Total overhauls like the upcoming Enderal: Shards of Order, popular texture packs like Skyrim HD, and quest mods like And the Realms of Daedra add to the Skyrim experience in ways that go so far beyond the vanilla experience that merely calling modded Skyrim a “fresh” or “brand-new” experience would be a gross understatement. Yet, at the same time, there exists a plethora of professional-quality mod content. Many of these works are understandably amateur in nature. So long as they aren’t violating the terms of service, anyone can upload a mod to Steam Workshop or to Nexus. No one except for the original creator of a mod has the right to determine whether or not it should be free.īecause of the marked absence of quality control and curation, many items on the Steam Workshop and on the Skyrim Nexus are of inconsistent quality. But just because something has been free, doesn’t mean that it needs to be free. They have always been free on Skyrim Nexus, which hosts tens of thousands of Skyrim mods, and has been the go-to site for Elder Scrolls modding in general. Until Valve announced (and then removed) paid modding functionality on the Steam Workshop, Skyrim mods were free on the Steam Workshop. It’s easy to see how many Skyrim mod users may feel entitled to the “right” to free mods. Popular commercial titles on PC like DotA and Red Orchestra started out as professional-quality work by modders. Some of the most impressive user-created content ever, such as Garry’s Mod and Dear Esther, are all paid. Team Fortress 2 has an extensive set of quality, paid mods.
Paid modding isn’t alien to the PC community. As the originators of the Elder Scrolls IP, for developing the Creation Engine and the rich environment of Skyrim, and for going the extra mile by releasing the Creation Kit to the community, Bethesda is most certainly entitled to its 45 percent cut. Fan-fiction creators receive 20-35 percent of the profits, Amazon gets a 30 percent cut, and the author of the original content gets 35 percent in royalties. As for the claim that paid mods are just one more way for “greedy” publishers to make money off the community, one has to look no further than Amazon’s Kindle Worlds fan-fiction programme. Modders would be entitled to 25 percent of the profits, with the remainder split between Valve with its obligatory 30 percent cut, and Bethesda, which was to keep 45 percent. Let’s look at the situation in context: Around two weeks ago, Valve announced that Skyrim mod creators publishing on the Steam Workshop would now have the option to make their mods paid, if they so desired.
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