Won't this improve the quality of mods?
This doesn't preclude free mods and not all games will have paid mod support.
Won't this motivate publishers to support modding and release tools?
There are some downsides and there will be growing pains, but I don't think that accounts for the shear amount of vitriol and ranting. The slippery slope arguments are giving me a headache.
Eh, it's more likely to increase the quantity of shit mods. Epic mods like Falskaar and Skywind have too many individuals involved for the 25% cut of whatever amount they could charge to be worth the headache of divvying their nickels. It's a stated reason by Skywind why they won't charge when they release (it's not the only reason and probably not a primary reason). There's gonna' be a lot of sword skins though.
Not that I care on the whole mind you. Modders getting paid is fine by me. But this seems to reward low effort cash grab mods (lol sword skins) more than truly epic things. That doesn't affect many people until mod authors of big things decide it's better to make a lot of smaller things and see what strikes gold. Someone will reply "well if those bigger things make the right money they won't stop," and the problem there is the grander mods are probably worth $10-30 in content, but once you factor in the risks (compatibility, support, etc.), that value drops drastically. Easier to support your one-man, lower effort works. Meanwhile enthusiasts will continue to make stuff for free, much of it still epic. Circles back around to what makes sense to the people doing the work, but consumers have to properly consider their options too of course. But yeah, money = quantity, not quality. Already have quality. Would have had quality either way. And will continue to have quality, just a bit more diluted.
They kind of sacced the Skyrim scene to beta test this for future releases, creating a bunch of backtracking problems that won't exist when Fallout4 and TES6 are released with this as the standard. That was probably a shitty thing to do, though perhaps necessary. People being this mad should have been expected.
tldr shit's a mess yo.
Also comparing mods to hats is stupid. Chiefly because I can sell my hats to someone else when I don't want them anymore, amongst other reasons. Different kinds of content.
For grief, this started as a reply to your post and rambled into something far more general. Sorry if it seems like I'm talking down to you.
