The Video Game Industry's Monetisation of Mods discussion Thread

Hey people,

So firstly, a full disclaimer. I’m a student researching the effects that the video games industry’s current and previous attempts of monetising mods has had on the online community spaces that encourage the creation of this content. I’m hoping to gain a greater perspective on how the community feels about these practices in general, and whether or not there has been any lasting effects from these industry attempts.

The reason why I’m doing this on mods is because I love mods. I love trying out the interesting, quirky inventions that members of the community have come up with and I love that games I enjoy playing are actively supported with this wide range of content.

With all that said, and sorry for dragging on a little, I would highly appreciate it if we could kick off a discussion/debate on the video game industry’s attempts to monetise mods.

• What do you think of these practices?
• Are they good for mods and the community or are they bad?
• Can you provide any examples of the effect it has had here?
• Can you propose an alternative?
• Is there an alternative?
• Can you make a counterpoint to someone else’s post?

Some examples of such practices include: Bethesda’s Creation Club and Cities: Skylines Content Creator Packs. If you know any more, don’t hesitate to add them to the discussion.

Any reference excerpts taken from this thread for use within the research will be anonymised.

And finally, if any of you could spare a little extra time, about 5 - 10 minutes, and fill out my survey (Forms.gle), I would be hugely grateful. This will not collect any personal data that could be used to identify and connect you with your answers.

With the exception of a few small pockets of monetization in Minecraft, Bethesda Games, Valve Games, ROBLOX, Planetside 2, RUST etc - i'd say the impact hasn't been felt because the monetization of mods still hasn't occurred. At the moment some creators get cherry picked and their content becomes official, or they can participate in some kind of rewards program or donation system.

Overall I think the failed attempts have been a good thing, because it's forcing companies to innovate and take a serious look at what their modding community means to their game.

I believe there is a world in which creators can and should be rewarded which will lead to significant innovation and enjoyment for players, but right now we are in a stalemate while that balance is figured out. I do know that long term if deep discounting of games, bundles and subscription services rise that will stifle creativity within games and centralize power within the top 1% most popular titles, and I see UGC as a great equalizer and a way to make break out hits.

Interesting times ahead for sure!

Keen also to see the results of your research and perhaps publish them here on ModDB.com or mod.io our cross-platform modding SDK for game developers.