Poll: Should Modders be allowed to charge for their mods / maps?

[Qitz]

When you look at a lot of PC games out there one thing becomes clear extremely fast. Mods can drastically extend the life of a game, same with maps for games that support them.

Look at games like Starcraft, WoW, Warcraft, Oblivion, Minecraft, the list goes on and on. Their gameplay can be drastically altered through the use of mods and maps.

However, a lot of these mod developers can't charge for their mods or maps. Instead, they either put them up, and maintain them, for free, point them towards their website for ad revenue or use a system like Adfly that has you sit through an ad and gives them some compensation for it (how much I don't know.)

Do you think they should be able to charge directly for their mod or map? Should they be limited to JUST these 3rd party features or should the developers take the initiative and "buy" the product themselves and implement it into their game? Or should the person just bite the bullet and accept the fact that their doing it of their own accord and not expect any payment?

Personally, I'd support mod and map devs being able to charge directly for their products. A lot of these people are doing it because it's something they wish to make a career out of or wish the game had to vastly improve their enjoyment of it. Combine that with the fact that getting some sort of viable revenue from it would increase the quality of the products as well as the frequency of the updates.

What about you?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Starving artists often starve. Art for Art's sake. Money for God sake.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

Oh gods no. And modders would get into legal trouble if they tried that (I can already imagine Blizzard suing me for doing something like this).

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

I think it'd be fair for them to charge for their product on the condition that they split the money with the actual game developers relative to how much actual work each party did towards the final product. In almost all cases that'd be a roughly 5%/95% split in favour of the developer, but at least the modders would be getting SOMETHING.

 

[dvd_72]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't many modders have some method of accepting donations? Thereby they avoid the legal issues of directly charging for the mod, and people who want to support modders and the mod itself can.

 

[somonels]

No. Modders should use it as a proof of concept to find some financial backing and go indie.

 

[Qitz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't many modders have some method of accepting donations? Thereby they avoid the legal issues of directly charging for the mod, and people who want to support modders and the mod itself can.

That's one option yes, but donating is optional. One of the few products where paying for it is optional actually.

While I've never looked at any donation data, or done any modding myself, so I can only assume so but I would assume that most people don't donate anything to the modders. Some do, yes, but I would guess most don't.

No. Modders should use it as a proof of concept to find some financial backing and go indie.

What if they don't want to make indie games and would rather make maps and mods for games and make money off of that?

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

It hits an iffy legal area when they use models and textures that aren't their own if they straight up charge for it. If they use completely original models and such though? Go nuts.

Otherwise donations work fine. If it's a good mod it'll get some kind of monetary return.

 

[The Virgo]

If I'm going to pay for a mod, it had better be fucking fantastic and with as few bugs as possible. Garry's Mod is a mod, but considering how much of a sandbox it is and how much you can do with it, Garry SHOULD charge money for it.

I wouldn't pay money for the Dear Esther mod, but since they're making it into its own stand-alone game, yeah, I would pay money for it.

I have no problem supporting modders, but I would not pay for maps, skins or anything like that. It would have to be for something big, like that one German mod for Oblivion that was like a whole new game. (The name escapes me.)

 

[Uber Evil]

If I'm going to pay for a mod, it had better be fucking fantastic and with as few bugs as possible. Garry's Mod is a mod, but considering how much of a sandbox it is and how much you can do with it, Garry SHOULD charge money for it.

I wouldn't pay money for the Dear Esther mod, but since they're making it into its own stand-alone game, yeah, I would pay money for it.

I have no problem supporting modders, but I would not pay for maps, skins or anything like that. It would have to be for something big, like that one German mod for Oblivion that was like a whole new game. (The name escapes me.)

Nehrim, maybe.
I voted for the adfly option. No direct charging of the customer, and the mod maker still gets a little bit of cash. I usually see that couple with donations.

 

[The Virgo]

And modders would get into legal trouble if they tried that (I can already imagine Blizzard suing me for doing something like this).

Not necessarily. Look at Garry's Mod. It is a mod (it requires a VALVe game to play), but it costs money. VALVe takes 50% of the profits and Garry Newman keeps the other 50% ... yet, it is a mod with VALVe textures, VALVe characters, VALVe sounds, VALVe items, VALVe levels, etc.

I think it's all in the legal work as to whether you can make money off a mod.

Nehrim, maybe.

Yes, that was it! Thanks!

 

[LordOmnit]

No, you mod for your own sake or fun. If you want to have people pay for something then make your own game.
I can see asking for donations if you have a sizable enough fanbase for your mod, but unless the company that developed the game you are modding adopts your mod then it should never have any price.

 

[Hipsy_Gypsy]

Definitely not. It's not their original content that they're modding, so no. If, however, say for example that they were hired by developers, then why not?

No, you mod for your own sake or fun. If you want to have people pay for something then make your own game.
I can see asking for donations if you have a sizable enough fanbase for your mod, but unless the company that developed the game you are modding adopts your mod then it should never have any price.

Ditto!


x

 

[Hagi]

Selling to the devs for really good mods? Sure, by all means. That'd probably be a good stimulant for the modding community.

Anything else though has, imho, far too much risk of crazy legal trouble that's better avoided.

 

[RADlTZ]

If mods are to be sold, they should be sold through the developer. Its only fair that the devs get a cut, but on the other hand a lot of games would never have sold as much as they did if it werent for the modding community (lookin at you Oblivion, the modless xbox-360 version paled in comparrison to the PC install injected full of mods), so perhaps a little money-recognition for the dedicated modders would be nice, it would encourage some better mods too.

But lets be honest, our place in this as gamers is the most important one (FOR WE ARE GODS), I'm guessing most of us would prefer to get our mods free, rather than turn them into paid DLC. I supose we can always see how that pay-for-mods thing in minecraft works out...

 

[The Virgo]

No, you mod for your own sake or fun. If you want to have people pay for something then make your own game.

But it all boils down to what a "mod" is and what a "game" is. Garry's Mod is a mod. Zero Clash could be considered a mod since it uses the Source Engine, but it's a game. Nehrim is a mod for Oblivion, but it's like a whole new game. Fallout: New Vegas runs looks like Fallout 3, plays like Fallout 3 and uses the same engine as Fallout 3, but it's a whole new game, yet it could very well be a mod.

That's why I think charging for a mod should depend on quality and length. If a mod gives you over 6 hours of quality, first-class gameplay without using any material from the original game, then why not charge for it?

 

[Something Amyss]

What if they don't want to make indie games and would rather make maps and mods for games and make money off of that?

At best, there should be some sort of royalties system. BE ADVISED, if it fllows other media, this is probably going to be crippling to the exact people who would want to make money off their mods.

Mods are developments based on someone else's intellectual property. The mod community is largely protected by it being not-for-profit, the same way someone could technically go after Star Trek fanfic but Paramount (or whoever) generally doesn't because it's distributed not as a paid work.

If they want to get paid, they should be going through the rights holders one way or another.

Come up with original content or work with the rights holder.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Me? I would prefer, for instance, Morrowind to be re-released on budget and Bethesda add in all the best mods from the internet. That would be worth it. Better graphics, better control, more magic, more missions and creatures, wildlife and everything. That would be the best GOTY edition. Same with GOTY editions of Fallout 3, Vegas and Oblivion - bring the GOTY edition out with all the best mods and all the DLC - would be a great purchase. Especially as modders have a habit of fixing the mistakes that gamemakers dont seem to fussed about.