Should Modders Get Paid?

[Guinness]

Two games that come to mind that continue to enjoy significant modding activity are the Fallout series and Skyrim, both by Bethesda. While there are a wide selection of mods, many of which are great, some rise above the rest and are truly amazing.

This is where Bethesda's "Creation Club" comes in. This is a way in which certain modders can receive compensation when a player purchases "tokens" with real money and then uses those tokens to purchase mods through the Creation Club.

I don't think anyone doubts the value that many of the modders have contributed to the Farming Simulator series and I can't even begin to imagine the countless hours required to create some of these mods.

I would be in favor of having a way in which modders could receive compensation for their work. This would encourage even better mods and serve as a way for many of us to thank these individuals for their contributions. The game just would not be the same without them.

I am not suggesting Bethesda's idea of a "club" in which some modders are included and others are not. If a modder wanted to list their work as a paid for product, they could. If they wanted to list it as free product, they could do that as well.

I play exclusively on console and that would be the only way I know of to encourage, and thank, the modding community.

Just a thought. Also, I am not a modder.

[ClassicTractors]

There already is a mod reward through ModHub AFAIK. I think it's a good idea, though, because it encourages modders to make decent mods.

[theSeb]

Sure, but selling mods for $x is very different to getting less than a cent per download. I am not sure how I feel about this. Bethesda is not exactly a great example and I don't think the creation club has done much good for the community. One must question the value of what they are getting compared to some of the excellent and free mods that are available for Bethesda's games.

[Airborne82nd]

Sure, why not, but like you, i play on console. The PC folks may have something to say about that, but idk. We're used to paying for these things, and if there were vehicles and mainly..maps, that were on sale via dlc, i'd pay for them.

Quite frankly, what seems frustrating about this particular game, is that i really like the game, but absolutely hate the American map, and find it unplayable. Where as, if Giants maybe hired modders, and teams of them, it's quite possible this game could have launched with maybe 5 or 10 different maps to choose from, and not cause quite the issues this game may be facing.

And on the other hand, they can keep pumping them out, even on a monthly or bi monthly basis, and we pay for what we want, and don't for what we don't.

I think when it gets to a point as it is now, when modders have to become the ones we most depend on, and in fact who Giants may depend too much on, i think we're going backwards. It should really be Giants putting this stuff out.

[Crazof]

I'm sure if asked any of the molders could give you a link to way to send them some money. Just like the donate option for many you tubers

[bigcrazewolf]

I have made some mods for Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I'm very proud of my NV mod

Nexus has an option to support modders called mod rewards wallet, and I know some use Patreon. I'm not a fan of the CC from Bethesda as they get money from the transaction as well.

Most modders mod a game for the love of said game knowing there will be no money from it. If there was a must pay option that would have to include the game developer like CC, and the dev would get some money as well.

[Faelandaea]

Every time this topic comes up, I can't help but smile. In the flight sim community we pay hundreds of dollars for a single mod for the game. But when the topic of decent, high quality, paid third party content comes up for Truck Sim or Farm Sim, both those communities freak out to no end. DISCLAIMER: Not talking about this thread at all. Making the comment as general observation of this subject. I am actually quite surprised and happy to see this thread has stayed decent in this regard. I hope that keeps up

Anyway ... I very VERY happily paid for the Straw Harvest DLC for FS17 ... which was made by someone other than Giants ... which means that ... yup ... it was a mod. And I was very happy with it. I'd happily pay plenty of money for decent mod developers to make some sweet stuff for the game.

And before someone tries to go "But over at flight sim those are professional developers", because someone does that every time I bring this up ... uhm ... they are teams of third party individuals making stuff for a game someone else made ... those are mods. But due to human psychology, we've accepted them as "products" LOL. Still, if someone wants to make cool stuff for Farming Simulator and call it a "product", I'm game. If the product is worth the money, I will pay for it.

There are conditions, though. Like ... RTA over in the truck sim area ... charging money for branded mods they are not licensed for. i don't support that so I don't buy their stuff. If you are going to directly charge a price for something that has a brand name for it, you best have licensing and permissions to do so from the manufacturer. And if i pay a price for a mod ... I better get updates for that mod. One map maker in the Truck Sim community wants to sell his map for full price with every single update. A buck or two, I cam happy with, but 30 bucks for every update? Ridiculous. Promods, though, I pay the dollar for every update so I can get the faster download service.

As for the modders who ask for donations ... if their mods kick ass, I always donate to them if I can.

[Beastbubba]

Wow, the creation club is a horrible example. All the mods on it can be found for free elsewhere for 1 and you can find much better mods elsewhere...

The biggest problem with the concept of paying for mods is they are privately created and may not have any support after release, and may have issues with compatability and or bugs/errors.

[baltic1284]

I am kinda split on this yes I do believe 3rd party members should be paid for there work. At the same time if they do the devs job and actually add tractors that have complete lines then they should get a bonus pay as they are doing the companies job and not expanded with more mods in different areas like tractor lines.
Say Giants adds Massey and they did yet a modder comes along adds the 4700 complete line and the 5700 complete line and the 6700 complete those kinda mods the creator should then definitely get paid a lot better then a person making a mod that is a work around or a different out; look like a house or a barn. As they just did the Devs job and actually added the complete tractor line with all tractors power raitings instead of just the ones they want and not listen or actually keep a promise too a point. So too a ppoint yes they should get paid but they do the devs job and actually add to the tractor lines or combines and such they should get definitely get paid more.

[bigcrazewolf]

Wow, the creation club is a horrible example. All the mods on it can be found for free elsewhere for 1 and you can find much better mods elsewhere...

The biggest problem with the concept of paying for mods is they are privately created and may not have any support after release, and may have issues with compatability and or bugs/errors.

In all fairness console players may not know about sites like Nexus, so they only have CC . . . sorry I just threw up in my mouth a little bit thinking about CC.

[fullon-foresty]

As a guy who started off working on mods and then graduated to working on Triple A Games For Bioware / EA doing sound design for Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series and Star Wars I can say fer sure modders won't and can't get paid unfortunately (personal donations aside). Their lawyers will squash anyone who tries to sell any additions to a game without any licencing deals. The only game I found in the last few years where you didn't need permission was Microsoft's Flight Simulator which seems to be wide open and I did some audio for Dovetail Games when they ventured into flight sim. I still sell sound packs for flight sim albeit the player population has dwindled over the years. I haven't developed a sound pack in a few years but some winter months it still helps pays the rent.

Knowing how much money I poured into my sound packs for Flight Sim, arranging to record aircraft of all types, sometimes renting the aircraft...paying for pilots and fuel...travel and the time to get it implemented in game was pretty huge at times but I fared pretty decently with the whole thing.

The only thing now is that some mods...especially flight sim you have some developers charging 50-70 bux for a single aircraft. That far exceeds the original cost of the game. I guess with such a small population of flight simmers they need to get the big bucks as the sales are much lower than other DLC. I remember at Bioware spending months and the company spending alot of money on a DLC that cost 10-15 bucks...but back in the day we could do that cause we'd sell a few million units.

For me you have to keep modding at a realistic level. Mod to learn the craft if you're planning on breaking into the business and mod for the love of it. I would happily pay for mods and have spent thousands on flight sim mods as I love seeing what people can do when they think outside of the box without the constraints of being creative on demand and making something so creative in a corporate environment, I always hated that.

That being said you can reach out to the devs and try and strike up a licensing deal. I tried with Giants and they don't even reply to my emails when I ask about making pro sound packs for farm sim so I just don't bother these days. The big thing for mods, and I don't know about farm sim but there's always a lack of QA. Lots of stuff slips through thats just stuff and it goes unchecked by any reasonable means of proper testing.

I wish one of these devs would start rewarding the modders in a real way as they add so much to sims like this and are obviously relying on mods to complete the game for them while they profit.

Vance
www.vancedylan.ca

[jenxy]

If a mod is put behind a paywall, then I won't pay. Obviously I won't have the mod, which is fine, although I'm sure there would be 'alternative ways' to obtain it - which I would not use.
If I am given the choice to donate, then I would carefully consider it.

[junttieinari]

Only by volunteer donations, if it's behind paywall no f*** way!

[Faelandaea]

Just because a mod is behind a paywall doesn’t mean it’s bad. But to each their own. In P3D the ONLY way I’ll download a mod is if it is from a professional modder such as PMDG. I think currently the cheapest one of their mods is around $90 usd. The average price for a halfway decent plane mod in that community is $170 usd.

Fortunately Aerosoft has broken the ice in the Farming Simulator community with the Straw Harvest mod. Well worth every penny and hoping they do a version for FS19 also.

[george.earlslight]

It takes a lot of work and knowledge to make a decent mod, so I don't see why not.
It's not very different from paying to buy a game or any kind of software.