Modders: We need to talk

Like the idea or not, at least be civil and read what the man said ^

 

Sorry, but I disagree. There are many people creating high quality content for the game expecting nothing in return.
I'm not entirely against paid mods as long as it's handled in an 'unofficial DLC' sort of way, with very strict quality control by the developers.

It also seems like a bad idea to introduce such a thing while the game is in a beta stage. Many things are changing constantly, it's hard to ensure compatibility with future versions of the game. If I pay for content I don't want it to break for a week with every major update.

 

Also, what if a mod gets discontinued or abandoned? Should the people who bought it get a refund? Another mod for free?
It would be unfair to the people who paid for a mod if the creator decided to quit modding, or just stop updating that mod for new versions of the game.

 

I've seen number between 10 cents and $5 in your above post and I can't help but wonder what the "limit" or range of pricing would be for these (no judgement here, just curious). Does the mod author set the price, or would it be determined based on your team's quality/content assessment? Would there be a limit to the number of paid mods available? By that I mean, would anyone who makes a quality mod be able to ask for it to be paid, or would there be a set number of "slots" for paid mods that modders could compete for? When money is involved, everything has to be handled quite gently...

Yeah a wording change would help so long as transparency is maintained. "Paid mods" and "Microtransactions" are pretty sour terms to most folks here.

 

If paid content gets implemented, most high quality mods will be paid, as i would expect people would want money for their work, and as someone who can't buy things online easily, it will limit the number of high quality mods i could use, which means i will be stuck with the not as high quality mods, and possibly mods that i already use, could become paid, which would be annoying. I do agree that modders should get money for their work, but community content shouldn't be put behind a pay wall. Donations are the way to go in my opinion.

 

Just thought I would throw my cents in, the paid mod idea I think could work if there was an option to "demo" the vehicle somehow. Like you can drive the car around a pre-set course with only a certain configuration or something. Some sort of refund system too, otherwise I can see a bunch of posts complaining about how they didn't like the vehicle/map/etc after the purchase. A problem would arise though, what about cases where the mod author for some reason just can't update the mod anymore?

 

You're right. I saw paid mods and panicked. Just call it DLC. If it's up to the quality that your content is, and you guys still get some money from it, its no different from any other DLC on any other game. Cars in forza, maps in online shooter games, new game modes, new features. Say it as it is, DLC.

 

Not really, there's very few games worth while on either of those.

Even calling DLC will drive some people away, and in most cases DLC is way overpriced.

 

Ok, so you're going to need some research and collect data,

Change "Most Messages" (otherwise known as "people who talk a lot")


To this, "Most downloads" (otherwise known as "popular stuff")


"Most downloads" should exclude paid staff members as they currently have their own category in this section, their name in the credits and a paycheck. At the moment Modders are separate individual entities that contribute voluntarily with minimal assistance.

Modders who work as a team will probably have to decide among themselves how their hypothetical "funds" are shared. I don't know if you have considered this yet but "Most Messages" is a fairly useless statistic as far as gathering helpful information goes.

Another thought may be, add the category of "Valued Contributing Members" This may be all some people who don't want money, would require to feel comfortable continuing making mods. They see their name on a list created by the developers and are happy simply being acknowledged officially. This information would probably be sourced from "Most Downloads".

"Most Downloads" would very easily give yourselves and the entire community an updated register of exactly what kind of content is most popular and therefore worthy of payment. This data is currently available but it's fragmented and only found by digging around.

But then again "barbie girl" by "aqua" was a number one hit in the UK for 3 weeks. I wouldn't refer to that song in anyway as quality but apparently it's what some people really liked, god knows why. There is a definite separate relationship between what people "like" and what "quality" actually is.

"Most resources" by itself while interesting is not really an accurate indication of quality or effort involved. One modder could have three tire skins with a few hundred downloads that only took 15 minutes to make but they could be higher in ranking than someone who spent 10 months making a single vehicle and have 12,000 downloads. (This is just an example and does not represent any specific individual by name.)

Carefully creating a legal disclaimer that puts in "black and white" your relationship between yourselves
and the modders who you are considering in this situation that is albeit still at a discussion and hypothetical stage.

Fine print in other words. This can sometimes easily give you an idea of how it could all work or fail. I have personally sat in meetings with heavy hitting hollywood types and told them how it is, and I still get paid to do it to this day simply for the fact we Australians don't like bullsh-t. Because when it comes to legal requirements on a 120 million dollar movie, bullsh-t only gets you (and them) in trouble. Also in Australia we are automatically granted IP copyright (Intellectual Property) without even having to apply for it. Not every country has these laws, but it's just an interesting aspect to see how all that could be worded into a disclaimer for BeamNG.Drive.

 

"Mods"
"DLC"
"Ad-ons"

Call it community generated content as it should be.

 

It will be good to give the newest version to authors 2-3 days before release, for giving them a chance to fix vehicle in a new update.
Also, as @Tom999 said before, we need other rating system. Something like "most downloads" and "net profit", "most messages/resources" are not very good.
Also, what about payments for be abled to betatest a mod?
Btw, i just thought about a good idea: receiving money only for some amount of downloads. How about this?

 

please no micro transactions

 

Don't sell yourself short, TDev. To the right buyer, you're worth a lot.

I do worry that the introduction of commercialized content could change the rules a bit; creating a licensed car or using a trademarked logo in a map could cause some issues. Even aside from the corporate world, certain free content (sounds, textures) is free only for non-commercial use, and could invoke takedown notices and a worse impression overall about the community should it be found out.

 

Personally, I wouldn't want anyone to have to pay for my mods, but I get that you guys need money to host them. I don't know anything about this subject, but what about ads as a form of revenue? For example, when someone wants to download a mod, they have to sit through a 30-second ad and then get the mod for free. You guys get money, and the player doesn't have to spend any of their money.