For some games mods are the lifeblood that keep them going for many years after their initial release. These mods add in things that the developers either didn’t think to create or simply wouldn’t, elevating the game well past its intended station. Some of these mods even take on a life all of their own with many of the most successful titles of all time being born out of mods, some of them even creating entire new genres as they rose to stardom. These mods were often born out of the free time and relentless dedication of their creators and provided free to gamers worldwide. Last week Valve announced a paid mod program for Skyrim, a natural extension of their other paid content programs, which has not been well received and, honestly, I think the community needs to stop drinking the haterade.
The system is pretty simple: mods that are on the Steam Workshop can now set a price for their mods which users can pay for if they’re so inclined. It’s not a mandatory system, Steam still supports modders who want to peddle their wares through the system for free, however if you want to you can set a price you can. Looking over the mods that have decided to do that most of the prices are what you’d expect to be typical prices for apps or cosmetics in other games (and indeed the most popular items are cosmetics) with a few content mods here or there. Of course this may be due to the program still being early days and the backlash that’s resulted from the announcement but it’s largely inline with what I expected a program like this to generate.
Generally I think this program is a great idea as it gives modders an easy way to monetize their content without resorting to begging for donations or trying to do something inane like streaming them creating mods over Twitch. Indeed it works much the same way as the app ecosystem does on mobile platforms today, with people who want to release a labor of love to the wild world for free doing so using the platform. On the flip side there are those who’d really like to put in a lot of effort but couldn’t justify doing so without some kind of compensation and it’s these people that I think this system was designed to attract. Sure you’ll get the scammers, plagiarizers and other unwanted people attempting to game the system but you get that with anything that relies predominantly on user submitted content so I don’t think that’s an issue worth discussing.
One thing I do disagree with is the rather unfair revenue distribution that the system current has with a whopping 75% of the total revenue going to Valve (30%) and Bethesda (45%). This means that for every dollar that the mod makes the vast majority of that doesn’t end up in the hands of the developer with them taking home a measly 25 cents. I think much of the criticism of this system would be much less severe if the revenue that the creators received was much higher, say in the 70% region that’s typical of most app store purchases, although I’m unsure as to whether Valve and Bethesda would be keen to take such a hit. Realistically for both of them it’s free money (well, for Bethesda anyway, Valve has to provide the infrastructure) so the hit they take would be small compared the goodwill they could win from the community.
The problem I see with most of the outrage is that it assumes that a system like this will inevitably lead to a split among the mod community, one of haves and have nots which is contrary to the ethos that the modding community holds. Sure, it may attract some unscrupulous individuals, but by and large modders are aware of the communities that they’ve helped develop and the last thing they’d want to do is alienate those who’ve made them so popular. Indeed if they did then free alternatives are far more likely to rise out of their ashes, providing the same service that those mods once did without the paywall. On the flip side if a mod is really worth it then I’m sure the community would be more than happy to support a modder in the quest to deliver something of value to the community, rather than them giving up all semblance of decency and going for a cash grab.
Suffice to say I think the program is a good idea from Valve, it just needs a little more tweaking to make it more fair to the modders and more palatable for the community. I know calling for rationality on the Internet is likely to be met with a blazing wall of silence but paid mods aren’t the devils that many would make them out to be and, if they are, then people will simply not pay for them. Those kinds of modders will quickly realise that this is a community that’s not ripe for exploitation and those who’ve served that community for years, for free in most cases, will continue to reap the benefits of the relationships they’ve created. To think that the opportunity to make money on a platform would somehow ruin that relationship is honestly hurtful to those who’ve put their hearts and souls into these mods and the community should be their advocates rather than their critics.
