Steam Workshop: Now get paid for your mod creations on Steam

[BSim500]

I would give them credit for the quick response if they hadn't tried to defend it just before they pulled it. It could be sinister or just a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing but it shows they wanted it to stay. I am not anti Valve but I do think that they are a virtual monopoly that needs trimming.

^ I think that's exactly the case. I read most of Gabe's responses, and they had a strong 'we're going to do it anyway. You'll soon get over it' underlying feel to it, only for their own legal dept to forcibly step in a few days later and point out the obvious (they have no serious way of vetting for abuse, it's an IP nightmare for existing content, and scammers were already jumping on it in droves by uploading other people's content as their own. When people predicted this stuff in advance on reddit, Gabe's response was a dodge-the-issue style comment of "You'll have to come up with a better excuse than that of why Valve is evil". Then followed a rather lame sounding "we didn't know what we were doing" furious back-pedaling statement, which just smacked of senior management's 'vision' being quietly overridden by the legal dept behind-the-scenes. :hmm:

 

[werepossum]

I actually like Valve for these types of experiments. They tried something, which I didn't care for, and there was backlash so they promptly killed the program. A program like this has never been done before. Valve is out in open seas with regard to digital distribution, so there isn't a guide to follow. Everything they do is new and innovative and may fail miserably. Its good that they listen to the community and are quick to kill off things that their community dislikes.

I've actually gained some respect for Valve for their quick response. I don't harbor any animosity to them for this experiment.

Agreed. I'd like to see, say, Project Brazil (Fallout New Vegas) in its original scope brought to market exactly like some of the Valve mods, so in a way I share their vision.

It's the exact same problem they had with Early Access. Too many unscrupulous devs out there looking to make a quick buck, and Valve did nothing to ensure that customers were protected.

For payware mods to work in the future, this is what they need to do:
1) Standardized pricing
2) Clear and concise rules and guidelines for payware mods
3) A vetting process to ensure payware mods meet those rules and guidelines
4) A system for flagging inappropriate or stolen content
5) A streamlined refunding process

All very basic stuff which online app stores have been doing for years now.

Excellent points. I'd add that it would probably be best to start fresh with a game not currently enjoying a huge ongoing mod community, to avoid the convoluted authoring so common in large mod communities. If one modder writes some code for another assuming that both are working for the sheer love of it and then the second modder begins raking in dough, there's understandably going to be some hard feeling on the part of the modder who did part of the work and enjoyed none of the pay. Changing the rules in mid-modding just guarantees that.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i won't pay for mods, and if i were a modder i wouldn't charge. and i certainly wouldn't let someone else take 75% of revenue from my mod. the game's maker and publisher (wtf do they do anyway?) as well as the middleman already got their money.

 

[smackababy]

i won't pay for mods, and if i were a modder i wouldn't charge. and i certainly wouldn't let someone else take 75% of revenue from my mod. the game's maker and publisher (wtf do they do anyway?) as well as the middleman already got their money.

A publisher gets money after a game because they took the risk of paying the developers to make it before they had a sellable product. It makes sense they get money from the game sales. From mods though? Yeah, no thanks. They did nothing but help facilitate the availability of the game and were paid well (if the game sold well) to do it.

Paying someone who obviously put in a lot of work should be an option, if someone wants that. Unfortunately, this won't work in today's climate simply due to the task of vetting the work and copyright lawsuits. The picture from one of the articles about it had My Little Pony mods, and you know Hasbro would threaten legal action to anyone getting any money from that.

Unless Valve is going to actively monitor these mods being put on the store front, it will blow up in their face.

 

[norseamd]

LOL

So apparently meh and any comments about bribery and corruption are now censored at PC Gamer magazine. Funny that this just came now after all the support they gave paid mods and all the opposition in the comments.

http://www.pcgamer.com/commenting-rules-and-guidelines/

 

[BFG10K]

Yea they canceled the blatant cash grab attempt after a public outroar because everyone said "it's okay, Valve cares about modders". 🙄

I was referring to those who defended Valve, and still continue to do so.

 

[werepossum]

I was referring to those who defended Valve, and still continue to do so.

1. Think of all the ambitious Skyrim & Fallout mods with great ideas that never get finished.
2. Think of all the ambitious Source mods with great ideas that became finished, polished games.
3. Profit.

 

[sandorski]

TotalBiscuit, a Modder, and owner of Nexus Mods discuss the issue

 

[norseamd]

Well you would think they have have 2nd thoughts about anything they do after this but it looks like they just made yet another huge and potentially problematic decision after this mess.

http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-bans-now-come-direct-from-developers/

 

[norseamd]

And yet another incident in this short timespan.

http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-suffers-currency-conversion-meltdown/

 

[Subyman]

I think the pitchfork mob needs to disperse and find anger somewhere else. I understood the push back for paid mods, but digging up other random stuff to stoke the flames seems like feeding one's desire to stay mad.

 

[Skel]

I think the pitchfork mob needs to disperse and find anger somewhere else. I understood the push back for paid mods, but digging up other random stuff to stoke the flames seems like feeding one's desire to stay mad.

Isn't that how the internet works?

 

[sandorski]

I think the pitchfork mob needs to disperse and find anger somewhere else. I understood the push back for paid mods, but digging up other random stuff to stoke the flames seems like feeding one's desire to stay mad.

Indeed.

 

[Tarvaln]

Maybe they should reverse the concept. If a mod improves gameplay or fixes bugs, the modders should charge the developers/publishers.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I think the pitchfork mob needs to disperse and find anger somewhere else. I understood the push back for paid mods, but digging up other random stuff to stoke the flames seems like feeding one's desire to stay mad.

Look, when you buy a physical game and it goes through steam anyway and most games come from steam as the default distributor, you have a service that is pretty close to monopoly if not for origin and uplay. There will inevitably be some lashing out toward them. I am surprised people let them go for so long.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Knowing what we know about how developers/publishers/and companies in general work, can you blame people for being suspicious and on edge when they try to make some sweeping change that takes something from free to pretty much required paywall?

While maybe there was more outcry than necessary by people who normally aren't even affected, it didn't take a rocket scientist to see this was implemented badly from day one. There was VERY little thought put into it beyond, let's make more money off the backs of others, and no matter how they try to spin it, you don't have to look very hard to see it is true. Something like this is very easy to abuse if it's not heavily monitored, and they didn't even want to do that. It was a little effort for max profit approach plain and simple.

Look, when you buy a physical game and it goes through steam anyway and most games come from steam as the default distributor, you have a service that is pretty close to monopoly if not for origin and uplay. There will inevitably be some lashing out toward them. I am surprised people let them go for so long.

I don't even consider Origin or Uplay to be alternatives. They are simply storefronts for specific publishers. Good or bad, it's still not ideal to use them just for their properties. GoG is really the closest thing to a competitor that Steam has and that isn't saying much as a whole.

I like the idea of Steam - but honestly it is simply there to pad someones wallet. There is little reason there could not be an agnostic front end that does the exact same thing Steam/Origin/Uplay/even GOG and roll all different accounts into one. The problem is, everyone wants their maximum cut of the profits and control and doing so they'd potentially lose both.