Paid mods are killing the trust of gamers

[OursIsTheFury]

They tried before and they failed. When Steam tried to monetize off the success of mods from games like Skyrim, the whole gaming community fought back. It worked, and a few days after the whole fiasco, Valve released a statement saying it will no longer continue with the paid mods and refunded all purchases made in this period. Now, Bethesda is trying to do it again, all while piggybacking off the success of a game released over 5 years ago.

It's basically letting modders and gamers do their jobs for them - yes, waiting for mods to release bug fixes isn't right, it's YOUR job to do it. But Bethesda has a loyal community and they freely fixed bugs in their incredibly buggy games, and all because they actually enjoy the game. Bethesda tried before selling DLCs for completely irrelevant things like horse armor, then charging a sum for it. Now they won't even do that, they'll just sell those items that others made and take a large percentage off it.

It's a disgusting tactic, and Bethesda should know better before they alienate their entire base into turning away the products.

 

[Denis_P]

Well for starters, I think it's incredibly disrespectful of Bethesda to be pushing the concept of paid mods again even after the public pretty much unanimously decided that we don't want them. It's like how people in congress keep trying to pass laws regulating the internet when we as people had to work together to beat down new bills on multiple occasions. It shows total lack of regard or respect.

That being said, I still need to see how the situation unfolds to form a solid opinion. If they have their own shop for paid mods which doesn't interfere with free mods, I could not care less about whoever is actually wasting their money there. However, if Bethesda starts interfering with free mods by trying to claim ownership or placing copyrights on things, that would be the moment that I boycott all Bethesda products.

 

[Makefort]

This was like the worst thing I have heard in quite some time when I heard it for the first time. Skyrim would be nowhere close to where it is today if the community didn't work on it. And they are still doing it. No just Skyrim, many other games. Just check at the number of mods only Skyrim has. Due to those Bethesda has managed to make more titles and I can tell you for sure that most of them used things from the community. That's quite a way to back-stab someone who has given you all the attention and money.

Another thing that is ruining the foundations of modding are companies like Take-Two. Sure, hacking online is against the rules. But trying to ban general mods people use in SP and enjoy them, that is a bad thing. It might be a publicity stunt, but who knows.

It wouldn't be the first time gaming companies totally disappoint their community.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

This was like the worst thing I have heard in quite some time when I heard it for the first time. Skyrim would be nowhere close to where it is today if the community didn't work on it. And they are still doing it. No just Skyrim, many other games. Just check at the number of mods only Skyrim has. Due to those Bethesda has managed to make more titles and I can tell you for sure that most of them used things from the community. That's quite a way to back-stab someone who has given you all the attention and money.

Another thing that is ruining the foundations of modding are companies like Take-Two. Sure, hacking online is against the rules. But trying to ban general mods people use in SP and enjoy them, that is a bad thing. It might be a publicity stunt, but who knows.

It wouldn't be the first time gaming companies totally disappoint their community.

Why create a new game, develop it from scratch, and release it - which may or may not flop - when you can just create DLCs and remasters? Then again, why create original DLCs and remasters when you can just charge for mods and get a large percentage of it? No work, you did your part with the base game, now you take some profit from your most loyal and dedicated followers just to make a profit. It's sickening.

 

[PenguinManiac]

Why create a new game, develop it from scratch, and release it - which may or may not flop - when you can just create DLCs and remasters? Then again, why create original DLCs and remasters when you can just charge for mods and get a large percentage of it? No work, you did your part with the base game, now you take some profit from your most loyal and dedicated followers just to make a profit. It's sickening.

That's what pisses me off the most. They treat mods as mere updates or enhancements they can sell bit by bit to expand their game with minimal effort. They completely disregarded the community factor, as if the modders' time, effort and passion could be simply bought.
Mods are all about dedicated gamers who want to make their mark on a game they care about, who want to see a whole community grow through mutual help.
Where would all of that go if you take this it out and simply slap a price tag on it?

 

[OursIsTheFury]

That's what pisses me off the most. They treat mods as mere updates or enhancements they can sell bit by bit to expand their game with minimal effort. They completely disregarded the community factor, as if the modders' time, effort and passion could be simply bought.
Mods are all about dedicated gamers who want to make their mark on a game they care about, who want to see a whole community grow through mutual help.
Where would all of that go if you take this it out and simply slap a price tag on it?

Skyrim was the first "modern" game I played after years of not having a good enough gaming rig. I had a lot of problems with bugged quests even though the game was fully updated. I had to do online research and got the Unofficial Skyrim Patch. A mod that fixed a lot of problems with the game that the community made together. They weren't expecting any payment, no mentions in social media; they just wanted to have the best Skyrim experience and bug free plays. After Skyrim I tried games like Witcher 3. You know my first question? Where do I get Witcher 3's unofficial patches? There weren't any. The devs actually released a superior game and they update it constantly if they find any bugs. THAT is what game devs should be about.

 

[Makefort]

That's what pisses me off the most. They treat mods as mere updates or enhancements they can sell bit by bit to expand their game with minimal effort. They completely disregarded the community factor, as if the modders' time, effort and passion could be simply bought.
Mods are all about dedicated gamers who want to make their mark on a game they care about, who want to see a whole community grow through mutual help.
Where would all of that go if you take this it out and simply slap a price tag on it?

Exactly. There are some mods that have been worked on for YEARS. Hell, I even saw a mod that is twice the size of the Skyrim base game, whole new world. They could have easily went for a d* move and took it as their own and made it a DLC and what not.

After Skyrim I tried games like Witcher 3. You know my first question? Where do I get Witcher 3's unofficial patches? There weren't any. The devs actually released a superior game and they update it constantly if they find any bugs. THAT is what game devs should be about.

True, CDPR was really fast on fixing their issues. Although, Bethesda is known to release a game with many bugs and they expect the community to do the dirty work for them. Sure, we got all the tools to make big changes and what not, but dirty bit, fixing game breaking bugs and what not usually falls onto community.

 

[PenguinManiac]

After Skyrim I tried games like Witcher 3. You know my first question? Where do I get Witcher 3's unofficial patches? There weren't any. The devs actually released a superior game and they update it constantly if they find any bugs. THAT is what game devs should be about.

My mind exactly. Players have replaced developers when the latter stepped back, and that's how they're paying them back. Bethesda should have taken this into consideration while deciding their plan of action.
And you know what? I'd even go as far as saying that the only reason why players kept up with their failures was because they could make up for it themselves. People would have let Skyrim die years ago, weren't it for the mods. Why should serious software houses like CD Project (as you mentioned) bother with making technically decent games when they could just release unpolished products and have the players do the rest? It's a matter of work ethics and respect towards your fans.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

My mind exactly. Players have replaced developers when the latter stepped back, and that's how they're paying them back. Bethesda should have taken this into consideration while deciding their plan of action.
And you know what? I'd even go as far as saying that the only reason why players kept up with their failures was because they could make up for it themselves. People would have let Skyrim die years ago, weren't it for the mods. Why should serious software houses like CD Project (as you mentioned) bother with making technically decent games when they could just release unpolished products and have the players do the rest? It's a matter of work ethics and respect towards your fans.

Yup, some devs treat their fans correctly by releasing DLCs with more hours of content, while others release DLC - charge at expensive prices, mind you - for additional items in their building minigame. Blood and Wine from Witcher 3 is an entirely new area the size of at least half the Velen/Novigrad map. That's insanely large, and if you get the Game of the Year edition, you can get all DLCs and Witcher 3 at a discounted rate. Fallout 4's Season Pass is what, $40? For 1 DLC that adds an area, and the rest just adds misc items in the building aspect. And then you have them trying to monetize mods made by communities, calling them different names every single time thinking the people playing won't see through it.

 

[PenguinManiac]

Yup, some devs treat their fans correctly by releasing DLCs with more hours of content, while others release DLC - charge at expensive prices, mind you - for additional items in their building minigame. Blood and Wine from Witcher 3 is an entirely new area the size of at least half the Velen/Novigrad map. That's insanely large, and if you get the Game of the Year edition, you can get all DLCs and Witcher 3 at a discounted rate. Fallout 4's Season Pass is what, $40? For 1 DLC that adds an area, and the rest just adds misc items in the building aspect. And then you have them trying to monetize mods made by communities, calling them different names every single time thinking the people playing won't see through it.

Yeah, The Witcher 3 has had an amazing support by the devs so far, but I'm afraid it represents an exception in the current gaming scene. Bethesda surely went overboard with it, especially considering they had already released three major DLCs (Heartfire, Dawnguard and Dragonborn), with the bigger two costing as much as the base game together. And they don't add nearly as much content as TW3's DLCs.
The worse thing is that other companies are starting to follow this trend, too. Take Nintendo, for instance. It took them years to catch up with its competitors, and that's how we avoided DLCs for years: and now here they are, offering a 20$ season pass for content that used to be included in the base game (Breath of the Wild's Hard Mode, I'm looking at you). It's not as ridiculous as Bethesda (Fallout 4's case, as you mentioned, is emblematic as well), but that doesn't justify it in the slightest.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Yeah, The Witcher 3 has had an amazing support by the devs so far, but I'm afraid it represents an exception in the current gaming scene. Bethesda surely went overboard with it, especially considering they had already released three major DLCs (Heartfire, Dawnguard and Dragonborn), with the bigger two costing as much as the base game together. And they don't add nearly as much content as TW3's DLCs.
The worse thing is that other companies are starting to follow this trend, too. Take Nintendo, for instance. It took them years to catch up with its competitors, and that's how we avoided DLCs for years: and now here they are, offering a 20$ season pass for content that used to be included in the base game (Breath of the Wild's Hard Mode, I'm looking at you). It's not as ridiculous as Bethesda (Fallout 4's case, as you mentioned, is emblematic as well), but that doesn't justify it in the slightest.

It's sad to know Nintendo is following the footsteps of other companies. You'd think a company with a young audience would think twice about adding additional expenses to them. You know it's mostly kids and their parents who buy their stuff. I guess this is what the future of gaming holds. Oh well, I'll always have CD Projekt Red's back. They've been good to their players. It's only right the players return the favor. I myself bought all the Witcher products to support them. It's not much, but they definitely earned my money.

 

[Makefort]

Well, honestly, in certain cases I don't really care much about the game itself, mostly aiming at the Bethesda games, as I know there will be so many mods around that it can change the game completely. But yeah, those companies should respect their fans for all the hard work they have put in it.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Well, honestly, in certain cases I don't really care much about the game itself, mostly aiming at the Bethesda games, as I know there will be so many mods around that it can change the game completely. But yeah, those companies should respect their fans for all the hard work they have put in it.

Easy money when you don't have to do anything. They're basically acting like middle men in a trade or transaction. They do none of the work but they still get a chunk of the money in percentage just for being there. It's a shame, and it's only a matter of time before other games follow this lead. They see money in mods and they won't stop until they get some, if not all of the profit in this market.