Steam Workshop Paid Mods

[Fruity Snacks]

You should double check if censorship legitimately happened.

I heard censorship thrown around a lot, but apparently it was a misunderstanding because something was moved/changed and everyone jumped on the IT'S CENSORSHIP bandwagon. I could mistaken, but I haven't found any reputable sources yet to confirm it. If someone has one, that'd be awesome.

 

[Muddy]

Result!

 

[PC's_Frank]

Result!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLyX4DbE6Hc

 

[Zed]

Honestly, I think it's ridiculous that [REDACTED] even started to consider that [REDACTED] would be a good idea. In reality, [REDACTED] is to blame for this. I say we send an [REDACTED] to show how we feel.

Ynders (herein referred to as SCP-17829) then proceeded to [DATA EXPUNGED]

 

[Pocket]

I gotta say, the fact that Valve is the kind of company that's willing to back down from this feature after putting in all the effort of setting it up speaks volumes about how much they still do care about their customers. I can't think of any other company, in any industry, that would do that, even after all the backlash.

THAT SAID, the fact that it took all that hate mail to make them realize it was a stupid and terrible idea in the first place just cements my opinion that they have no idea what the hell they're doing 90% of the time and rely on throwing every idea they come up with at the wall to see what sticks. It's how they've always gone about designing their games, and it's how they handle dealing with the community. It wouldn't kill them to actually learn something once in a while for a change.

 

[HQDefault]

I personally feel like the fact that valve was able to formally apologize for the incident literally makes me respect them more as a company than I did before this whole mess started.

I'm glad it's over now.

And I can agree, there should be an option to donate to the mod devs.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

So, while everyone was upset by this. Lets ask the question:

If this was implemented (or something similar was implemented) for a TF2 Map workshop, how would you guys react to that?

 

[PC's_Frank]

So, while everyone was upset by this. Lets ask the question:

If this was implemented (or something similar was implemented) for a TF2 Map workshop, how would you guys react to that?

That's a good question. I would probably be of two minds about this. Ultimately, however, I think I would prefer a donate button over charging for a map, something that TF2 has been against.

 

[Muddy]

So, while everyone was upset by this. Lets ask the question:

If this was implemented (or something similar was implemented) for a TF2 Map workshop, how would you guys react to that?

Given the choice, I would still release my maps for free. My conscience would never allow me to sell something that was largely made by someone else (ie Valve and custom content). Plus, my mapping skills at the moment don't warrant people giving me real money so they can play on them.

Not that I'm opposed to other people giving me money; I just want that choice to be theirs and not mine. Especially considering I rarely make donations myself (unemployment!) and I don't want to be a hypocrite.

 

[Fantaboi]

So paid-mods has been removed, thoughts everyone?

I personally think this is interesting for valve in the future as everyone is going to hold a microscope to them for now on, hopefully this'll lead to better customer support and fake steam bots being removed.

 

[takabuschik]

So, while everyone was upset by this. Lets ask the question:

If this was implemented (or something similar was implemented) for a TF2 Map workshop, how would you guys react to that?

Well, as I said previously, I don't think that this concept would work for tf2 and it's "all game-changing content is for free" marketing approach. And I would not sell any of my maps for money. Maybe I'll accept donations.
Besides, it would not work at all due to how easy piracy would become- just copy-paste a .bsp, bz2 it, and upload to your own server! No hacks, no messing around with game files.
And how would custom map servers work anyway? Would you have to pay to join a server running a custom map? would you be banned from the server if you didn't purchase the map before joining?

This concept might work better for mvm maps or for item mods. I actually think it would be a nice feature for the map workshop to support custom mvm tours, so you could buy a tour of duty ticket, but use it for a custom tour instead of the stock ones. You might still win some items according to the tour difficulty, or something like that.

 

[EArkham]

So, while everyone was upset by this. Lets ask the question:

If this was implemented (or something similar was implemented) for a TF2 Map workshop, how would you guys react to that?

The goal of creating a revenue stream for community content and its creators was never a problem with the mod workshop. It was the implementation, which was... poorly done.

Any answer would really depend on how it was done, not if. I generally never say no to more money though.

 

[Pocket]

I've already laid this out on two other forums, but I think the issue isn't with the idea of some mods costing money, but with Valve opening the floodgates without any overhead. The two big issues with this were that Bethesda's cut was ludicrous (Valve getting 30% is fine since that's what they make on games) and that it was bound to be a copyright clusterfuck. The latter can't be stressed enough to this community in particular. Remember when Acumen made a tractor model based off someone else's concept art, and Valve made Rexy design and model a new one at the last minute for Mann Manor because the concept artist couldn't be contacted? That's the level of diligence that should have been brought to the table here. Not just letting anyone post something and slap a price tag on it and say "Well if you think they're stealing from you then file a DMCA notice!"

And speaking of the DMCA, let's fuckin' talk about that, shall we? Under the terms of the DMCA, it is illegal to sue somebody for posting/allowing copyrighted content on their website without first sending a takedown notice, and waiting for them to refuse to comply. First off, how the fuck are you supposed to send a takedown notice to some assclown on Steam who doesn't even provide a public email address? Secondly, I can only assume that this doesn't apply if they're charging money for your stuff, because what if somebody makes a buttload of money off it before you have a chance to stop them? There has to be some recourse other than telling them to stop and letting them keep the money they've made up to that point. The MPAA and RIAA lawyers who drafted the law never would have signed off on it with such a big loophole.

I agree that, on principle, there are some mods substantial enough to be worth money if their creators so desire. But for those, Valve should have done what they do with the Source mods they already distribute on Steam: cherry-pick them (or have Bethesda cherry-pick them) and put them on the Steam store, and leave the Workshop for free stuff only. There are a couple mods that I would even agree that Bethesda deserves a cut of, the ones that recreate Morrowind and Oblivion in the Skyrim engine. Assuming those mods are even out yet; I'm not exactly up to date on this stuff.

 

[HQDefault]

So, I was thinking, this would actually work better for TF2 than for skyrim.

Here's why:

A creator could put up a cosmetic item, and any person could buy it and it would be in their inventory. However, other people would not be able to see said hat. (I suppose you could also do the same with weps) And if the item gets added to the game, they get the item for free!

 

[radarhead]

So, I was thinking, this would actually work better for TF2 than for skyrim.

Here's why:

A creator could put up a cosmetic item, and any person could buy it and it would be in their inventory. However, other people would not be able to see said hat. (I suppose you could also do the same with weps) And if the item gets added to the game, they get the item for free!

Having items in your inventory that are client-side seems really awkward and I feel it would cause trading problems and confusion.

 

[chemelia]

Better yet: You can donate what you want to any item on the workshop, all(or most) of it going to the creators. If at any point this item gets put into the game, you get it for free, with a special "Donator's" quality. This quality would give the item a pink title, and perhaps a little particle effect or something.

 

[HQDefault]

Better yet: You can donate what you want to any item on the workshop, all(or most) of it going to the creators. If at any point this item gets put into the game, you get it for free, with a special "Donator's" quality. This quality would give the item a pink title, and perhaps a little particle effect or something.

That's cool, too.
But there would need to be a minimum donation level to get it for free. Because otherwise you could get 10-dollar hats for literally pennies.

 

[Kraken]

That's cool, too.
But there would need to be a minimum donation level to get it for free. Because otherwise you could get 10-dollar hats for literally pennies.

Then make them untradable.

 

[HQDefault]

Then make them untradable.

Still no.
I suggest a minimum donation of 4 dollars to get the hat for free, as that is the AVERAGE price of a hat.

 

[chemelia]

What I was suggesting is that if you donated to the item BEFORE it was added to the game, you get it for free, with the special quality. Also, building off of the idea, perhaps the level of the item would be equivalent to the amount in dollars/pounds/whatever you donated to that submission.