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Skyrim Workshop Now Supports Paid Mods

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Sendou

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We’ve had a long and excellent relationship with our good friends at Valve. We worked together to make the Workshop a huge part of Skyrim, and we’re excited that something we’ve been working together on for a long time is finally happening. You can now charge for the mods you create.

Unlike other curated games on Steam that allow users to sell their creations, this will be the first game with an open market. It will not be curated by us or Valve. It was essential to us that our fans decide what they want to create, what they want to download, and what they want to charge.

Many of our fans have been modding our games since Morrowind, for over 10 years. They now have the opportunity to earn money doing what they love – and all fans have a new way to support their favorite mod authors. We’ve also updated Skyrim and the Creation Kit with new features to help support paid mods including the ability to upload master files, adding more categories and removing filesize limit restrictions.

Source: http://www.bethblog.com/2015/04/23/skyrim-workshop-now-supports-paid-mods/

Refund policy:

Steam Workshop Refund Policy

1) Valve offers this refund policy exclusively for initial purchases of user-generated content made directly via its Steam Workshop page. In particular, this refund policy does not apply to purchases of tradable Workshop Items on the Steam Community Market, to transfers of items between users via the trading system or to in-game purchases of Workshop items.

2) In order to request a refund, click the "Get Refund" option on the item's Workshop page, which is accessible from your Steam inventory page (in the Steam Client, select View->Inventory from the top menu). Refund requests must be made within 24 hours from the purchase of a Workshop item. The remaining time for an individual item is displayed on the item's Workshop page.

3) Once your refund request has been submitted, you will lose access to the content for that Steam Workshop item and any other Steam Workshop items associated with the refunded transaction.

4) Refunds will be credited exclusively back to the Steam Wallet from which the original purchase was funded. For reasons of fraud prevention, your Steam Wallet will be credited for the transaction within two to three days from the time you submitted your refund request.

5) Valve may restrict an individual user's eligibility for future refunds if there are indications of an abuse of the refund system. In this case, the restriction will be clearly communicated to the user and only apply to later purchases.

The terms of the Steam Subscriber Agreement (http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/) apply.

Source: http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/refundpolicy

FAQ:

For Creators

Q. How do I set the price of my item?
A. When posting a new mod or item to the Skyrim Workshop you’ll be presented with some controls and a checklist to get your item listed for sale.

Q. How much should I charge for my item?
A. The appropriate price for your mod, map, or item will depend on a number of factors. Here are some things to think about:
1. How many similar items are already available for sale or for free?
2. How much unique content have you created? Is this something which is hard for others to do?
3. How many hours of playtime does your experience offer?

Q. Can I change the price of my item once posted?
A. Yes, but there may be limitations on how frequently you can adjust your price.

Q. What if I see someone posting content I've created?
A. If someone has copied your work, please use the DMCA takedown notice.

Q. Can I include someone else's mod in my mod?
A. The Steam Workshop makes it easy to allocate and approve portions of your item’s revenue with other collaborators or co-authors.

Q. Can I delete my Workshop item?
A. You can stop selling and delist your Workshop item, but it cannot be deleted. If there are customers have purchased your item, they will need continued access to the mod as well as your Workshop page so they can reference the items they have purchased.

Q. How do I get paid for sales of my item?
A. Please see Workshop Revenue FAQ

Q. Can I sell the mods I’ve made for other games in the Steam Workshop?
A. It is up to the developers or publisher of each game to decide if paid Workshop mods are appropriate for their game. You will only be able to sell mods for a game in the Steam Workshop if the developers have enabled that functionality.

Q. Can I sell a mod that contains artwork or content from another game or movie?
A. You must have the necessary rights to post any content that you post to the Steam Workshop, whether it is for sale or not. If you upload copyrighted content that you or your contributors do not have the rights to distribute, then you may forfeit all earned revenue from the item, may be liable for damages and compensation, and may be banned from future participation in this Workshop or the Steam Community in general.

For Players

Q. Can I get a refund?
A. If you discover that a mod does not work for you, or does not meet your expectations based on the description of the mod, you can get a refund within 24 hours of your purchase. You can view the full refund policy here.

Q. How much do paid mods cost?
A. The prices for mods are set by their authors, and depend on their size, complexity, and the type of content. Unique quests that may contain dozens of hours of playtime will probably cost more than a new hat for your character.

Q. Where can I find the mods I've purchased?
A. In your Steam Inventory

Q. Why can't I rate all the mods I see in the Steam Workshop?
A. For paid Workshop items, you need to have purchased the item before you can rate it.

Q. What happens if a mod I bought breaks?
A. Sometimes one mod may modify the same files as another mod, or a particular combination of mods may cause unexpected outcomes. If you find that mod has broken or is behaving unexpectedly, it is best to post politely on the Workshop item's page and let the mod author know the details of what you are seeing.

Q. Couldn’t I already buy items made in the Workshop?
A. While a few games support voting for items to be integrated by game developers and sold in-game as items or DLC, there hasn’t until now been a way to buy items directly through the Workshop. With paid mods and items becoming available for sale on the Workshop itself, it means more high quality items, mods, and experiences can be made available for your favorite games.

Q. How do I play a Skyrim mod I’ve purchased or subscribed to?
Once you’re acquired a new mod, simply launch Skyrim from your Steam library. When the launcher appears, you’ll notice status text on the lower-left as your game downloads and installs or updates new content. Once that’s done, you’re ready to go!

You can also use the “Data Files” portion of the launcher to activate or deactivate specific mods. If you’re unsure how to access new content in-game (such as figuring out which in-game vendor carries Lydia’s new hat) it’s best to check the Workshop page for that mod to see if the author has provided any clues or instructions.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Like I said in the Steam thread: This is basically Valve (and Beth) doing what Microsoft stated they were intending to implement into X-box Live on the X-box 360 about 10 years ago, when the console was going to launch.

"We'll let content creators be able to charge for their T-shirt skins/Car Liveries in Forza and other titles."

Just now Steam has made it real. I don't honestly use the Workshop much. But I don't necessarily have a problem with content creators getting paid for their work, but I'm curious what the upper-limit for their charging will be. Because I'd balk at people charging $10 a pop for items.
 
This is good in a way... It could promote much larger mod efforts... but at the same time I can also see this as kind of fragmenting people. A lot of people are going to take their existing mods, shove them on there for a dollar, and remove them from places you could get them for free (like Nexus).

This could end up causing some ill-will amongst the modding community in general... guess it's kind of a wait and see thing.
 
press release

Steam Adds More Ways for Workshop Creators to Earn Money

Press Releases - Valve 9:58am
Open Marketplace for Paid Mod Support Debuts Today on the Skyrim Workshop

April 23, 2015 - Steam now offers new functionality in the Steam Workshop, allowing community mod makers the opportunity to earn money doing what they love. With this update, community-made Workshop content such as mods, items, or maps can now be made available for sale directly via the Steam Workshop for titles that have enabled this feature.

Workshop is now putting mod authors in business via a new streamlined process for listing, selling and managing their creations. Creators contributing to the Steam Workshop have the choice of listing their new creations for sale at a price of their choosing, or to continue to make their work available to players for free. Mods purchased from the Steam Workshop are available immediately for play.

"We think this is a great opportunity to help support the incredible creative work being done by mod makers in the Steam Workshop," says Tom Bui at Valve. "User generated content is an increasingly significant component of many games, and opening new avenues to help financially support those contributors via Steam Workshop will help drive the level of UGC to new heights."

Direct mod sales via the Steam Workshop debuts today with Bethesda Softworks'® award-winning title, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim®, and additional titles will become available across the Steam Workshop in the coming weeks.

Mods on the Skryim Workshop have received more than170 million downloads to date. The thousands of free mods, items, weapons, and quests will continue to be available at the discretion of the players who made them.

Support for mod sales via Steam Workshop is the latest expansion of Workshop in recent weeks. In late January, support was added for third party games to sell in game items created by members of the community. Valve alsoannounced over $57 mil has been paid to community content creators since Workshop debuted in October 2011.

For more information, please visit: www.steamcommunity.com/workshop/aboutpaidcontent.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® ©2011-2013 Bethesda Softworks LLC, a ZeniMax Media company.

steam group announcement: http://steamcommunity.com/games/SteamWorkshop/announcements/detail/208632365237576574

The Steam Workshop has always been a great place for discovering community-made mods, maps, and items for a variety of games. Starting now with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the Workshop is also a great place for community content creators to earn money by selling their greatest works.

We think this is a great opportunity to help support the incredible creative work being done by mod makers in the Steam Workshop and to encourage more top-quality work. This new feature allows mod authors to choose whether to list their items for a fixed price, for pay-what-you-want, or to make their item available for free. As a customer and fan of Skyrim, you're able to explore both paid and free mods, quests, and items.

The whole feature is best explained in the full press announcement and on the detailed announcement page and FAQ here: http://www.steamcommunity.com/workshop/aboutpaidcontent

Along with these new options available to mod-creators, we've added a few features to support the experience and make everything as easy as possible:

Free, Paid, or Pay What You Want
With over 24,000 free mods available for Skyrim in the Steam Workshop, there will always be lots to do and explore for free. Now you can also find mods with a specified price, or mods where you can choose how much you wish to support the creators. The price is up to the mod creators.

Try any mod, Risk Free
When shopping for anything, it's still important to spend a little time learning about any product you are about to purchase. But, if after purchase you find that a mod is broken or doesn’t work as promised, you can easily get a refund of that mod within 24 hours of your purchase. View the full refund policy here.

Play Skyrim For Free This Weekend
If you're new to Skyrim and haven't yet tried it out, now is your chance. Available now through April 26th, Skyrim is free to play. Just visit the Skyrim store page and click the 'play' button to download and start playing. If you decide you want to keep the game, it's also on sale for 75% off regular price!

Explore New Content
To prepare for this announcement, we've asked a few community mod makers to prepare some content for release. Browse Paid Skyrim Mods

Calling Creators!
Whether you're just getting started or are already a professional artist or developer, now you can make money from your creations in the Steam Workshop.

Starting with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you can make new cosmetic items, custom skins, fancy houses, epic quests, entire new cities, or just a new hat for Lydia. Once you've made your creation, you can easily set a price and earn a portion of each sale made through the Steam Workshop.

Plus, many more of your favorite Workshop games will support paid content in the coming weeks. Check out the full announcement and FAQ for more details.
 
Sounds good to me. I look forward to seeing what amazing work can be done when developers can afford to devote themselves to their mods wholly. Hopefully the income is comparable to dota hats at least.
 
This is good in a way... It could promote much larger mod efforts... but at the same time I can also see this as kind of fragmenting people. A lot of people are going to take their existing mods, shove them on there for a dollar, and remove them from places you could get them for free (like Nexus).

This could end up causing some ill-will amongst the modding community in general... guess it's kind of a wait and see thing.

It'll be fun to watch no doubt.

It's the right idea, but there will be growing pains.
 

MUnited83

For you.
It will probably get some backlash from some people, but I think this is pretty cool. You can support content creators who deserve it( shit, there are people that made basically a entire new game worth of content.Well worth paying for)
 

elyetis

Member
This is good in a way... It could promote much larger mod efforts... but at the same time I can also see this as kind of fragmenting people. A lot of people are going to take their existing mods, shove them on there for a dollar, and remove them from places you could get them for free (like Nexus).

This could end up causing some ill-will amongst the modding community in general... guess it's kind of a wait and see thing.
That's pretty much my feeling.
 
It'll be fun to watch no doubt.

It's the right idea, but there will be growing pains.

Oh I agree, as I said this could really help promote bigger mod projects. If the people making entire new contents worth of quests and places to explore can make a bit of money off of it, it'll allow them to devote more time and energy towards that... I just worry about the smaller projects and simple mods that people have made and will smell blood in the water...
 

Sendou

Member
This is good in a way... It could promote much larger mod efforts... but at the same time I can also see this as kind of fragmenting people. A lot of people are going to take their existing mods, shove them on there for a dollar, and remove them from places you could get them for free (like Nexus).

This could end up causing some ill-will amongst the modding community in general... guess it's kind of a wait and see thing.

That's a risk for sure but in the long run I believe this will increase the overall quality of mods available and multiply the number of high quality mods available.
 

lazygecko

Member
Christ, that was eerily fast as I was just listening to this podcast speculating about the subject while this happened.

The implications of this are probably going to be huge. I am a mod author myself with several very popular mods on on the Nexus site. I don't think I'm suddenly just going to remove them from the Nexus and attempt to charge for them on the Workshop. I would hope that others feel the same way.
 

dhonk

Member
Valve has really improved my life with Team Fortress 2 monetization, if that kind of thing could be extended to others then I'm all for it.
 

BibiMaghoo

Member
On the one hand, it's great that people can now be paid for their work. On the other, many of the best mods will now need to be paid for, and that is perhaps not a good thing for mods in general. People will be far less inclined to experiment with mods if they cost money, though the refund option is pretty damn cool.
 
I have no problem with this so long as the content for sale is 100% original.

But I wonder if the original game developers would try to make some sort of claim on profits made on a really popular mod for their game.
 
Supporting mod creators is fine and many of them do deserve some money for their high quality work, but i think it should be an optional donation. Having mods that are only accessible if you pay them some money seems the wrong way to do it, if these were made into official items or DLC it would be different. With something like hats in TF2 they're actually added into the game properly, but these are still unofficial fan-made items that aren't 'supported' by the games developer.
 

Sou Da

Member
Couldn't people pirate the mods fairly easily? I wonder what type of content people will actually charge for.
 
Great that this removes the file size restrictions on mods. I think this means we'll see more and more mods at a professional quality and rewards modders who put in the hard work.
 
Oh boy watch this be abused. Them free mods on the nexus? Say bye bye, get em in the workshop for $5.


Can they do this for New Vegas so that Project Brazil can hurry up and come out?
Ugh right?! I checked on it not too long ago and still no updates :(
Supporting mod creators is fine and many of them do deserve some money for their high quality work, but i think it should be an optional donation. Having mods that are only accessible if you pay them some money seems the wrong way to do it, if these were made into official items or DLC it would be different. With something like hats in TF2 they're actually added into the game properly, but they're still unofficial fan-made items that aren't 'supported' by the games developer.
I like this idea a lot better
 

Foffy

Banned
I wonder how sustainable this will be not only for the game, but for the modding scene at large. I recall a few in the ArmA community have tried to do this - Patreons to fund their efforts - and they made sub-minimum wage returns. And these were from major members in the community.

What I fear here is people are going to run on this entirely as a money train, ruining the sincerity of what it's supposed to do. The race to get the paper will create problems, for sure. For example, it will promote a situation where members on the community don't cooperate as much, as they're now going to be fighting for pieces of the pie. You'll have people who keep tools and tricks up their sleeve, seldom sharing them with the community.
 

Mesoian

Member
...torn.

Because I'm all for people selling original works, especially if the output is really something special.

But this is also going to be a logistical nightmare, because what happens when you buy something similar to Faalskar, play 70% of it, and the scripting breaks preventing you from moving forward?

I feel like every instance of asking for a refund for a mod that doesn't work quite right is going to be a fight, especially when you start getting into the areas where the mod doesn't work because you have 170 other mods that might be causing issues, paid mods breaking installs all together...

The moment a paid mod corrupts someone's save irreparably is the moment we see how deep Valve will really support this marketplace.

I have no problem with this so long as the content for sale is 100% original.

But I wonder if the original game developers would try to make some sort of claim on profits made on a really popular mod for their game.

Considering the flavor of the month in Skyrim modding is importing armors and clothings from other games (Blade and Soul primarily over the past month), I can see a lot of legal action being drawn up in the next few months.
 

Sou Da

Member
Oh boy watch this be abused. Them free mods on the nexus? Say bye bye, get em in the workshop for $5.



Ugh right?! I checked on it not too long ago and still no updates :(

They log their progress on facebook almost every other day but yeah aside from bug fixes on the first installment the second installment seems far away.

https://www.facebook.com/FalloutProjectBrazil

You can also pirate games on PC rather easily. People still buy them.

I'm no fool Durante, I was just wondering aloud what type of content will be premium and if people on steam would ~feel~ more justified in pirating mods.
 

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
So how will these paid mods work? Will they have a specialized ID that only runs on that steam account? Because fucking anyone could just rip out the files from their game directory and share them.

Hell even the official Skyrim DLC can be shared like that.
 
I get why people might want this in principle, but it feels like a disaster in the making. Depending on how embraced it is, it could basically kill the modding scene on these kinds of games.

I dunno. I'll watch and see what happens, but it feels like there's a lot to lose here and relatively little to gain (since the audience willing to pay for mods on a 4 year old game cannot be very large).
 

Orayn

Member
I get why people might want this in principle, but it feels like a disaster in the making. Depending on how embraced it is, it could basically kill the modding scene on these kinds of games.

I dunno. I'll watch and see what happens, but it feels like there's a lot to lose here and relatively little to gain (since the audience willing to pay for mods on a 4 year old game cannot be very large).

On the other hand, one could argue that modders/mappers getting paid has extended the lives of Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO.
 

Viliger

Member
Crowbar mod for a dollar. Yeah, sure... There are so many problems with that I don't even know where to begin.
 
People put time and effort into it and if people want to be rewarded or people want to give back why not?
The $10 armor that is terrible will not just be popular just like it is now for free but the best onces will be on TOP and some of them cost money.

I can only see this as a good thing.
 

Durante

Member
...torn.

Because I'm all for people selling original works, especially if the output is really something special.

But this is also going to be a logistical nightmare, because what happens when you buy something similar to Faalskar, play 70% of it, and the scripting breaks preventing you from moving forward?

I feel like every instance of asking for a refund for a mod that doesn't work quite right is going to be a fight, especially when you start getting into the areas where the mod doesn't work because you have 170 other mods that might be causing issues, paid mods breaking installs all together...

The moment a paid mod corrupts someone's save irreparably is the moment we see how deep Valve will really support this marketplace.
I'd assume that Valve won't support mods at all. Anything else would be suicide. And neither should they be expected to.

You aren't buying the mod from Valve (or Bethesda) you're buying it from the author.
 

johntown

Banned
I am thinking it should take the "pay if you want" approach. If you want to donate or pay a specified amount you can but if not you don't have to.

Adding a pricing system to mods will ruin the community IMO.

(off to Skyrim Nexus to download everything while I can!)
 

MUnited83

For you.
I get why people might want this in principle, but it feels like a disaster in the making. Depending on how embraced it is, it could basically kill the modding scene on these kinds of games.

I dunno. I'll watch and see what happens, but it feels like there's a lot to lose here and relatively little to gain (since the audience willing to pay for mods on a 4 year old game cannot be very large).
Skyrim sold over 8 million on PC and has been on the top active games on Steam for years now.
 

Kade

Member
I'd rather they forced a "pay if and what you want" system on all Workshop items; essentially a donate button built into the Workshop page. I don't have a problem paying for content I like or that I think I will like, however, I don't trust most people out there who do craft/enthusiast projects when it comes to deciding how much their work is worth. Let the people consuming the work decide what it's worth.

I feel like Twitch was similar where people went "Oh, but I can and will watch for free because it has been historically free" but you stick a pay what you want donation button on the same page as content that people are enjoying enmasse and look what happens. With stuff like UGC, you let the people consume the way they have always been consuming and add to it, not change or restrict it.
 

Juniez

Banned
do people support modding because it expands upon a product or do people support modding because it's free. now i guess we will truly find out
 

_machine

Member
I'd assume that Valve won't support mods at all. Anything else would be suicide. And neither should they be expected to.

You aren't buying the mod from Valve (or Bethesda) you're buying it from the author.
Yeah, Valve will not be held accountable whatever the mods might do to your game or saves. There will be paid mods that will be shipped broken, it's an inevitability, but on the other hand this means that there should be more community quality control as well as the authors have more reasons and financial support to keep supporting their own content.
 

Mesoian

Member
I'd assume that Valve won't support mods at all. Anything else would be suicide. And neither should they be expected to.

You aren't buying the mod from Valve (or Bethesda) you're buying it from the author.

Well, right. But I mean, Valve is still managing the marketplace, right? They're providing an avenue for people to sell their mods, so they're still going to have to be the gatekeepers on this stuff, right? If someone puts out a half finished or broken mod, how is that going to be handled, especially when the issue is money changing hands or even proving that there's anything wrong with the mod?

That's what makes this all really interesting and dangerous. They are opening up a storefront for game material that has a very high chance of completely nuking your game if you don't know what you're doing. I think that's going to require a bit more than a sign saying "no refunds". I just don't see how Valve can stay out of it in the lion's share of disputes.

TL:DR - If Valve's attitude towards actual disputes is "tough titty toenails, deal with them, not us", this thing is going to collapse in on itself like a flan in a cupboard.
 
I worry modders are going to transition from doing something out of passion to doing it for money and dilute the pool to an even thinner level of quality. But I suppose we can only wait and see how it turns out.

Also question the legality of this. They're modifying and profiting off a property somebody else owns. Is Bethesda on board with it in regards to Skyrim/Fallout?
 

Odah

Banned
As for developers making mods in their free time: YES

As for any other people: NO


this could destroy modding :(
 

bengraven

Member
Like I said in the Steam thread: This is basically Valve (and Beth) doing what Microsoft stated they were intending to implement into X-box Live on the X-box 360 about 10 years ago, when the console was going to launch.

"We'll let content creators be able to charge for their T-shirt skins/Car Liveries in Forza and other titles."

Just now Steam has made it real. I don't honestly use the Workshop much. But I don't necessarily have a problem with content creators getting paid for their work, but I'm curious what the upper-limit for their charging will be. Because I'd balk at people charging $10 a pop for items.

So I get to buy nude anime girls with buster swords from VelocityGirl now?
 

Mesoian

Member
So I get to buy nude anime girls with buster swords from VelocityGirl now?

I mean...sort of, yeah.

I would support this model of actual game devs making mods and then paying for them.

Totally.

I just don't know how often that's going to happen. I don't see that happening for Skyrim ever, not this late in the game.

Using Skyrim as a testing ground for this seems like a really smart idea being done on top of a gigantic volatile powder keg. For better or worse, the chance of this blowing up is super high.
 
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