Steam is allowing people to sell workshop content

[Alternat¡ve]

r u p;aying stupid

Seems like you are the stupid one. DLC is content that you download. Downloadable content, if you will. Things that can be downloaded to add content to your game.

I think you are confused and think DLC = Paid DLC.

considering most of the people here afaik aren't mod creators, this doesn't affect any of you at all.

Actually it does genius.

[Ad Bot]

[Glass Joe]

Actually it does genius.

...then don't buy mods??

[Bisjac]

well this whole thing sucks lol

gonna take down my gabe poster for time time being -.-

[Alternat¡ve]

...then don't buy mods??

Beloved mods are now put behind paywalls to get latest updates like Midas Magic and Wet & Cold. Does that answer your question of "does this affect any of you at all"

[Arekan]

Comments are disabled and discussions are locked from view, atleast, for me.

[Bisjac]

what a coincidence. skyrim is free for weekend.
the one game most likely to be modded.

[Nal]

https://www.change.org/p/valve-remove-the-paid-content-of-the-steam-workshop

[Emgiell]

Is modding piracy protection DRM going to be a thing?

[IkeTheGeneric]

...then don't buy mods??

Are you stupid or something?

Also:

[Glass Joe]

Are you stupid or something?

yes I am, very stupid in fact. i can't even add two plus two. i need to go to a therapist for being too stupid.

[Nal]

yes I am, very stupid in fact. i can't even add two plus two. i need to go to a therapist for being too stupid.

at least you admit it

[·::Kishgal::·]

There is a generally accepted meaning to DLC, that is paid DLC.

Is modding piracy protection DRM going to be a thing?

It wouldn't take long for people to put it in themselves.
In fact there's no reason they couldn't commission someone to mod a DRM system for mods, require that mod for their own mods, and then share all the profits.

[otto-san]

i don't like doing this stupid repost myself thing but i'd like to discuss this so i can have a better idea of other things to consider

i have decided i am ok with the idea if done within reason

as someone that generates this kind of content, i would personally say that people who generate content should be able to monetise their work; if it isn't worth whatever price tag is placed, they'll ultimately hurt themselves more than anyone else. ethically and legally speaking there are concessions and considerations that have to be made, but the basic principle is worthy enough.

i don't mod for the praise or for profit, i do it because i enjoy doing it and enjoy making content to ultimately help the game grow; it is certainly a labour of love. however, i don't think that's sufficient justification against monetising these kinds of works. i think it mostly means you get to enjoy doing it? i wouldn't personally want to monetise any of my mods because that often goes against the underlying effort i'm working for, but the idea that people who create content on their own time shouldn't ethically accept payment is a bit silly to me

ofc i defo understand why people have a problem with this. for one, it's a fairly new idea and there's potential for failure and abuse of the system. of course, this is a fairly standard concern, but that doesn't make it unfounded. another thing is that previously-free mods may suddenly wear a price tag. in that case, i think so long as the content isn't retroactively paid content, and rather future iterations of the mod will require payment, that's fine.

i don't think it's a problem for people to get paid for their content, but i don't think it's fair for valve to be taking such a ridiculous cut of something they basically only host, and i think there's going to have to be some kind of moderation to prevent illegal or underhanded activity. essentially, i am 100% OK with the idea, but pretty not-OK with its implementation

[Mouse droidz 21]

Also:

That is just disgusting, the worse thing you can do is remove the ratings. The feedback is what actually matters because you're not going to sell a product and disable feedback, its just horrible. Anyone can illiterately post a awful mod on that and it would make money. For forgets sakes man this is just pathetic

[Decepticon]

so apparently the guy who made the first pulled-off paid mod posted something on reddit

http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/33qcaj/the_experiment_has_failed_my_exit_from_the/

Hello everyone,
I would like to address the current situation regarding Arissa, and Art of the Catch, an animated fishing mod scripted by myself and animated by Aqqh.

It now lives in modding history as the first paid mod to be removed due to a copyright dispute. Recent articles on Kotaku  and Destructiod  have positioned me as a content thief. Of course, the truth is more complex than that.
I will now reveal some information about some internal discussions that have occurred at Valve in the month leading up to this announcement, more than you've heard anywhere else.

I'll start with the human factor. Imagine you wake up one morning, and sitting in your inbox is an email directly from Valve, with a Bethesda staff member cc'd. And they want YOU, yes, you, to participate in a new and exciting program. Well, stuff. What am I supposed to say? These kinds of opportunities happen once in a lifetime. It was a very persuasive and attractive situation.
We were given about a month and a half to prepare our content. As anyone here knows, large DLC-sized mods don't happen in a month and a half. During this time, we were required to not speak to anyone about this program. And when a company like Valve or Bethesda tells you not to do something, you tend to listen.

I knew this would cause backlash, trust me. But I also knew that, with the right support and infrastructure in place, there was an opportunity to take modding to "the next level", where there are more things like Falskaar in the world because the incentive was there to do it. The boundary between "what I'm willing to do as a hobby" and "what I'm willing to do if someone paid me to do it" shifts, and more quality content gets produced. That to me sounded great for everyone. Hobbyists will continue to be hobbyists, while those that excel can create some truly magnificent work. In the case of Arissa, there are material costs associated with producing that mod (studio time, sound editing, and so on). To be able to support Arissa professionally also sounded great.

Things internally stayed rather positive and exciting until some of us discovered that "25% Revenue Share" meant 25% to the modder, not to Valve / Bethesda. This sparked a long internal discussion. My key argument to Bethesda (putting my own head on the chopping block at the time) was that this model incentivizes small, cheap to produce items (time-wise) than it does the large, full-scale mods that this system has the opportunity of championing. It does not reward the best and the biggest. But at the heart of it, the argument came down to this: How much would you pay for front-page Steam coverage? How much would you pay to use someone else's successful IP (with nearly no restrictions) for a commercial purpose? I know indie developers that would sell their houses for such an opportunity. And 25%, when someone else is doing the marketing, PR, brand building, sales, and so on, and all I have to do is "make stuff", is actually pretty attractive. Is it fair? No. But it was an experiment I was willing to at least try.
Of course, the modding community is a complex, tangled web of interdependencies and contributions. There were a lot of questions surrounding the use of tools and contributed assets, like FNIS, SKSE, SkyUI, and so on. The answer we were given is:
[Valve] Officer Mar 25 @ 4:47pm
Usual caveat: I am not a lawyer, so this does not constitute legal advice. If you are unsure, you should contact a lawyer. That said, I spoke with our lawyer and having mod A depend on mod B is fine--it doesn't matter if mod A is for sale and mod B is free, or if mod A is free or mod B is for sale.
Art of the Catch required the download of a separate animation package, which was available for free, and contained an FNIS behavior file. Art of the Catch will function without this download, but any layman can of course see that a major component of it's enjoyment required FNIS.
After a discussion with Fore, I made the decision to pull Art of the Catch down myself. (It was not removed by a staff member) Fore and I have talked since and we are OK.

I have also requested that the pages for Art of the Catch and Arissa be completely taken down. Valve's stance is that they "cannot" completely remove an item from the Workshop if it is for sale, only allow it to be marked as unpurchaseable. I feel like I have been left to twist in the wind by Valve and Bethesda.
In light of all of the above, and with the complete lack of moderation control over the hundreds of spam and attack messages I have received on Steam and off, I am making the decision to leave the curated Workshop behind. I will be refunding all PayPal donations that have occurred today and yesterday.

I am also considering removing my content from the Nexus. Why? The problem is that Robin et al, for perfectly good political reasons, have positioned themselves as essentially the champions of free mods and that they would never implement a for-pay system. However, The Nexus is a listed Service Provider on the curated Workshop, and they are profiting from Workshop sales. They are saying one thing, while simultaneously taking their cut. I'm not sure I'm comfortable supporting that any longer. I may just host my mods on my own site for anyone who is interested.
What I need to happen, right now, is for modding to return to its place in my life where it's a fun side hobby, instead of taking over my life. That starts now. Or just give it up entirely; I have other things I could spend my energy on.

Real-time update - I was just contacted by Valve's lawyer. He stated that they will not remove the content unless "legally compelled to do so", and that they will make the file visible only to currently paid users. I am beside myself with anger right now as they try to tell me what I can do with my own content. The copyright situation with Art of the Catch is shades of grey, but in Arissa 2.0's case, it's black and white; that's 100% mine and Griefmyst's work, and I should be able to dictate its distribution if I so choose. Unbelievable.