First of all, I want to say that I do understand the concerns that some people have regarding how paid mods on Steam could negatively affect the modding community. But that's all there's to it - concerns, nothing more, since we haven't even allowed to see the supposedly negative effects of it before it got mass-boycotted. I'm gonna keep this really short.

I guess most of us who have dwelved deep enough into the realm of game modding knows that there are already paid mods out there, take FSX's amazing paid mods for example, with some modders even collaborating with real airlines or airplane manufacturers to make their mods as realistic as possible, licensed even. But what they do - making paid mods and earn a living out of it, is a pretty isolated concept.

Paid mods on Steam could've help popularizing this and make it less taboo, streamline the process, and help many aspiring content creators out there who otherwise have little to no avenue and the necessary exposure, to create great stuff and get something in return that they deserve for their creations.

It can be a whole new industry - one that anyone can get into no matter what their background or level of education are.

I assume most of us gamers have had a thought about making a living out of what we love - video games. Either by simply playing them, making unofficial contents such as guides and walkthroughs, working for a game company, or by creating our own games. The rise of the attention economy in the past decade along with how the internet became much more accessible have made it possible for many gamers to earn a living out of their creations from ads money (YouTube, gaming websites and forums with ads).

But what about the 3D modelers, scripters, coders, texturers, riggers, whose creations aren't designed to gather views or website visitors for ad money? Can you imagine making a really good mod that takes a long time to make, have 10,000 people visit your website and download it, and only make $10 from ad money? Do you, as a fellow gamer who loves enjoying good contents really say it's worth their time?

Steam could've created a whole new ecosystem much like what the Second Life market is doing ("creator -> user" market which is much more accessible for everyone compared to a "creator -> game company -> user" market) sure Linden Lab still take a tiny cut from each sale, like how Steam would take a cut from each paid mods sale too if it got realized, but the point is, anyone can make anything they want and earn something decent in return if enough people want it and think that it's worth it.

It would help in making a lot of us who aren't working for a game company but like creating things for video games that we love to make a living out of it, or at least get a well-deserved something in return. If anything, the clearer and more guaranteed incentives from such an ecosystem would make the modding community greater than ever.

I hope you consider what I just said the next time Steam / Valve pitches paid mods, for the good of all of us.

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Edit: Since this thread has gotten so many replies, I'm gonna sum up some arguments and their counter arguments from what others have posted here for those of you who don't feel like reading through all the replies.


"Paid mods is against the spirit of modding!"

- Nonsense, people who made well-made, non-copyright-infringing paid mods have the rights to monetize and deserve to be incentivized for their works if they wish to, and many paid mods already exist for some games but they are relatively obscure. A lot of people who made these kind of mods would love if they can have a mainstream distribution platform to sell their mods on.

"Paid mods on Steam is Valve cash grab!"

- Valve / game devs also deserve their share of the paid mods money since they would be the one hosting the ecosystem and allowing it to be sustained. Whether or not their share of the pie is too much or not is another issue, this doesn't mean paid mods is bad and shouldn't be realized.

"People will start selling crap mods for tons of money!"

- This is very counterintuitive to how marketplace economic works. People would generally sell things for what others might want to pay for it. For example, it's more sensible to sell an original armor set mods for 10 cents and have 10 thousand people buying it rather than selling it for 5 dollars and have no one buying it.

"What about possible copyright infringement issues?"

- There are many ways to technically and legally tackle this as many have posted and Valve most likely knows how to, since it's possible to be done in many existing platforms that relies on user-generated contents (ex: YouTube, SL Marketplace, even Valve's own Steam virtual game distribution system is technically a user-generated market since Valve doesn't make most of the games they are selling)

"What if people starts selling mods that's buggy or won't work?"

- First of all, paid mods generally have much better quality and support compared to free mods because the mods developers would have a clear incentive for their works and for supporting them. Secondly, there would most likely be a rating system in place that separates bad mods and developers from the good ones. Mods developers can also release a free "demo" version of their mods so people can test whether or not it works. If felt necessary, a free demo can also be made mandatory even.