ABC for Barbarian and not Barbarian Modders
by Wolf Lycanthrops
A like in
Attitude (The position of the unborn child in the womb or the position of the thoughts in our brains)
The Attitudes of a Game Developing Company Are
- making money. There is nothing wrong with that.
- pleasing their customers, and giving them a product they enjoy and like to pay for.
The Attitudes of Modders Are
- having own personal fun with “playing” the Creation Kit or Construction set, creating new models and textures or even worlds their very own way, doing something creative and letting ideas run free.
- sharing fun and entertainment with the others all around the world.
- getting appreciation for what they are doing. They get it by posts, PMs, new friendships, endorsements and recently also with donations.
- giving their mod entirely for free
The Attitudes of Independent or Fee-Based Developers Are
- similar to the interests of a game developing company. It’s also earning money. And again, there is nothing wrong with that.
B like in
Bethesda (yet obviously undetected city in Tamriel and well known well in Jerusalem with healing waters. There is also a game developing company in Rockville, Maryland)
Bethesda consists of people, real people who are working hard to earn their living and they
put a lot of their heart and soul into what they are doing. They are art creators, historians, lore developers, story writers, modelers, texture artist, animators, programmers, technicians, administration staff, managers and a lot more. It’s a bunch of creative and excellent people. It doesn’t make them less excellent just because they are paid for their work and have to please the mainstream up to a certain limit due to commercial interests.
(The more I delved into the depth of modding and I learned to see every small detail of the games the more I came to admire the work of these people. I tried out the game developer software Unreal Game Engine IV. And I realized that, although I am in a modest way capable of editing, modelling, texturing, animating and voice acting, it would take you maybe ten times my lifespan to complete a game like an Elder Scrolls game on my own. This made me feel exceedingly humble and small. And so some posts on forums insulting the people working for Bethesda made me very sad. )
Bethesda is the proprietor of the games. Still Bethesda voluntarily grants everyone who has bought the game permission to modify the games and to build up on a complete existing virtual world and provides us with the editing software for free.
From the time in which computer gaming was more liberal and to the favor of the players and more to the disadvantage of the companies, Bethesda’s permission to mod their games initiated a symbiosis between Bethesda and the modders. Other game companies invest a lot of money for customer behavior field research. Bethesda has her community of modders that comes up with new ideas, develops new features, technical improvements and exactly shows up the interests of the players; what will sell and what won’t. A lot of developments made by the modding community have been integrated in the games since.
C like in
Community (bunch of stubborn individuals thinking stubbornly they have something in common)
A community is based on sharing, supporting and equal rights. Rising individual interests higher above the interests of all the others will break a community.
That’s why it is not in order for a single modder to charge for his mods. He first had his advantage of the community, letting them do playtesting, getting support, getting feedback and even getting permissions to use work of other community members for free.
In the modding community permissions and all legal terms are based on the simple condition that mods must be for free.
So the community idea in itself definitely excludes charging for mods. It’s simply not possible.
Preview on
D like in
DLC or
DeveloperDLCs are downloadable contents in the courtesy of Bethesda and not released on the Steam Workshop. It’s Bethesda who is liable and ensures the legal correctness and the quality.
Developers are developing game contents. Either they are employed and working for a company, completely independent or are working fee-based.
If Bethesda is interested in selling mods, which was obviously the case, the mod can be turned into a DLC, released and in the courtesy by Bethesda. The former modder will advance to a fee-based developer. Bethesda will buy the DLC-developer’s intellectual property and work with a negotiable sum for each download.
If a developer is using contents from modders, permissions from within the modding community are not to be considered as valid. The modder or creator of the used content has to be named as a co-author in the developing team of the DLC and as such be paid proportionally.
For example if such a DLC made by a fee –based developer is using a model created by a modeler, who has released this model as a free modder’s resource, must of course be paid because his work is used to gain money.
Bethesda has also sort out how the free software and tools developer (SKSE, NifSkope etc) have to be treated.
And there won’t be any need to withdraw a relevant sum of the incoming money for the superfluous services of a workshop on a game selling platform. In the end this will increase the gain of the developer and Bethesda’s.
There must be a definite line drawn between mod and DLC, between modder and developer, just as it is with privacy and business. One can’t merge both. Otherwise there will arise:
E like in
Envy (Feeling like taken an arrow to your knee)
We are just people, people with different (see under “A”) attitudes. Some of us can afford to share mods for free and some are hoping for a way to support their living by creating new game contents. We should not envy each other. The free modders have the advantage to use all the free resources, to have fun sharing, to not be forced into business management, and the others have the advantage of making their beloved hobby a profession.
Separating free mods from DLCs released by Bethesda would definitely reduce the negative feelings between both groups.
The cost of this book is my 50 cents I’ve given you here. But as I do not know for sure whether it’s such vital knowledge, you get it for free.