why are modified games free?

[00konichiwa00]

I mean people spend a lot of their time and resources. I wouldn't mind if there was a page I could go to (maybe the official Firaxis site, to make it more safe) and pay and download mod's. I.e. Firaxis could get 20 % and the developers of the mod could get the rest. 10 euros for a full mod wouldn't be too much. they are probably having fun making them, but still it wouldn't be wrong of them to charge.

 

[OverWind]

Well. There's nothing to preventing a person charging for a mod (unless it's against the tos, which I don't know). But I'd say that I'd have to be a very good mod (with new models etc.) for me to pay for it. - A complete Alpha Centauri mod would make me pay.

I also bought the new Colonization which in my opinion was just a mod for Civ 4 (even though it was made by Firaxis).

 

[00konichiwa00]

Well. There's nothing to preventing a person charging for a mod (unless it's against the tos, which I don't know). But I'd say that I'd have to be a very good mod (with new models etc.) for me to pay for it. - A complete Alpha Centauri mod would make me pay.

I also bought the new Colonization which in my opinion was just a mod for Civ 4 (even though it was made by Firaxis).

yes offcourse it had to be a full mod. think they have to have a deal with Firaxis before they can charge, since Firaxis owns the rights of the game and that the mods are based on the vanilla game

 

[TW_Honorius]

no one would get permission from firaxis to sell their mod without them getting some of the money.

 

[00konichiwa00]

no one would get permission from firaxis to sell their mod without them getting some of the money.

that's why I suggested that Firaxis could get 20 %. it's only fair that the moderators get the most money since Firaxis wouldn't have to spend any money on it

 

[Fluffball]

If you start selling mods then you start making guarantees. If it doesn't work or breaks then people who use it have cause to complain and the modder inherits the responsibility to either fix or refund.
It might be an advantage for a small hardcore of modders but could do a lot more harm than good as a lot of people would be scared off modding or at least sharing their mods as it changes from something they do for themselves and share with others because it is easy to do so into something that brings responsibility and potential hassle if they bother to share it.

 

[00konichiwa00]

If you start selling mods then you start making guarantees. If it doesn't work or breaks then people who use it have cause to complain and the modder inherits the responsibility to either fix or refund.
It might be an advantage for a small hardcore of modders but could do a lot more harm than good as a lot of people would be scared off modding or at least sharing their mods as it changes from something they do for themselves and share with others because it is easy to do so into something that brings responsibility and potential hassle if they bother to share it.

Game companies doesn't refund or even fix problems (been having huge problems with EA game), so why should modders. and they could also have us agreeing to a form were it said that they took no responsibilities of such problems.

 

[Fluffball]

There is a big difference between bugged and broken. Agreeing to a get out clause, in a lot of countries at least, means nothing as the seller has a responsibility to provide a product at least close to what is advertised.
If you buy a mod and it makes the game unplayable then it is your right to demand it is fixed or refunded even if you ticked a box saying saying "i don't care if it works or even if it blows up my PC".

If the transaction is endorsed by Firaxis they also inherit the responsibility and thus would have to vet each mod before endorsing it.

Then there is also the mire of copywrite laws where the modder would have to negotiate a potential mine field which opens up because they are now making money off copywrited material.

If your happy to pay for a mod then do as happens in a lot of games where you can donate to the modder if you choose but making it mandatory does nothing but make mods a much less pleasant experience all round.

 

[00konichiwa00]

There is a big difference between bugged and broken. Agreeing to a get out clause, in a lot of countries at least, means nothing as the seller has a responsibility to provide a product at least close to what is advertised.
If you buy a mod and it makes the game unplayable then it is your right to demand it is fixed or refunded even if you ticked a box saying saying "i don't care if it works or even if it blows up my PC".

If the transaction is endorsed by Firaxis they also inherit the responsibility and thus would have to vet each mod before endorsing it.

Then there is also the mire of copywrite laws where the modder would have to negotiate a potential mine field which opens up because they are now making money off copywrited material.

If your happy to pay for a mod then do as happens in a lot of games where you can donate to the modder if you choose but making it mandatory does nothing but make mods a much less pleasant experience all round.

it's safer to use a trusted site to pay. I understand what you mean, but Firaxis could test it. And they could only put out mods that were 100 % safe. They could i.e. add mods to a expansion pack, like they did with bts

 

[Fluffball]

Again looking at experience with other games, most people use paypal to donate.

A simple donate button, via paypal or some other trusted method would be adequet and allow people to support modders without steping into to mine field of charging as well as not discuraging people from experiement with making or using mods.

 

[00konichiwa00]

Again looking at experience with other games, most people use paypal to donate.

A simple donate button, via paypal or some other trusted method would be adequet and allow people to support modders without steping into to mine field of charging as well as not discuraging people from experiement with making or using mods.

yea that would work, as long as the money doesn't go to some charity I don't want to support.

 

[Manifold]

why are modified games free?

modders offen use foreign thinks like graphics, sounds... its ok if it is hobby, amusement and art.

 

[headcase]

If they want to go commercial they can probably get a few devs to build a game from the ground-up, once they have the design figured out though modding, then they don't owe Firaxis anything over a hearty "thanks".

DLC made by 3rd parties has been done in the Rock Band Network, but the majority of the money goes to Microsoft and Harmonix.

 

[Smokeybear]

Mods are free because they are a hobby that someone wants to share with others, for fun. In some cases, if a modder is good enough at what they do, they may have a good shot at getting a job with a gaming company, or even making their own indie product.

Some of the best games made in the past decade were born from user mods that were so popular and well designed that the game company picked them up and commisioned them to go forth and be creative... with full financial support. They know talent when they see it.

But the vast majority of modders are just fans sharing fun stuff that they enjoy creating, and aren't expecting any pay for. And if they do like remuneration for their effort, they can and do post donation links for those like yourself who may want to give them something for their efforts.

It all seems to be working fine, to me. If you start trying to charge for those mods, that changes the whole scene, and I don't think in any good way.

 

[Hormagaunt]

... but Firaxis could test it. And they could only put out mods that were 100 % safe.

They can't guarantee that with their own code; they're certainly not going to write a guarantee for someone else's.

 

[Drawmeus]

I tend to agree, honestly. It means lots of lousy mods that people want to charge $0.99, but it also means that Fall From Heaven-style stuff can quite possibly pay enough to let the people responsible work on it full-time (or at least make it worth their while to support it much more extensively). I'm also generally for people being able to make money off their time and energy.

 

[Becomedeath]

You don't need to provide quality control for a free, available to all, warned it might be rubbish in advance but you didn't pay anything for it anyway, community led service.

Once you bring cash into it, you've opened a Pandoras box of problems from licensing to royalties, from support to content approval and beyond.

Half the time people are complaining that the paid company isn't doing enough to earn the money they originally charged. Now we're complaining that the modders fixing\amending\adding content for free aren't charging enough...

TLDR - It would cost more to administrate than it ever made.

 

[Drawmeus]

You don't need to provide quality control for a free, available to all, warned it might be rubbish in advance but you didn't pay anything for it anyway, community led service.

Once you bring cash into it, you've opened a Pandoras box of problems from licensing to royalties, from support to content approval and beyond.

Half the time people are complaining that the paid company isn't doing enough to earn the money they originally charged. Now we're complaining that the modders fixing\amending\adding content for free aren't charging enough...

TLDR - It would cost more to administrate than it ever made.

Honestly, have you been on the itunes app store or the android market? Those are mostly rubbish, often don't work and occasionally are downright harmful.

I realize this is different, but the logistics are NOT the problem, or the reason to avoid this kind of proposal.