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'PayWare' mods (and the whole Valve debacle)
10 years ago
So, as those of you who are into gaming likely already know, Valve is going to allow people to have the option to sell mods they make for games, starting with Skyrim. This has had the obvious reaction of everyone flipping the nearest table they can find.
My thoughts on the matter? Well, I've been involved in the flight sim community fairly heavily since the early to mid 90's. The concept of 'payware' is not new to me, and has been around in said community for about 20-ish years that I can remember. It has resulted in some individuals going full time making aircraft and scenery of a quality that often surpasses that of the original assets in the sims themselves. It has also resulted in less than reputable types popping up trying to rip people off.
Through all that, the regular modder community remained, continuing to pop out stuff for free, for the fun of it, sometimes with a level of quality that rivals the payware stuff.
Are paid mods going to be the end of the world? No, no they wont. But in the short term, assuming it doesn't get smothered in the crib, its going to be a massive shakeup of the dynamics most gamers are used to.
My thoughts on the matter? Well, I've been involved in the flight sim community fairly heavily since the early to mid 90's. The concept of 'payware' is not new to me, and has been around in said community for about 20-ish years that I can remember. It has resulted in some individuals going full time making aircraft and scenery of a quality that often surpasses that of the original assets in the sims themselves. It has also resulted in less than reputable types popping up trying to rip people off.
Through all that, the regular modder community remained, continuing to pop out stuff for free, for the fun of it, sometimes with a level of quality that rivals the payware stuff.
Are paid mods going to be the end of the world? No, no they wont. But in the short term, assuming it doesn't get smothered in the crib, its going to be a massive shakeup of the dynamics most gamers are used to.
I threw the idea to a friend that maybe Valve should reverse the idea, instead of paid mods, add a tip jar, so folks can donate instead. Leaves a bit more incentive, imo, when you can see the quality of work before you pay.
Bob created a mod and released it for free.
Joe takes that mod and uploads it into the paid system. By the time Bob knows anything, Joe could have made serious cash on it. It gets even worse if Joe is the one who issues a takedown notice against Bob first.