Sorry, let me clarify the "mods for profit" comment. Leoreth makes sense as most mods rely on shared work, and rights issues would make selling open source generated mods unfeasible. So agreed on that aspect.
Criticisms of capitalism aside, I think the "for profit" model would work for DLC type mods where all pieces are proprietary of the creator. Meaning modders who create original model textures, icons, UI, etc could profit from their creation. I know this idea is anathema to the Modiquette here but that doesn't mean the idea couldn't flourish elsewhere. Not all folks posting mods via Steam are putting them here too. And it wouldnt take away from the mod community here, who would be free to continue modding away. After all we have modders here doing mod commissions for pay now. Why not provide a marketplace for these people and expand the scope? The next Sid Meier may be a starving college student right now. What's wrong with letting him make few bucks?
Well, in general I disagree with your narrative that there are hundreds of modders out there who would want or need to make profit off their projects. I
am a university student by the way, and while I'm neither the next Sid Meier nor starving, it's not like I wouldn't need some extra money. But I never would sell my mod. The first reason is that it was developed with the assistance of the community here; I'm completely aware that nobody would've paid a cent for the initial version of my mod, but since it was free many did give it a try regardless. The feedback they gave me was essential in reaching the point where the mod is now; without the bug reports, suggestions and just the general motivation that came from knowing people were playing it, I never would've made it this far.
This personal example aside, your model of for-free-modders and for-profit-modders would still destroy the modding community. Take Bakuel's units for example. They are of very high quality, and I'm sure there are people who'd pay for them if necessary. Now look at edead's Sword of Islam mod. Again, an extremely high quality mod, whose appeal also comes from the fact how immersively it portrays the Middle East by using appropriate music and graphics, including Bakuel's unit graphics. They would have never made it in there without being free. And that is true for every flavor aspect of the mod, essentially - with a for profit community we may never have seen SoI, and that is regardless of whether edead wanted to make money off it or not (which he doesn't, and he even was directly approached by people offering to pay him).
By the way, American Capitalist Dogma rules planet earth so you really have no hope of escaping it online.
Oh, I think that the internet has already provided several ways to do just that.
Take, um, for example, the modding community as it exists now.
In summary it seems the consensus of Civ4 modders is they may start modding Civ5 if:
* Steam is not required to play or use a mod,
* Modbuddy is not required to to make a mod,
* Firaxis releases their long promised SDK,
* Modders can mod the DLL or I/O
* Modders can change rules like 1UPT, change city management, code events
* Civ5 can be adapted to be like Civ4 core gameplay.
Yeah, but what would be the point? Why invest that much work to turn an inferior product into its superior counterpart when it already exists?
I may have started Civ5 if I considered it a game worth playing and improving. Modders can't fix flawed game design; it would be essentially like making a completely new game. Which again, is pointless if you already have a game with good game design to work with.
The draws of moving to Civ5 to mod are:
* Hex map
* ??????????
I'm completely ambivalent with regards to hexes vs. squares. But yes, a lot of question marks regarding the appeal of Civ5 compared to Civ4. Better graphics, perhaps (I don't like it, but I'm not that graphics minded anyway)?
I think the following could be draws but I don't know:
* LUA is faster than Python
* Modular design makes combining mods easier
* Far more detailed feature set to build upon and use
* More powerful AI to utilize (if it can be cracked open and tinkered with)
Based on the above, I think most modders are holding out for Civ6 unless Firaxis does something big for the modders. Personally, I think Firaxis wants to milk the final drops out of potential DLC before they allow modders to break open the good stuff.
- Is LUA faster than Python? I really don't know, but I'm a Python fan, simply because I like its syntax, so I'm not neutral here anyway
- What does Civ5 do differently with modular design than Civ4 BtS?
- I don't know what you mean with a more detailed feature set
- More powerful AI?