They might have backed down THIS TIME but I expect they will continue to try to make money off modders somehow in the future. Reading their reason for backing off make me realize they are not done trying to make money from this in some future "iteration".Gamers have proved themselves guillible by paying for all those early access alpha/beta games and companies see more reason to push it even further. We continually give them cause.
I see so many problems with paid mods. As a lawyer I have to wonder what happens when a "paid" mod does not work. Does Steam automatically give me a refund? Let's be honest....most of the mods are buggy or simply do not do what they are supposed to. When you charge for something you have liability and a responsibility to provide what is advertised.
Originally posted by flizzer They might have backed down THIS TIME but I expect they will continue to try to make money off modders somehow in the future. Reading their reason for backing off make me realize they are not done trying to make money from this in some future "iteration".Gamers have proved themselves guillible by paying for all those early access alpha/beta games and companies see more reason to push it even further. We continually give them cause.
Oh, absolutely !
If gamers didn't rush to buy into "exclusive/limited early access" and staggeringly expensive "founders/starter packs", those monetization features would not have become standard practice.
I'm sure Steam (and the big game development studios) will continue to look at ways of monetizing mods. Not doing so is just leaving money on the table. It is a very tricky legal minefield though, because once something is being "officially" sold, it has to comply with Consumer Law and all sorts of other legal strictures.
For instance, who is liable to provide a refund if a mod stops working because the base game was changed in a patch by the game developer ? Can the mod creator then sue Bethesda for "losses incurred" as a result of having to refund players that bought their mod ?
I am sure that people said something similar back when steam launched... Who will ever need this.. =P
Never ever underestimate the combination of simple delivery and familarity when it comes to people. They are VERY powerful tools that steam have compared to "random mod-site on the web"
No, sorry. I'll be staying on Nexus for my mods and not looking back. Even if they retracted the statement that they will be charging. You can't start charging for somethign that's been free from the start.
Comments
I see so many problems with paid mods. As a lawyer I have to wonder what happens when a "paid" mod does not work. Does Steam automatically give me a refund? Let's be honest....most of the mods are buggy or simply do not do what they are supposed to. When you charge for something you have liability and a responsibility to provide what is advertised.
Oh, absolutely !
If gamers didn't rush to buy into "exclusive/limited early access" and staggeringly expensive "founders/starter packs", those monetization features would not have become standard practice.
I'm sure Steam (and the big game development studios) will continue to look at ways of monetizing mods. Not doing so is just leaving money on the table. It is a very tricky legal minefield though, because once something is being "officially" sold, it has to comply with Consumer Law and all sorts of other legal strictures.
For instance, who is liable to provide a refund if a mod stops working because the base game was changed in a patch by the game developer ? Can the mod creator then sue Bethesda for "losses incurred" as a result of having to refund players that bought their mod ?
I am sure that people said something similar back when steam launched... Who will ever need this.. =P
Never ever underestimate the combination of simple delivery and familarity when it comes to people. They are VERY powerful tools that steam have compared to "random mod-site on the web"
This have been a good conversation