Join the steam groups for boycotting Steam Worksop mods.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/BoycottSteamWorkshop

What we are against

Valve taking money from modders

No system in place to stop stolen mods half ass mods from getting on

Overprice mods

Small mods being charge more then there worth

No guarantee that the mod will be patch if an update happens.

Modders lose rights to their mod after uploading.

Does this mean mods will have to cost money, or can cost money?

This is a terrible idea. PC gaming just died a little bit.

@horgen: Up to the modder.

@themood3: Well at least that's good, but still... I do wonder how many will require payment for this. And if it will affect nexus.

Horgen:

Of course it's going to affect Nexus.

Why would anyone, except maybe the most philanthropic of people, put their mods on a free site when they can toss it up on Steam and charge money for it?

it already has. mods from nexus are already being pulled apparently.

I got no idea.

Damn... So ironically, PC which has mods as a selling point if you want to play games on PC... Now can potentially get a worse pay for small extra content than consoles...

Yep, some big mods are already disappearing from the Nexus. Also the content creators only get 25% of the revenue, this is messed up in so many ways...

I read a comment earlier today from a steam user regarding this and I completely agree.

I can't seem to find it anymore so I will try to paraphrase it as best I can.

Charging for content is total bullsh*t! Mods should remain free for everyone. I know that creating these mods takes a lot of time and effort but if a person really likes what a creator did then they can donate money to them.

The part about the creators receiving only 25% of the profit is another thing I find ridiculous.

exactly..i hv no problem with donations if the modder gives out quality work.

Slapping a pricetag on it however is not something i can stand by

Just don't pay for the mods. I think the overhead that Steam keeps is shitty, but it is their company servers they're allowing player created content to be stored/created and so on.....might as well make a buck off it if they can - though I think it should be flipped: modder gets 75% and Valve gets 25%.

a number of nexus authors have already taken down their mods and moved to payment on steam, like Wet and Cold and Midas Magic for skyrim. I really cannot believe valve/bethesda right now. If this continues, im imagining the next elder scrolls having this right out of the box, in which they can kiss my ass

This means even more buggy stuff with price tags on them.... wow

Wasn't it always illegal to charge for mods? Or is it now legal because devs and publishers found a way to get a piece of the cut?

Someone on /r/SkyrimMods just tested the system by purchasing that bone armor mod. he copied the files down and refunded the mod. it still works in his game. This system is a piece of shit.

lol fail...people will just upload mod files to bypass workshop.

even if it means reverting back to the old way of instaling mods

Valve takes 75%? That's greedy.

The 'early access' paid mod for fishing in skyrim has now been removed due to requiring animations from other people's mods....nice to see a little justice. On the flip side, people are getting banned for 1 week on steam for voicing their opinion about paid mods, and valve is deleting comment sections and ratings on paid mods.

What exactly means being banned on steam? That you can no longer play your games? Or just not interact with the community in the forums?

This is just utterly disgusting. This system is already getting abused like the early access and greenlight.

I think the modders should get more, but I'd wager Valve doesn't get 75% either. From what I read this was initially a partnership between Valve and Bestheda so I'm sure Bestheda get's a healthy cut as well.

As for the topic itself I'm somewhat conflicted. I think there's some positive aspects to it. For one, I do think it's not unreasonable for mod makers to have an avenue to generate revenue off their hard work. I also think (well, hope) that if there's money to be made that modding will expand in both quality and quantity. Nothing motivates people more than the prospect of being paid :)

I do agree with the concerns as well. It just feels "wrong" to charge for mods, but then again so are many things that have ultimately benefited PC gaming and were major changes in the industry.

The whole thing has me very interested though, there's a ton of interesting issues that I'm sure we will see come up. Mods typically have a lot of creative license with other people's/companie's IP's since they are free. What happens if someone sneaks in Master Chief into a paid mod and it slips by and sells a million copies before it get's taken down? Will Microsoft sue Valve and little moddin' Jimmy?

Valve really came up with a terrible idea with no legs. I don't even know where to begin.

Same here this is going to be such a mess.....

WHAT THE ACTUAL F**** GUYS!?

this is marvellous news! now people with ACTUAL SKILL are drawn more easily in to make MORE QUALITY MODS FOR US, instead of the massive amounts of turd made by amateurs who have too much free time.

"Overprice mods, Small mods being charge more then there worth etc."

YES, but don't pay for it. why would you want turd even for free? get the quality mods. the competition will eventually balance the prices, once the dummies notice that their pieces of shit mods don't sell, or people who ask for too much start to notice that other people are getting shit-tons more money by selling the same sized smaller mods for lower prices. supply and demand, gentlemen.

"Valve taking money from modders"

what the...? Valve is actually now GIVING money for modders. yes, it's 25%, but it's much more than 0%, don't you agree? why is Valve taking so large cut then? because they let modders to use their super massive distribution channel called STEAM to sell mods, and that's one ultra-heavy way to sell your stuff, and THE PUBLISHER (and developer) OF THE ORIGINAL GAME OBVIOUSLY DESERVES A CUT TOO, because mods are riding on their technology and their successful original product. actually, to be honest, 25% is starting to sound like a lot to me.

NO ONE IS FORCED TO DISTRIBUTE THEIR MODS THROUGH STEAM!

"No guarantee that the mod will be patch if an update happens"

if the modders give a shit about their mods selling nicely, they'd be stupid not to patch their mods.

This move also encourages devs/publishers to include mod tools in their games in the first place!

rejoice! i said REJOICE!

edit no.22678: i mean honestly, guys. sit down and put yourselves in to the shoes of the modder, and think. if i were a modder, i'd start putting more time and effort to my mods IMMIDIATELY. i'd start selling my semi-famous mod for a really low price so i could get maximum sales and maximum visibility for my mod and for my own name as a quilty content creator, so it would be easier to sell my future mods. this would be the best news ever. i might even quit my day job lol. no, i'm not actually a modder.

@groowagon except the modders have spoken, and the overwhelming majority of them are fighting this new move. Go read the nexus forums, or /r/SkyrimMods, people who actually spend time making mods...most of them are speaking out against this. I hope you also realize when modders only get a 25% cut, it only goes to the uploader (doesn't split with everyone who made it, like voice actors who often happily worked for free, or the other modders whose assets made the other possible), and that the modder only gets a penny after the mod makes roughly $400 in sales.

One of the modders who actually supported it initially, and had his mod removed, is now turning against valve...read it here http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/33qcaj/the_experiment_has_failed_my_exit_from_the/

Another example:

what the **** is the problem here? i don't understand. if you want to give your mod away for free, you can still do it.

how does anyone lose in this? except Nexus, because no one needs to visit their site anymore. fucking idiotic "master race". i'm ashamed.

e: Valve and Bethesda both provide the massive customer base for you, so 25% is a lot. even if you make a game from the scratch, YOU DONT GET 100% OF THE SALE PRICE! distributor always takes a cut. in this case, you even have the game underneath with a large userbase so it's easy money.

They arent getting even 1% of the sale because nobody is buying them...The entire setup is a massive copyright nightmare. Now modders have to police the workshop to see who is uploading content and selling it when it includes work by others. Valve have stated they dont give a shit and its up to the community to do it themselves, it's all half assed and sloppy and a complete legal nightmare.

well, yeah. the thing is that if you put a piece of code to the internet and say it's free to use, anyone can use it monetize with it. same thing applies here. if it's illegal, Valve will be forced to give a major shit about this matter.

apparently they give few shits, since the stuff is now removed. my point is that once they can iron out these problems of monetizing on other people's efforts, this is a great idea. great idea for original content.

e: eh double post. i'm a bad person.

in fact the whole paid store gives an error now...victory for now i guess

Yeah unfortunately I'd have to agree. But to play devil's advocate, this seems more of an experiment. They may not do this with other games.

My problem with this is how half assed the entire launch is. I don't see how this system is supposed to win anybody over. All the current paid mods are just crappy weapons and stuff that was previously free before. If some of the paid mods were on the level of Falskaar, then it would be kinda cool.

Unfortunately, modders getting compensated does not equate to quality content as you are suggesting. There is no guarantee mods that are for sale will be of high quality. How many video games that are sold are thought of to be utter garbage by gamers?

Utter bullshit, pretty much an excuse for Valve and Bethesda to cash in on modding communities work for extra money.. Not to mention this is a cluster **** of copywrite problems right here.. You throw in money into this entire equation and we are going to see people stealing entire mods from others and selling it.. Which people already have been doing..

Furthermore there is no quality control of any kind.. We all thought early access games were bad in quality control, wait til we fucking see the stuff come from this.. Not to mention mods get abandoned, games update.. Breaking said mods.. Mods have absolutely no quality control what so ever, and based how valve has dealt with early access.. This is going to be awful..

i'm just saying that it should motivate more high-skilled people to make an effort, since the time spent will pay back some day. heck, people put a lot of effort in mods even for free. it doesn't obviously mean that ALL paid mods will be high quality... just like any games being sold.

the thing with mods is that i'd say it's easier to make it succesfull. you don't have to worry about the game mechanics or anything, since it's already there. just make high quality extra-content. modders who do high quality mods couldn't necessarily make a great game from the scratch. it's more about making assets to an existing game.

In theory, it should. Not everyone's motivated by money, however. Some do it as a hobby and passion more than wanting the cash. Take Dwarf Fortress, for instance. It's not a mod, but Toady One only lives off donations for that game, but he could be earning tons more with that PhD of his. There are more ways than one to motivate people to make high quality stuff. That is not to say those who are extra motivated by dollar signs won't come up with good stuff, but paid-for mods aren't going to be as impactful, I think.

the new Steam system still allows to distribute mods in various ways; for free, pay what you want, or fixed price. that should be good for everyone. as long as they fix their shit about monetizing on mods that have parts made by other people, ofcourse...

we'll see what happens. if the mod community wants to work for free as a whole community (using features from each other's work), no one is stopping them.

Not joining the group, but I'm going to avoid buying from steam as much as possible.

Valve's reputation has taken a massive hit over this. This system preys on the weak and there are so many legal and quality issues.

This site can help you get deals outside steam, even for steamworks games: http://www.cheapshark.com/

This is what happens when people only buy games on steam and nowhere else, they get to much power and will simple start to demand stuff because profit.

People just stop buying games on steam and move towards gog where you actually own your product.

What happens when steam decides that you can't use any mod outside of there workshop or else you run illigal content and gets yoru entire account banned with games?

You can't do nothing about it at all.

Be smart and vote with your wallet. If game company's do not offer any alternative then steam ( skyline cities ) e-mail the company and ask if they can send you a non steam version. If not i would highly recommend to pirate simple because, they didn't give you a option otherwise.

It's sad that you have to do it, but there is no other choice.

Steam is only going to get worse and worse the more traction it gets. They are feeling over confident and this is what you get then.

Welcome to the brave new world. What's going to happen when other developers take notice and you can only use "official" mods for any game? These greedy trolls are always looking for new and exciting ways to monetize their games, and whats better than slave labor? A 25% return on your time and labor? Oh, thank you, thank you, benevolent leaders!

The ultimate irony is that this is starting with a Bethesda game - a company whose games only become tolerable through some pretty heavy modding. Now Bethesda, and others, can continue to release buggy, feature-bare products and then sit back and make a profit while the modding community fixes them.

This is basically an endless supply of labor-free DLC for publishers. How could anything possibly go wrong?

some mods take hours. or hundreds of hours to make, so i think thats alright if the person making it wants something for it. I really have a big problem with steam taking 75% of their money for doing nothing at all.

If i made a mod i wouldn't want valve to get a cent from it, i rather not release it at all.

Do these scum actually make 75% of everything that sells on there? Even the mafia take smaller cuts then that.

This is terrible. I believe that mod creators should be able to get paid for their work, but how Steam is going about it is completely ridiculous. Valve gets a 75% cut? for what? What a joke. Also, there are no checks for stolen work and quality in this whole thing. What happens when a game update breaks a mod you paid for? What happens when a big mod is abandoned by the creator? This whole thing just reeks of a greedy cash grab. Any respect I once had for Valve and Steam is now gone out the window. I'm now even more glad I pre-ordered The Witcher 3 on GOG and bought GTA V on GMG and not steam.

The idea of letting modders get paid for their work is a good one, however the way Steam did it is terrible.

Steam I respect your service but there's no chance in hell I'm supporting this. You taking 75% is utter BS, no, **** that. A donation system is about the only way I will ever support it with my wallet.

/signed

Valve should have set up a donation button on the mod page not put up a fucking paywall. Also from the modders POV the 25% - 75% cut is utter bullshit and surely selling mods is also a legal minefield.

Here's the issue. Nearly every mod outside of a simple weapon or armor requires some other mod to function. Take the now pay-for mod SkyUI, a staple of Skyrim on PC and basically a requirement for nearly every mod....now if you want an up to date version of that, to run any mod, you need to pay. Nearly all the mods people uploaded since this began are removed due to DMCA takedowns for this issue. Basically the only thing left in the store are joke mods for $99, like Gaben's Turds and horse genitals. The overwhelming majority of modders on the nexus have said they dont want to force people to pay for their work, and the nexus added a donate button. Was that really so hard for steam to add? Yes, because Valve and Bethesda decided to monetize a hobby and fracture the modding scene for a few pennies (that the mod makers arent going to see at this point because the mods aren't selling)

I was at the height of my pc building/gaming days when steam came about. It was a massive pain in the backside then and it is still a piece of crud. I imagine more than a few people who frequent gamespot werent around for its inception and dont really know how shite steam is. Well...its a DRM method that tricked the gullible into thinking its the saviour of pc gaming.

At first, I thought it was a non-issue but with Valve's QC, this won't end well. I think the entire thing is utter BS.