most of the big mods aren't going to even be on Workshop, thanks to file size limits and the lack of customization. On top of that, Skyrim mods you pay for on Workshop are available for free on the Nexus. And all you have to do is download their mod manager, which is super easy to use and set up, and it's all entirely free. Wet and Cold, and iNeed's author has even done a sort of exclusivity deal with the new versions of those mods, keeping them Workshop only for 30-60 days, and then will post them on Nexus.

I am however curious to see if mod piracy will become a thing.

[George]

I think its bad in the big picture sort of way. The same way that people like Candy Crush can make billions off of someone else's hard work by changing sprites on a mod and charging for it.

For example: http://kotaku.com/candy-crush-saga-is-ripping-me-off-says-indie-develope-1521728191

This is a smart idea on paper, we shall see how it comes out in practice... and I'm going to guess not so well.

[JRcade19]

Nobody has a problem with modders getting paid.

The Major problem people have is that Valve/publishers are taking a combined 75% of the modders income from a sale. Others include theft, mod dependencies ect...but Bethesda essentially getting paid for someone else doing the game improving additions is really lighting fuses.

A donation button or feature would have stopped this drama.

Edit: Nexus strikes hard and fast. Donate to modder function added

[George]

The issue is that Steam and publishers won't get $ from donations. Its all about money in the end.

[MadeManG74]

And Steam backflipped.

Gaming lives to see another day. But for how long?

Also they'll probably just bring it back for a new release game.

[George]

To me it seemed like more of a 'Bethesta' idea than a Valve idea. Just because they already do stuff like this on DOTA 2 and TF2 and have handled it rather well outside of traders getting their accounts banned (lol).

[TimmiT]

And Steam backflipped.

Gaming lives to see another day. But for how long?

Also they'll probably just bring it back for a new release game.

There's no problem with bringing it back as long as they improve it enough. It's not like Steam hasn't sold mods before either, they've been doing it for a while with Team Fortress 2 and DOTA2. Except with those games there's quality control.

[MadeManG74]

The bigger problem is that trying to monetize mods is a fucking mess. How do you prove the work is all original? Do you have to cut in other modders whose mods work as well?
Do you just 'sell' a line of code that you manually paste into your .txt file?
How much cut does the publisher get? Because they definitely need to get a cut, legally speaking?
What if the publisher releases a patch and it uninstalls or breaks your mods?
Your mod doesn't work with another mod because of some conflict?
Is it fair to charge for mods that basically fix a broken ass game (eg: DSFix)?

It's the sort of thing that really shouldn't be monetized like this. Mods were a way to alter an existing game and publishers didn't care because it was free. If something amazing came out of it, they would buy the rights from the creators (Counter-Strike, DotA etc). They were used by budding game creators to cut their teeth and get noticed in the industry or pad their resume.

Going into modding with the goal of making money from it is a losing game. Whenever you're using somebody elses patented and copyrighted work as a basis you're running into all sorts of nightmares.

[George]

Well Dota and stuff are more 'skins' that they sell. Not mods. I think selling mods is bad business just because you can get ripped off if a game updates and the mod is broken. I think they should just stick with community skins/items like DOTA/TF2 and not deal with the whole mod thing. Just allow users to donate if they want.

[MadeManG74]

Well Dota and stuff are more 'skins' that they sell. Not mods. I think selling mods is bad business just because you can get ripped off if a game updates and the mod is broken. I think they should just stick with community skins/items like DOTA/TF2 and not deal with the whole mod thing. Just allow users to donate if they want.

Exactly, if it's something heavily regulated like skins or controlled, then it's easier than something as loose as 'mods' - which could mean anything from optimizing the user interface on the inventory screen for dual monitor setups, to putting horse cock dick-girls into Skyrim.