In the End...

[oldSock]

Hi everyone,

 

Happy new year if you are already at new years otherwise enjoy the festivities.

 

Post summery:

The Following post will contain a topic i keep close to heart, Modding games.

• It also ask the question should someone that spend the time to create the mod be allowed to get paid for it?
• Should payment systems block individuals to get paid?

 

Right, Lets start here, 

 

Right as a programmer i like to tinker with with games that allow me to do so. Some games can be modded to the extreme others not so much. However I feel that modding a game adds to its overall experience and give it a much longer life then it otherwise would have had. Meaning modding keeps the gaming community's interest well after it's popularity and support. 

 

Now Multiplayer games that can be modded really adds to the overall experience and even help to form and maintain online communities. Keeping the interest going and making the game fun in new ways. However modding becomes tedious and momentum dies down unless the person developing the mods get a little something for their trouble. In the end of the day, it is still time that is consumed in creating something that will add value to a existing product. This allow the product itself to maintain interest.

 

Now normally people don't mind the small amounts that is asked. Usually not a lot because they know that selling mods cheaply means more people will buy it. That said not everyone agrees with this model and I personally understand and respect it but doesn't support it. But it is a lot of work, lets be clear on that part. Some mods can take months to complete, specially if one cannot do it full time.

 

Now here is the problem area, most game publishers support  the modding community, but some support them only if they give the mods away for free. Essentially forcing individuals to "work for free". Remember most publishers make all their money from the game and some will add value to it by hosting a paywall server. Modding essentially isn't something they are interested in but because modding keeps the momentum going they "allow it". 

 

However all of this changed when some publishing companies started to put pressure on "payment systems" to essentially block the modding community from getting paid. Now essentially the deadline was set on March 2021 sometime but right now it seems to be a reality time will tell.

 

To be clear it is the publishers property and that should be respected. But how long will that same game last without the modding community? Why not support the modding community and allow them to get a little something for their work?

 

Now i will agree the argument can go both ways. Me personally i do not buy/play any game that i cannot mod. It for me is important because it allows me to do some really cool stuff.

 

So I leave the question to you,

Do you believe game publishers should just leave things as they are? Or do you think it is the right move to pressure "payment systems" into not allowing payments?

 

 

I hope this simple post allowed you to think a little about what is really "valuable" to you. That you would start to look at how publishers treat their following. These things are important moving forward because what you decide today will have an effect on future rules, regulations and policies as well as how they get enforced. 

 

Please take care and be safe.

 

thank you for reading.

 

[Moonzy]

I understand why companies wouldn't want modders to charge money for mods on their game, it creates complicated issues

ie, if the game dev sees that the mod is good and decided to implement it into the official game, is that now infringing on the modders' business? I'm not a lawyer but this sounds like a very messy situation and I don't know if this is even a problem.

 

Modding should be done as a passion, imo

If you think your mod deserves money, maybe you can try creating a new game that is based on that?

[oldSock]

3 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

I understand why companies wouldn't want modders to charge money for mods on their game, it creates complicated issues

ie, if the game dev sees that the mod is good and decided to implement it into the official game, is that now infringing on the modders' business? I'm not a lawyer but this sounds like a very messy situation and I don't know if this is even a problem.

 

Modding should be done as a passion, imo

If you think your mod deserves money, maybe you can try creating a new game that is based on that?

That is a great point and i think it is why there needs to be better communication between the publisher and modding community. To be fair i feel a lot can happen if they work with each other.