I don't think there's anything stopping modders from setting up a link to donate on their own page outside of Steam.
Tweets Claim Valve Removing Donation Links from Workshop Mods
- Thread starter Bornstellar
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I don't think there's anything stopping modders from setting up a link to donate on their own page outside of Steam.
Dorsal Axe
Member
This reminded me that script mods are basically impossible to remove from existing Skyrim saves... so that's going to present another can of worms when it comes to the dodgy refund system.
That isn't actually true anymore, there are script cleaners nowadays. Like I said in my previous post, though, it's still highly possible for a novice to break their game or save through modding and Workshop offers exactly zero safeguards for it. They don't even do warning labels on potentially difficult mods.
M0G
Member
It seems Steam is a far cry from the saviour of PC gaming rep they had for a few years. Origin showed them up with the old refund policy, Early Access lack of a filter has screwed people out of a lot of money and now this is incredible really. That awesome reputation they had is disapearing quick. I guess they think they reached that level of monopoly they were gunning for, now they show their true colours :/
Just to reiterate: Mods can still be released for free (both on the Nexus and the Steam Workshop). At the moment, the only thing that is happening is some authors are stopping all updates to the free versions and forcing you to pay for the recent version (Wet and Cold being an example - the newest version 2.0 is only avaible by buying it). Will this change? Possibly, but we don't really know. However, one issue that comes up is that people are charging for their mods while using assets from mods that are free (or outright stealing free mods and selling them) and those authors don't want any of their work to be used by someone charging a fee. I believe one of the initial mods (a fishing one) using assets from another mod has been removed (and I think Wet and Cold is now wet because it uses assets from a mod who doesn't want someone selling their work.
Again, to reiterate: Valve takes a standard 30% cut from anything sold for cash on Steam. Since mods are now sold, Valve is taking their 30% of the cut. The current distribution is 25% for the modders, 30% for Valve, and 45% for Bethesda. Apparently, Bethesda can change how much they get so if you have an issue with modders only getting 25% it seems you should take it up with Bethesda. However, Valve does hold all of the money until you reach a certain point and seems to have given the okay for people to use assets from other people's free mods so they aren't exactly blameless.
This really isn't that big of a deal (and if you went through the thread about it you would understand why). The features really aren't that important (and only Steam has the ones you would lose - so no complaining about people being harsher on Origin), the people it affected aren't really people Valve cared about anyway (only play f2p and doesn't even spend a dime to buy any hats or anything - which is fine as long as you realize your aren't really getting priority over paying customers who kept getting spammed by bots for invites), and you can easily get around it - just buy something for $5 or if for some reason you can't spend $5 - just find someone who is willing to loan you $5 bucks to buy something (you could even just buy a game and gift it back to them - only gifts that you receive don't count toward $5 dollars not gifts you buy).
NotoriousPUG
Member
Doing nothing? Is this a serious post?
If Valve only takes 25% then more than likely Bethesda insisted on a 50% cut to be willing tolet people monetize their mods. I don't see how that's Valve's issue. 25% is better than just working for free as far as that goes so at least the creators are being enabled to make money and hopefully that can be improved over time. It sucks but it may be out of their control.
OnionPowder
Member
So would these mods exist without Bethesda making the game? They're using Bethesda's product to generate revenue, why shouldn't they get a cut?
I think the percentage is the issue 50 creator/25 beth/25 valve would seem reasonable
Yes, aren't I the joker?
Because they've already been paid for the game. And let's face it, many of the mods are correcting flaws that Bethesda left behind. Why should I pay Bethesda when the modder is doing work to fix Bethesda's own failures? Do you see how distorted this logic is?
And they can get a cut, but do you think it's fair, that the middle men that do nothing but stand by and let others do their work get majority of the profits? Paying for modding is a mistake anyways. Like mentioned, they might aswell just call it third-party DLC at that point. The whole principle of modding was content that was freely shared within the community. But I guess publishers saw there wasn't enough money in that so got to wreck that too.
shark sandwich
tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Fuck that. Valve and Bethesda should be paying modders for adding value and driving sales of Skyrim. Not taking a huge cut.
Some more comments appeared in that thread, and it turns out it was a Valve source who said this:
Comment link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/33oahx/valve_is_removing_mods_that_accept_donations/cqmxe2g
User: https://www.reddit.com/user/afarnsworth_valve
Steam profile: http://steamcommunity.com/id/afarnsworth/
I've edited my post with this information.
It might be conjecture at this point. I'm going through the Top files for Skyrim to see if the big mods are changing.
So far, it looks like at least SkyUI and the Unofficial Patches are still free. On of the authors for the Unofficial Patch (Arthmoor who does have a paid mod) has said in the comments that the Unofficial Patches will remain free, but no word on if SkyUI will stay free. All of this could change of course, but those are really my only must have mods so I'm content at the moment.
I believe Wet and Cold (a very popular mod) will only release new versions on the workshop and for a price. However, there are issues as the mod is based upon assets of other mods (and those authors won't give permission for Wet and Cold to be sold using their assets).
Shuggananas
Banned
Good job reddit, as always
I love these.
GAF doesn't *Need* Something to hate on Valve, they already provide plenty of Reasons.
The $5 "charge" is to combat bots and scammers and I don't think it's necessarily fair to call it a "charge" either, they're just asking you to buy something at least worth $5, you still get that thing you bought (a game, content for a game, etc) - so you're not just giving $5 for the privilege of using certain steam community features.
Pinko Marx
Banned
They're still the saviors of the PC. We wouldn't be anywhere near where we are today without their innovations on the Steam platform. Whether we like what they're doing now or not, their contributions to PC gaming is undeniable.
With that being said, I haven't read much into what this is,but my first impression is that it seems like a crappy thing to do, but I'm not so inclined to believe a random tweet.
Edit: Looks like it's not even true. PFFFFBBBBBTTTT.
OnionPowder
Member
That $5 rule is great. I get spam bots all the fucking time. When I was like 15 one even stole my password
maestrillo
Banned
Get money of everything, including things that don't deserve
That now costs $5. Mod gets $0.25, NEOGAF $4.75.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
Seriously though its a shit move but what are gamers going to do? Abandon their gaming libraries? Learn to deal with whatever Valve throws your way because theres nothing to be done about it.
InsaneTiger
Member
Well they goes the modding community. Killed with a single stroke.
Impressive.
Impressive.
Well they're not a non profit organization. A private company basically monopolized what was once (still is to some extent) an open platform. Number one aim will always be to find ways to maximize profits. Except they're really killing their fanbase now.
PC mainstream gaming needs to find a way now to exist independently of Steam. Otherwise PC will just become another console.
SerTapTap
Member
Ugh. I really do support paid mods as a Thing, but I really hate how Valve is handling this in almost every other regard. The 25% cut you get is terrible. Youtube gives you 55% of ad earnings and frankly Youtube does way more for video creators than I see Valve doing for mod creators.
Cato the Censor
Member
This thread is so delicious. "What! A tweet stating an unproven fact about Valve being greedy? No, lets not check or anything like that. To the Hatemobile!"
Gratz to those people who just did a drive-by post, made up their mind and will never look at this topic again.
Gratz to those people who just did a drive-by post, made up their mind and will never look at this topic again.
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