Traditionally PC video game mods have been labors of love by the community. Built by the hands of fans to suit whatever need they have in the chosen game, be it better graphics, new lands and levels, or just different ambient sound. The one prominent feature of most of these video game mods was their price: Free (hence being a labor of love). Sometimes there would be a breakaway story, but in most instances these were solely mods that were bought by a
the company (being the mod the game was for) to be distributed as add-on or expansion packs. In fact there are so many Cinderella stories about modders-to-millionaires (or at least getting a game design job) that a rather lengthy book could be written detailing this history. Now all that is changed. Whether it be good or evil will be determined in the future, but for now we have the initiative by Valve to allow for cost being attached to mods, effective three days ago, and to kick it off there is a fat discount on the first game (and only game as of now) to support paid mods.
Now to me this sounds like a double-edged sword. On one hand we have modders finally able to get money for their hard work, which will most certainly lead to some truly horrible and lazy mods, we would also get some truly polished mods. On the other hand apparently the way this works is that the publisher gets a cut of any paid funds (which seems fair), which in the case of
Skyrim could be as high as 75% to Bethesda. According to Gabe Newell (
via Redit) the percentage is entirely up to the publisher.
As just about anyone could have predicted, the Internet has exploded in fury. Negative reviews on the
Skyrim Steam page have ballooned to over fifteen thousand. Valve CEO Gabe Newell has even cut a trip short to help on damage control. Despite this the negative reviews don't read well at all, making what could be good points out to be complains by spoiled children. Going by the first few Steam reviews one would gather that all the mods are now under lock and key, available only when you give out your credit card/Paypal/first born child. There is even some poetic verse, although it seems more about a violent
coup than entertaining the mind. It is amusing, though.
What does this mean to PC gamers? As of right now, very little. Looking on the
Skyrim workshop I see a grand total of seventeen paid mods that are currently available (there were more, but some are removed) and over twenty-five thousand free. There is also a "Paid Items - Under Review" section, which at the moment contains ninety-two mods. They range from new weapons to giving you large amounts of gold to your character. My personal favorite is
Rubbish Bucket DLC by cheapbuster. He/she states that the mod is a bucket that will contain all of your rubbish, but currently is an "Early Access" mod and is in actuality a small pile of wood until he/she gets enough money for the to fix it. However one can always place your rubbish on top of the pile of wood until the bucket is fixed.
What does everyone think of this change? Is this good or bad or the scene? Will this move make you look differently on Bethesda/Valve/Steam?
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