Post by Emma on May 9, 2015 15:49:56 GMT
As my original post has turned into a discussion thread, I'm re-posting it here in order to separate it from the discussion.
Since the start of charging for mods on Steam, people have been asking, what will happen to Vilja? Will players have to pay for her now, like some other follower that had the price-tag of $4,59 on Steam.
Don't worry. Vilja is for free, and she will always be
. Really, if we should charge for the hours we have spent on her, the price would be so ridicilously high that no-one in their right mind would pay it anyway. So she, like the rest of my mods, will never be charged for.
In regards to the ongoing discussion about charging for mods, I have made this post on the Bethesda boards (slightly edited for clarity):
Emma, on 25 Apr 2015 - 1:47 PM, said:
I didn't know how to start this post, but then I looked at Ladyonthemoon's signature (on ES-boards):
"Define the spirit of modding..."
The spirit of modding is SHARING.
Yes. Thank you, Lachdonin and Ladyonthemoon, for putting this into words.
Without sharing, modding wouldn't had been anything. And the moment money comes into the picture, sharing will no longer exist.
I have been around here (on Bethesda's boards) for a long time, since back in 2002 when Morrowind was first released. My first post on Bethesda's boards was a question about dialog, and I was almost star-struck when GhanBuriGhan, author of Morrowind Scripting for Dummies, replied to me and explained what I needed to know.
At that time, we were all happy newbees, learning from each other, having long discussions in the construction set forum about problems, incompatibilities, tools, trouble-shooting. We shared knowledge and ideas, and that brought us forward. There was a true spirit of sharing, and I think this is what made modding something much more than the original intention. I.e. when Morrowind was released, Bethesda talked about the construction set as a way for players to make their own little houses and use them in their games. I don't think anyone realized that there would be thousands and thousands of mods and modders.
Have you been in the Morrowind section of Bethesda's boards lately? I tell you, normally, it has more visitors than the Skyrim mod section and there is still a strong and sharing community.
Something happened with Oblivion. There was less cooperation, people moved over to other forums instead of meeting up on Bethesda's boards. There was no longer an obvious place to go to discuss mods and share knowledge and ideas. But, modders and players were still showing each other respect. The credits section of a readme would still include the names of those who had inspired or contributed in one way or another. There was still a community spirit.
With Skyrim, there are now so many people modding, and so much has changed. First came donations, now we have mods that you have to buy. The role between players and modders has changed; players now "expect modders to provide". Modders are competing instead of cooperating. The atmosphere is so much harsher; admittedly, I rarely post here, on Bethesda's boards, anymore, although I'm still modding.
Still, I need to say this:
In order to grow in quality rather than in quantity, modding has to be a labour of love, not a labour for money.
I have invested so many hundreds of hours in modding over the years, and I have loved every bit of the time I have spent in the construction sets and in the creation kit.
I would have payed for the right to mod, as it has given me so much and been such a vital part of my life. And, actually, with Skyrim, I HAVE payed, because it's a high cost to keep on modding and figure out new features when your work, which used to be appreciated, is mocked on Youtube, by people who actually gets money to make fun of it, when trolls on Nexus keeps getting at you, when players start demand that you should do better, more, different, when others rip your content without even giving credits and then end it by marketing their work as "better than Vilja".
Vilja - she has been my main project since 2009, my artificial child. You can like her or hate her, I will still love her to bits. I don't "own" her, I have always worked in small teams, sharing knowledge with others. Vilja in Skyrim is by me Amgepo and Lycanthrops, Vilja in Oblivion is by me and CDCooley. And there has been so many others involved as well, testers, people replying to questions in forum thread, people making optional looks for her, writing manuals etc etc. She is really a community project.
And, she is not for sale. Not now, not ever! I'm not going that path. If I should charge for the hours I have spent on her and on figuring out and implementing various features of companion modding since Morrowind, the price would be so ridicilously high that no-one in their right mind would pay it anyway. So she, like the rest of my mods, will never be charged for.
I think selling mods is opening a can of worms that you can never get back into the can again. It's poison. If I was a game developer and thinking of doing such a thing, I would do the experiment on an old game that was released in, say, late autumn 2011, rather than using a new upcoming game as a guniea-pig for a risky idea. It will be interesting to see how modding for Fallout 4 will be implemented. I pity the Skyrim modders who jumped on the train with this first trial. After reading these threads (on Bethesda's boards), I think it has costed them more than what the monetary reward can compensate for.
Now I'm gonna crawl back into my stoneage cave for old modders again and peacefully tinker on an Oblivion mod until this storm is over. Just remember:
The spirit of modding is sharing.
In order to grow in quality rather than in quantity, modding has to be a labour of love, not a labour for money.
Since the start of charging for mods on Steam, people have been asking, what will happen to Vilja? Will players have to pay for her now, like some other follower that had the price-tag of $4,59 on Steam.
Don't worry. Vilja is for free, and she will always be
. Really, if we should charge for the hours we have spent on her, the price would be so ridicilously high that no-one in their right mind would pay it anyway. So she, like the rest of my mods, will never be charged for. In regards to the ongoing discussion about charging for mods, I have made this post on the Bethesda boards (slightly edited for clarity):
Emma, on 25 Apr 2015 - 1:47 PM, said:
I didn't know how to start this post, but then I looked at Ladyonthemoon's signature (on ES-boards):
"Define the spirit of modding..."
The spirit of modding is SHARING.
Yes. Thank you, Lachdonin and Ladyonthemoon, for putting this into words.
Without sharing, modding wouldn't had been anything. And the moment money comes into the picture, sharing will no longer exist.
I have been around here (on Bethesda's boards) for a long time, since back in 2002 when Morrowind was first released. My first post on Bethesda's boards was a question about dialog, and I was almost star-struck when GhanBuriGhan, author of Morrowind Scripting for Dummies, replied to me and explained what I needed to know.
At that time, we were all happy newbees, learning from each other, having long discussions in the construction set forum about problems, incompatibilities, tools, trouble-shooting. We shared knowledge and ideas, and that brought us forward. There was a true spirit of sharing, and I think this is what made modding something much more than the original intention. I.e. when Morrowind was released, Bethesda talked about the construction set as a way for players to make their own little houses and use them in their games. I don't think anyone realized that there would be thousands and thousands of mods and modders.
Have you been in the Morrowind section of Bethesda's boards lately? I tell you, normally, it has more visitors than the Skyrim mod section and there is still a strong and sharing community.
Something happened with Oblivion. There was less cooperation, people moved over to other forums instead of meeting up on Bethesda's boards. There was no longer an obvious place to go to discuss mods and share knowledge and ideas. But, modders and players were still showing each other respect. The credits section of a readme would still include the names of those who had inspired or contributed in one way or another. There was still a community spirit.
With Skyrim, there are now so many people modding, and so much has changed. First came donations, now we have mods that you have to buy. The role between players and modders has changed; players now "expect modders to provide". Modders are competing instead of cooperating. The atmosphere is so much harsher; admittedly, I rarely post here, on Bethesda's boards, anymore, although I'm still modding.
Still, I need to say this:
In order to grow in quality rather than in quantity, modding has to be a labour of love, not a labour for money.
I have invested so many hundreds of hours in modding over the years, and I have loved every bit of the time I have spent in the construction sets and in the creation kit.
I would have payed for the right to mod, as it has given me so much and been such a vital part of my life. And, actually, with Skyrim, I HAVE payed, because it's a high cost to keep on modding and figure out new features when your work, which used to be appreciated, is mocked on Youtube, by people who actually gets money to make fun of it, when trolls on Nexus keeps getting at you, when players start demand that you should do better, more, different, when others rip your content without even giving credits and then end it by marketing their work as "better than Vilja".
Vilja - she has been my main project since 2009, my artificial child. You can like her or hate her, I will still love her to bits. I don't "own" her, I have always worked in small teams, sharing knowledge with others. Vilja in Skyrim is by me Amgepo and Lycanthrops, Vilja in Oblivion is by me and CDCooley. And there has been so many others involved as well, testers, people replying to questions in forum thread, people making optional looks for her, writing manuals etc etc. She is really a community project.
And, she is not for sale. Not now, not ever! I'm not going that path. If I should charge for the hours I have spent on her and on figuring out and implementing various features of companion modding since Morrowind, the price would be so ridicilously high that no-one in their right mind would pay it anyway. So she, like the rest of my mods, will never be charged for.
I think selling mods is opening a can of worms that you can never get back into the can again. It's poison. If I was a game developer and thinking of doing such a thing, I would do the experiment on an old game that was released in, say, late autumn 2011, rather than using a new upcoming game as a guniea-pig for a risky idea. It will be interesting to see how modding for Fallout 4 will be implemented. I pity the Skyrim modders who jumped on the train with this first trial. After reading these threads (on Bethesda's boards), I think it has costed them more than what the monetary reward can compensate for.
Now I'm gonna crawl back into my stoneage cave for old modders again and peacefully tinker on an Oblivion mod until this storm is over. Just remember:
The spirit of modding is sharing.
In order to grow in quality rather than in quantity, modding has to be a labour of love, not a labour for money.
