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*I think this image is alright, but if you guys think it's biased, tell me and I'll change to another one*
So, just a week after Skyrim's paid mods fiasco, Black Mesa (formerly a total conversion mod for HL2) was released on Steam with a $20 dollars price tag, after announcing one and a half year ago that this would happen (and how it would happen).
Read the announcement here: Moddb.com
As it was somewhat predictable, the discussion on paid mods has spilled over to BM.
What is your opinion? Is this case exactly identical to Skyrim's paid mods? Or do you think there is a huge difference between this and how paid mods would have worked for Skyrim?
I think there is a huge difference between a TOTAL CONVERSION and a mod that is just a sword, a single armor/character, or just a fishing minigame.
Honestly, I think this is just an example of what Kalga said here: Moddb.com
The majority of these people complaining are just slacktivists, they saw the shitstorm that happened with Skyrim's paid mods and, without any knowledge of how modding works and its many facets and differences, decided to bring that back on BM.
These people are neither modders, nor mod enthusiasts (like most of us here on ModDB).
Here is a very stupid quote from one of these people that proves my point:
The key point is "copying the whole game and adding some stuff". If you know what Black Mesa is and what they did, you know that's not the case.
I've never played HL2, but I've played total conversion mods and they really are worth paying for. $20 doesn't seem so bad to me, I think the fear is that it'll be a gateway to a future where the pricing for mods is tolerated and people having to pay money for very simple mods.
That would imply that people will buy them even though they know it won't be worth the money spent. (they'll probably be still those who would, the world at large call them addicts*).
TBH is bad or minimal mods start charging for money the demand for such things would drop (because people like me sure as hell ain't gonna buy them, not even if they only cost a penny**), and depend on the intent of the modder of said mod (whether he wants to simply want others to enjoy his labor or make a quick buck) they may or may not put it is a paywall.
Thus most likely paid mods will remain for the bigger mods, and besides you're probably not missing much if the situation became otherwise.
That's why I'm not too worried about the concepts of paid mods in general. Then again, I can leave whenever I want, I swear, no, really...
*also apply to those people who buy the next FPS/RPG/whatever at full price the day it came out despite knowing (and complaining at leanght before and after each purchase) that there's less and less [new] content with each passing one.
**because that would be simply too much a pain in the *** to make the transaction, yea I'm that lazy
That fear is irrational. This is not like how Skyrim mods were going to work, where everybody can charge for their simple mods.
IIRC, some Skyrim mods charged $1 to $5 dollars for a single sword/character, BM has many character models, weapons, many maps, assets (textures and models) for all maps, scripting (like the AI, which has been significantly improved for this version), audio (from sound effects to dialogue) and more.
This charges $20 for all of that, those Skyrim mods charged $1/$5 dollars for much less.
Mods have been going retail for years now (Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Day of Defeat, Garry's Mod, Killing Floor, Insurgency, Blade Symphony, The Stanley Parable, and others).
There is a huge difference between this type of mods becoming retail games/franchises to mods (especially the simple ones), that still require the base game, being charged for.
I must say, those mods going retail has worked pretty well in the last decade and a half, there is no reason to change how that works.
This is what i was talking about before. Big, ambitious and time consuming mods are worth paying for. I'd rather pay for this then give a 5-10 euros for a weapon, armor or a stats tweak that i can basically do myself in a week or so...
Oh. It's optional? Then that brings about a whole new response from me. If it was just a regular pay wall I wouldn't have been too pleased since it started as a fan remake. Maybe if Valve took it and worked on it or with the team for a bit I would have considered it worthwhile and alright.
However since it seems to be optional I'm completely fine with it.
Well, it seems that Xen will not be available on the mod version. Steamcommunity.com
It will depend on personal opinion if the reason they gave is good or not.
Valve is not involved, they only allowed the BM devs to sell it and gave them Source, but thanks to the access to the engine code, they were able to customize it. They said that on that same FAQ I linked above.