Why Leaking Paid Mods Is Idiotic.

Why? Considering it's not exactly a controversial opinion to respect a modders work.

 

You have no idea how many people have the entitlement to say all mods should be free and call paid mods trash.

 

I do agree, however a product is being sold here. Someone is selling their time and effort, in exchange for a (hopefully) high quality vehicle. The creator of the prasu put up a donation page, updated his mod regularly, it's even free, and after months of hard work he got 1 cent, that's it. I think mods are better free, and that prevents leaks, but I have no problem with someone making their own creation which they decided to share with others; paid.

 

The people bootlegging things I don't think have ever been halted by moral grandstanding, so I have major doubts about the efficacy of this thread in accomplishing much more than drama.

Real talk: The bootlegging issue was decided the moment computers could copy. Intellectual property is one of those concepts that while extensively developed as a huge body of law, is entirely a legal construct and doesn't exist in reality. Quite a lot like a work of fiction. It's on paper, but not manifest in reality. So it's means are always going to be man-made and that in turn means the practical upshot is that it will always be circumvented. What's actually being complained about is that at some point the modder is going to lose sole proprietorship over the files they put online. Welcome to the internet. Industries and nations have tried to stop this and they only ever succeed in encouraging the development of much more sophisticated means to pirate stuff.

The practical upshot of the situation is you need to support the creators who you want to encourage. Like, you personally need to take it upon yourself to do that. Because it is a positive if creators benefit, and at the end of the day they price cheaper than a big mac. So stop being a cheap ass and show them some love. Because while compensating them for their time and effort is a way to look at it, just also bear in mind you're compensating them for the fact that them losing control of what they create is inevitable.

 

I do agree with some of this stuff. Although the thing is. Beamng will definitely sell alot and make way more profit than it's own mods even that game is 50% cheaper. While on the other hand usually only a few handful of people will actually buy the paid mods. And also beamng has a whole team working on it wich makes the game alot easier to make. While usually paid mods are worked on by one individually who gets help from one or two people

 

This is very close to how I feel about paid mods. Yes there is content that to me is worth paying the money for but then you run into several issues. Will the mod maker - makers be there to update the mod within 3 days of a major update if it breaks? How will you be able to update the mod?, Can you get a refund for a mod that's for sale but is 100% broken and will never to fixed (think steams 100% refund policy for 2 weeks or 2 hours?) and several other legal and moral issues. I've never had a issue with donation request and I've always been a light beamng.drive mod installer but now in this modern pay for everything even if it's poor quality just makes me not really bother anymore.

But I'm not going to tell the mod makers that put real effort and will upkeep their stuff from putting a paywall it's just I'm not going to pay for it (nor pirate it). I've been burned one too many times from large, small studios, and solo endeavors that I'm not going to take the risk in a unregulated or even slightly regulated 3rd party market for things that may just stop working and never be fixed.

Last note. I don't support leaking but I also want to state that it's up to the modders to send out the DMCA - copyright claims to those who stole their products which is super expensive and can be difficult to prove.

 

I must agree, and that being said I only own 2, $7 mods created by trusted mod makers of the community. I don't believe you should charge more than the game's price for a car if its just a low quality meshslap. However, if you have put time and effort into this vehicle, and you think its worth money to you; shoot. I've currently only got the signia and the picnic, and about 150 other free repo mods

 

This is the bit I strongly disagree with (in all the paid mods threads). I'd say I would even encourage people to put those $20 meshslaps on the market. If someone considers them worth their money, good for them – some people enjoy cruising around in properly tuned cars, and some just want to show off their HQ models. After all, as Beam is still mostly about driving, I believe that the market will regulate itself in the long run.

 

Here's the problem, these mods use the game's original assets, sounds, jbeam, etc., and only change the mesh part. This means there are a LOT of "used" parts, so the price should be incredibly low. If I have to choose between a 5$ high-quality Lamborghini mod or a 20$ low-effort mesh slap Lamborghini mod, I'm choosing the former.

 

You're missing the point here. Meshslaps are incredibly easy to spot, and if a modder decides to try to sell them, it's within their right (apart from stolen assets, maybe). They shouldn't expect to make a fortune, though, given how the majority of people here thinks that:

Thus, I don't see a reason why would you demand people to sell meshslaps for lower prices. A designer bag may sport a higher price than that made by your local tanner, yet people don't run around saying they shouldn't cost so much considering they aren't up to par in quality – they just go with whatever they deem most valuable for them.

 

However, if said leather bag was used, then coated with some new paint and rebadged with designer badges, that's not exactly the best thing people would buy. That's mesh slaps, old things in new paint, and a Ferrari badge.

 

Guys just let this thread die already

 

Nah, too controversial for that to happen.

 

ive been away for like 6 months or something from my wheel, are paid mods still this much of an issue? why ant people just accept that not everything's free lol

 

I comepletely agree with you and i get them officially but if you like kenemation who just revamps old models, it isn't worth buying..

 

i say its good to try a mod for free, to decide if you want to buy it or not. i was thinking about buying the dfa pack, but the documentation isnt clear, and i couldnt find a leak to try it out, so i didn't buy it. i just dont want paid mods to become the norm. only developer++ quality mods should be paid imo.

 

So, you are trying to find a leaked, pirated copy to "try" it even though it's illegal no matter what, and iRetr0x didn't say you could do that? You're saying you tried to find an illegal copy just to "try" it but we both know if you like it you aren't paying to get something you already have for free. Nobody has ever seriously said they would pirate something to "try it" and then paid for it when they liked it. They keep the free copy. Not sure where your train of thought is coming from.

 

That's called piracy. But I do agree in a way, not with the piracy, but with the 'try before you buy' idea. I think more paid mods should include demos such as the DFA pack.

 

Paid Mod Demos are more of a try before you buy thing.