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Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:36 am
by DWMagus
CSE wrote:Innocent question here:
Why does anybody think that owning an IP (and hence marketing rights) for a mod is illegal/undefined?
For the sake of this specific argument, I'm making the same assumptions that everyone else here was riding off of.

You could probably make an argument for it either way, but I didn't want to stray too far from what everyone else was putting out there (as well as worst-case scenario).

And ultimately, if it was legal and defined, this topic is moot, since it wouldn't need the creator's (Josh in this example) permission to sell such things.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:47 am
by Etsu
A little late, maybe, but I wouldn't pay for a mod. Donations, however, is something I may consider possible.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 6:32 pm
by Surface Reflection
I see you guys got back to the subject im not interested in but anyway, wanted just to add this since it was already written , then you can continue discussing whether "mods should be sold or not".

Dinosawer wrote: Surface Reflection, I kinda like that idea. :thumbup: Although there might be some practical problems (the most important being people having a somewhat optimistic idea about how good their mod is and thus Josh getting more mais than he can handle ;) ), those could be solved.
Although I'm a proponent of the FOSS philosophy, there are sometimes huge conversion mods that really would warrant getting money (of off my head, think Skywind, OpenMW, that kind of stuff.) The really good and big ones, as you say.
Nice. Exactly, Skywind is also a good example, - if you had say five huge mods like that offered for some change it would be i think quite an attractive proposition for the fans.
Thats what i was saying.

Practical problems are of the sort that can be dealt with and solved i think. Precisely because we are talking about a very small number of such mods.
As i said, it doesnt need to be just Josh who evaluates these submissions, but he has the final say.

There is also a fact that not everyone will submit their super mod for this. Some people may decide to just do it in a usual way. Those that will be thinking about it will know that the mod will have to pass through quality control of some kind and therefore will work harder and solicit more feedback covering those angles.
DWMagus wrote: Next, I actually like Surface Reflection's idea.
:thumbup:
I originally came from the SCP forums (Freespace forums)
Man, those people sure deserve something for all that amazing work they did to bring one of my favorite games up to modern standards. Is that a decade of work right now, more?
Those are few and far between.
Indeed, even in the best of circumstances.
Specific logistics aside on the 'how to make it work', I think the idea is sound. It keeps the IP in Josh's hands, as well as the QA to prevent crap from being branded as 'official'. It also allows Josh to monetize what originally was his creation and acts as a way to 'license' the engine without explicitly doing so (hell, he could even toss in a small disclaimer that states those mods are a type of licensing). And last, it allows the content creators to be recognized and be rewarded for their work (something we all can agree should happen--recognition for a great piece of work is always good).
E - xactly.
Scytale wrote:- the actual point at hand i.e. SR's suggestion?
Thank you for trying to keep things on the straight and narrow. Appreciated.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 11:44 am
by BTAxis
Should mods be free?

Yes.

Next.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 3:34 pm
by Mistycica
BTAxis wrote:Should mods be free?

Yes.

Next.
Thank you for sharing your amazing wisdom and excellent points, contributing to the infinite necromancy of this topic.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:45 pm
by Idunno
Mistycica wrote:
BTAxis wrote:Should mods be free?

Yes.

Next.
Thank you for sharing your amazing wisdom and excellent points, contributing to the infinite necromancy of this topic.
It's not really necromancy, since the other guy posted yesterday. :ghost:

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:05 pm
by Zanteogo

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 2:51 am
by johncage
it's called the donate button. if you think modders deserve your money, click on it and send money to them.

end of story.

mods should always be free, bottomline. the alternative is part of the atrocity that is killing pc gaming.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:40 am
by DigitalDuck
johncage wrote:mods should always be free, bottomline. the alternative is part of the atrocity that is killing pc gaming.
The alternative is why the indie scene exists at all.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:32 am
by Zanteogo
Sorry.
Image

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:22 am
by Scytale
johncage wrote:it's called the donate button. if you think modders deserve your money, click on it and send money to them.

end of story.

mods should always be free, bottomline. the alternative is part of the atrocity that is killing pc gaming.
Yes, it's clearly dying.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:24 am
by Dinosawer
It's johncage, there's no point in responding. He's like the human form of grumpy cat. :ghost:

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 2:32 pm
by Seryth Nortra
my system would be to have some mods qualify for being paid and some mods not qualifying. I think that volunteers or modders who do it for a living themselves could tell if something qualified, and for how much. In the case of modders qualifying modders, though, they could only do so with other modders for obvious reasons. :ghost: I don't know if this would work very well, but it seems like a good idea in theory. :ghost: :ghost: :ghost:

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 2:50 pm
by Charley_Deallus
Seryth Nortra wrote:my system would be to have some mods qualify for being paid and some mods not qualifying. I think that volunteers or modders who do it for a living themselves could tell if something qualified, and for how much. In the case of modders qualifying modders, though, they could only do so with other modders for obvious reasons. :ghost: I don't know if this would work very well, but it seems like a good idea in theory. :ghost: :ghost: :ghost:
Here's a good example. Black Mesa is a mod for Half Life 2. It is a complete (and I mean COMPLETE) remake of the original Half Life 1. New textures, graphics, animations, sounds, voice acting, etc. They worked on it completely free of charge for over 10 years. How do I know this? I have been following it that long. Ever since they announced that they would be making it. I think that was 2-3 websites ago. They did it part-time since they had lives, jobs, families, and other important things going on. But I think this developer's comment sums it up for a lot of them.

[BMS] DR!P
A++ Would spend 10 years of my life making again

After part 1 of the mod was completed and it was the first, if not one of the first mods greenlit by Valve, Valve started working with them on the mod. They went back through it, redid the graphics, voice acting, and animations a little bit more and re-released this mod for $19.99. If you wait a little while, a free version comes out that you don't have to pay a cent for (hence...free version). The free version gets just as much support as the one to pay for...but the one you pay for rewards the developers for their dedicated and AMAZING work. I think the fact that Valve worked with them like this is one of the main reasons I like Valve so much. They have high points, and low points (HALF LIFE 3!?!?!?) but I gladly paid 20 dollars at the time of release. Xen will be released in the near future hopefully :D


As for other mods, I don't know how well other companies work with them and this was a unique case imo. It was a nice story though.

Re: Should mods be free?

Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 5:01 pm
by Seryth Nortra
That is a good example.
Did you not get my "theory" pun? ;)