Concerns about Paid Mods: Bethesda earning money for shoddy work, post sale.

AgentBJ09

AgentBJ09

Vault Dweller
We've heard no new news about this coming back beyond it possibly resurfacing in or after November or so for Skyrim, likely for good reason. There's something about the fiasco though that, while I've heard some people hint at, no one seems to seriously think about the long term implications of it.

That being Bethesda, a company that creates buggy game after buggy game, was taking a percentage of the revenue from sales of/donations towards patch and optimization mods like SkyUI.

Those of you who listened to TotalBiscuit's video on the subject from April -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aavBAplp5A -- likely heard him, Brumbeck of SMIM and Robin of Nexus Mods bring that up, only for Brumbeck to say, "I know the Internet went crazy with these ideas of, 'Oh, well, now they're going to release [Fallout 4] in such a broken state that modders will fix it.' No. They'd get hit so hard by the review scores..."

I have to wonder if this guy, who claims to be a modder of plus ten years, has been paying any attention to the necessity of the Unofficial Patches, SkyUI and script extenders in regards to other Skyrim and Bethesda game mods, much less how highly Bethesda games are scored, despite the existence of truckloads of bugs that, rightly so, tank opinions of other games. See also: Battlefield 4, Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed: Unity, etc.

What say all of you?
 
Money talks, and it keeps talking, and while many of us are critical and analytical, most are not, and will just hurl all of their money at them
Money is incentive
It's reward, it's the "good dog!"-ruffle on their head. Beth has no reason whatsoever to actually finish a game. It will not be a mistake on their part, but it will be their plan all along - to complete the game some 95%, then start shipping.
If we pay the same for an 80% completed game, then that is what they will make.

If we pay the same for a 20% completed mess, with 3D models falling apart, guns floating away through the air, running mechanisms turning into levitation breakdance - IF we pay - that is what they will make.

And once people begin to allow them to be granted percentages from mods, I mean, Merry Christmas Bethesda! You want more money, here, here, take my money! Nooo, don't worry about giving me anything in return, IT'S CHRISTMAS!

In 2300AD people will read about a time gone by, when "Game producers" actually made interactive entertainment platforms - in exchange for money. It will puzzle the population of the future, whom are long since used to just donating money to "game developers", an archaic and strange title, given to someone for sitting on a can, shitting, flipping through comic books.
"How strange... " they would say, while digitally transferring half their salary to the can-shitter, urging him to shit more, "But hey, those were the old days, and things were different then!"

In the background they can hear rumble and the sound of gunfire, as FIFA-agents kick a door down, execute a whole family, and steal off with all their belongings. After the human rights collapse of 2289 FIFA went full mafia, and saw no more reason to actually manage football players, instead prefering to simply raid cities, scouting out wealthy families, hitting them when they least expected it.
 
Walpknut said:
Most gamers nowadays think that they should be grateful because big companies ALLOW them to pay them to play their games.
Click to expand...

It's ironic because I think most of the people who say that shit are probably bleeding heart liberals, but when it comes to games, they go full on "herp derp big companies are people too, free markets, they're running a business, create jerbs, derp"
 
Pointless attempt at a joke, please ignore
(moderators, please remove this post. I realize I should not have made it)
 
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Nas92 said:
Walpknut said:
Most gamers nowadays think that they should be grateful because big companies ALLOW them to pay them to play their games.
Click to expand...

It's ironic because I think most of the people who say that shit are probably bleeding heart liberals, but when it comes to games, they go full on "herp derp big companies are people too, free markets, they're running a business, create jerbs, derp"
Click to expand...

I'm as liberal as it gets, and as a liberal, I go "stinking capitalist scum, GIVE me something that is worth the money i PAY forit"
I've no idea what liberals you've met.
 
But he has a point, gamers seem to be a particular flock when it comes to AAA games where you have to REALLY screw up royaly as game developer/publisher. I mean just look at how toxic so called fans can be when you dare to criticise the game they like. The game industry is probably the last industry that is doing huge damage, I mean calling EA the worst company that exists out there is really exagerated of course, people probably never worked at Wallmart or saw the damage that some huge companies do to people in the third world. But when you just look at gaming, it's incredible what gamers will go trough to defend certain games. And even those that complain a lot, forget all the errors as soon the next game is out.

I started gaming somewhere in the mid 1990s, long before the internet became a standart. And while there have been a hell lot of improvements which I really don't want to miss, I have to say as far as gaming goes, it is unbelievable how much has changed, and not for the better. Preorders, cut content sold as DLCs, overpriced shenaningans, early access scams, stuff that was once free now monetized - maps, weapons etc. modding eventually getting monetized, intrusive DRMs, forced online registrations where you're sometimes forced to use 2 or 3 different programms on games that don't even have any online features - like multiplayer.

And what's really disturbing? Gamers buy a lot of those as "improvements" to their gaming experience.
 
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zegh8578 said:
Money talks, and it keeps talking, and while many of us are critical and analytical, most are not, and will just hurl all of their money at them
Money is incentive
It's reward, it's the "good dog!"-ruffle on their head. Beth has no reason whatsoever to actually finish a game. It will not be a mistake on their part, but it will be their plan all along - to complete the game some 95%, then start shipping.
If we pay the same for an 80% completed game, then that is what they will make.

If we pay the same for a 20% completed mess, with 3D models falling apart, guns floating away through the air, running mechanisms turning into levitation breakdance - IF we pay - that is what they will make.

And once people begin to allow them to be granted percentages from mods, I mean, Merry Christmas Bethesda! You want more money, here, here, take my money! Nooo, don't worry about giving me anything in return, IT'S CHRISTMAS!

In 2300AD people will read about a time gone by, when "Game producers" actually made interactive entertainment platforms - in exchange for money. It will puzzle the population of the future, whom are long since used to just donating money to "game developers", an archaic and strange title, given to someone for sitting on a can, shitting, flipping through comic books.
"How strange... " they would say, while digitally transferring half their salary to the can-shitter, urging him to shit more, "But hey, those were the old days, and things were different then!"

In the background they can hear rumble and the sound of gunfire, as FIFA-agents kick a door down, execute a whole family, and steal off with all their belongings. After the human rights collapse of 2289 FIFA went full mafia, and saw no more reason to actually manage football players, instead prefering to simply raid cities, scouting out wealthy families, hitting them when they least expected it.
Click to expand...

Video games may be luxuries, but that kind of future doesn't seem so far-fetched when everything from 2010 onwards is looked at collectively.

Walpknut said:
Most gamers nowadays think that they should be grateful because big companies ALLOW them to pay them to play their games.
Click to expand...

It's a scary mindset, because how you can play these games is just as big an issue as the stuff you have to deal with post-sale/installation.

Steam being the sole place where many games are sold is worrying enough before considering it's third-party software/DRM you have to install to even get access to the games as a whole. (EDIT: The physical release of Fallout 4 is coming on ONE DVD, while the rest of the game has to be downloaded from Steam. Possibly 22 GIGs worth of data.) Plus, if a company wants, they can take your access rights away very easily using that service, and they're protected by the no class-action clause Valve has in Steam's EULA, the major reason I no longer do business with them beyond downloading what I rightly own from their service.

GOG avoided this during the classic Fallout purge by keeping downloaded records exclusive to buyers who had the games before they were taken down. Of course, we're finding out that the new listings no longer have even basic stuff like wallpapers, the Bible or anything besides the manuals.
 
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Crni Vuk said:
snip
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I do wonder if these elements will eventually 'turn of' gamers, these days with various financial worries, refugee crises, and other pressing concerns people may consider spending less on gaming because they simply can no longer afford it. (or perhaps resort more to it to escape the harsh reality around them)
I myself have a rather limited budget and I also need to save up for essentials (clothing, home electronic repair), so I can't spend as much on gaming any more as I once did before.
And with the quality dropping and these measures put in place and changes done to item quality/content I don't find a lot of games living up the price tag I have to pay for them, let alone the purchase of new PC hardware or a console to play them on.

Probably a lot of gamers who are now in their adult years and now have to work in order to afford games may have the same question, especially when there are so many other things they have to pay or have need of.
 
zegh8578 said:
I'm as liberal as it gets, and as a liberal, I go "stinking capitalist scum, GIVE me something that is worth the money i PAY forit"
I've no idea what liberals you've met.
Click to expand...

No, what I mean is that most liberals are against big corporations, but when it comes to games these same liberals will be the first to suck corporate dick - eg.: see how many Bethestards are there on the Internet who are obviously leftist (Fallout subreddit, for instance) and don't give a fuck about the old Fallout. It's especially ironic considering the fate of the Fallout franchise is everything most liberals hate about capitalism.
 
Nas92 said:
No, what I mean is that most liberals are against big corporations, but when it comes to games these same liberals will be the first to suck corporate dick - eg.: see how many Bethestards are there on the Internet who are obviously leftist (Fallout subreddit, for instance) and don't give a fuck about the old Fallout. It's especially ironic considering the fate of the Fallout franchise is everything most liberals hate about capitalism.
Click to expand...

Well, fair enough. I would accredit that to simple naivete, which can be found equally in all political spectra. So many people "belong" to certain factions of politics merely out of social pressure, and fail to truly understand what they themselves supposedly believe in, resulting in these hypocricies.
I guess it becomes more glaring when anti-corporalists begin to vehemently defend greedy corporations :I
 
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