Valve selling mods on Steam

[JohnnyTheFox]

has there ever bee a case of Steam revoking someone's license to play a game? I don't know the reason why they include that language in their terms and conditions, but I don't think it's so the can suddenly decide, you have played the game long enough, if you want to play it more, pay more...

Accounts have been locked/banned but there has to be a high level of stupidity to warrant doing so.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Accounts have been locked/banned but there has to be a high level of stupidity to warrant doing so.

yea, more than likely account sharing or something similar. so the average consumer doesn't have much to worry about and thus there is no reason to call it an expensive rental.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

and fwiw, steam doesn't charge sales tax, I'll take the $3 over a physical copy that could become damaged any day

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Back to OP topic......
This sounds like a prelude to a copyright nightmare and might possibly open a huge can of worms. While, personally I don't have {given the quality}a problem paying for a mod the way this has been implemented by valve is horrible. Perhaps a "donation" button would have been met with more acceptance.

 

[NorthTexan95]

When Steam started I hated the service but now I've grown to love it. I much prefer clicking a few buttons to download and install my software rather than storing game boxes and manuals I never read. If I want a special edition box for a favorite game I can still buy it but for most games the ease of shopping is much simpler with Steam.

Modders are some of the greatest people on Earth. Mass Effect 3 is nearly unplayable for me because of the horrible ending Bioware gave us originally. Modders have resolved that with an ending that is simple, heartfelt, and satisfying. The old KOTOR games have had many improvements, levels, and restored cut content to make those games much more interesting. Fallout 3 / Fallout NV / Skyrim all have had major game play improvements, graphic improvements, and huge overhauls of various aspects of these games. Modders allow us to experience some of our favorite games in new ways for the low, low price of headaches when having issues getting all the mods to behave together.

Back to OP topic......
This sounds like a prelude to a copyright nightmare and might possibly open a huge can of worms. While, personally I don't have {given the quality}a problem paying for a mod the way this has been implemented by valve is horrible. Perhaps a "donation" button would have been met with more acceptance.

I think you're right about the "huge can of worms". Right now I'd predict that it languishes from lack of customer support and is never a significant income source for Steam. What would change things is for software developers to make games nearly unable to mod. For example, if the industry switches so that all games on online or they are able to lock down their software somehow so that mods are very difficult to make. I'm not sure why a developer would want to do this but they could. If I was a game developer I would encourage modding as it keeps your game alive and keeps people playing it.

 

[Eric_Boyer]

Well good for you......
And there is nothing more ignorant than paying 50 bucks for nothing more then a serial key which in reality is nothing more then a license to play said game.

there is nothing more ignorant then you trying to tell me where my value lies.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Your first line just proves my point....
People have become accustomed to it so it must be Ok. Right?. And the serial key you are buying for that same 50 bucks really is just a license to play the game, the game itself isn't yours. If you don't believe me go read the Steam EULA.
This comes down to greed and control plain and simple.

For that $50, now you have the ability download the game for the rest of your life. No more keeping a stupid CD/DVD packed away. It's just like DVDs. I would much rather have the right to stream it forever than have to keep a DVD. I have like 100 DVDs, but I no longer keep a DVD player connected to my TV. I watch all my movies via streaming.

Streaming / Downloading >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Owning a DVD.

I still own a couple of VCR tapes too. I still have a VCR / DVD combo, but I'm not sure it even works anymore.

There is more value in the ability to download than their is in owning a box with a DVD in it.

 

[Eric_Boyer]

Even if you go buy physical media, you don't own a game, or dvd.

ownership means you can do what you want with it. If you own something, you can copy it and sell the copies.

you have a license to play a game. you have a license to watch a movie. you don't own it. that is true regardless of if you acquired it from steam or best buy.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Valve has removed the payment feature for Skyrim workshop..........

"We're going to remove the payment feature from the Skyrim workshop. For anyone who spent money on a mod, we'll be refunding you the complete amount. We talked to the team at Bethesda and they agree.

We've done this because it's clear we didn't understand exactly what we were doing. We've been shipping many features over the years aimed at allowing community creators to receive a share of the rewards, and in the past, they've been received well. It's obvious now that this case is different.

To help you understand why we thought this was a good idea, our main goals were to allow mod makers the opportunity to work on their mods full time if they wanted to, and to encourage developers to provide better support to their mod communities. We thought this would result in better mods for everyone, both free & paid. We wanted more great mods becoming great products, like Dota, Counter-strike, DayZ, and Killing Floor, and we wanted that to happen organically for any mod maker who wanted to take a shot at it.

But we underestimated the differences between our previously successful revenue sharing models, and the addition of paid mods to Skyrim's workshop. We understand our own game's communities pretty well, but stepping into an established, years old modding community in Skyrim was probably not the right place to start iterating. We think this made us miss the mark pretty badly, even though we believe there's a useful feature somewhere here.

Now that you've backed a dump truck of feedback onto our inboxes, we'll be chewing through that, but if you have any further thoughts let us know"
http://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3434it/paid_mods_in_the_steam_workshop/

 

[JDSmith]

I can't remember the last time I paid $50 for a game, I generally spend under $10 for every steam game I get. I don't care about getting games when they come out, I've got too many other things going on to worry about a game release. So if I don't play it for months or even a year after it comes out I'm fine with that, especially because I can get it on a steam sale for under $10. Back in the day I could have shopped the bargain bin in a brick and mortar store, but this is a lot more convenient because I can put a game on my wishlist and wait until it goes on sale for 75 or 80 percent off. I got Borderlands 2 with the DLCs for like $7.95. Was it 'old' when I got it? Probably, but I had never played it and got it dirt cheap. And sometimes I'll buy a game and not play it for months, because I got it simply because it was so cheap. I'll eventually get around to playing the games, but I don't feel like I need to in order to get my money's worth since I spent under $5 for them in some cases.

I loved getting manuals and disks back in the 90's and early 2000's, but I've adjusted fine to the way things are now - I pay almost nothing for games and have an amazing selection.