DirtyOldShoe
Some kind of lucky
I wanted to get this thread out before the imminent flood gates opening for Xbox and eventually PS4 having access to some of the content created by the modding community.
If you have been keeping up with things up to this point you would know that there is a few small wars going on now with a few different groups. Modders vs modders, modders vs users, console vs console, console vs PC and I am sure others. On a few different sites that I will not link here, there have been threats from console users to modders about what type of content they release, the rights of console users and some willing to steal mods. Mod authors considering a DRM system to prevent console users from stealing their works. PC users attacking the intelligence of console players and vise versa.
This has happened before and with the same company, Bethesda, but with minor differences here and there. It was the paid modding fiasco. Bethesda invested a questionable amount of time and effort into a model for modders to get payment for their creations. This resulted in death threats, bannings, DMCA take downs and a relatively peaceful community being divided. Steam stepped in and pulled the plug while Bethesda was quite, this was some time after Gabe spoke with the site owner of Nexus, whether there is a connection or not I do not know.
My gut says that nothing good will come of this. It isn't that I don't want console users to enjoy mods, but to me these groups have been kept somewhat segregated over the years. If we pretend that there won't be any problems with save game corruption and a multitude of CTDs, there is still going to be a very large issue that needs to be addressed, equality.
Equality has a major issue to start in that mod authors on the Bethesda site for mods have the choice of who to share their work with. This should never have been a thing. It is one thing for a mod author to want to stay on their perfected site like Nexus and not share with Console, but imo, if you upload to Bethesda's site, they should be doing the conversion processing and the uploaded files should be streamlined to all platforms. I understand why this hasn't been done. PC can handle more and should they limit the PC crowd to conform with console, it would likely decrease the amount of authors willing to work with in new restrictions. There is no perfect answer for this, but it does create a division among users and will cause unnecessary resentment and attacks.
Console by its very nature will not be able to use many of the mods that PC users are able to, not only due to the 2gb limitation, but to requiring an esp, too many resources used on a system that is already struggling, information gathered from outside of the /Data structure or any number of other untested scenarios. There will always be a divide between PC and console for mods for this as well as the fact that console users require PC users for content.
Hidden information and closed door agreements also enforce a segregation in what should be a unified community. It is common knowledge the PC has been doing this for over a decade, but does that matter. Why is there a role out date forcing a divide between the two consoles? Why does Xbox have a video pandering to their audience with details that seem ill-informed or glory getting. "Get it first on Xbox" This statement can be argued when it comes to PC, but that isn't the issue. The issue is modding is being used in this case as marketing. It's pretty obvious that Bethesda would need to have a contract with Microsoft in order to be allowed to enable mods on Xbox. Although the video did not entirely come across as a marketing ploy, it seems that the hidden message is, "Xbox is a better company then Sony, please continue to fight each other, this is how we make money." It come across as tasteless and unprofessional. You could argue that it is necessary from a business model to spin it the way they did, but was it necessary?
Video context.
I don't share this to cause flames or incite anger, this is meant from a position that doesn't seem to have been addressed and as it directly deals with a Fallout title by the current owners, NMA seemed like a good place to share my thoughts and get peoples opinion on my thoughts. I specifically did not link any threads or sites with stated references because I know there is some grey areas about when sites can be mentioned. If it is okay with moderation/staff, I can link the posts from the sites I was mentioning.
After that, please share your thoughts on this, how do you think things will pan out after the switch is pulled tonight?
If you have been keeping up with things up to this point you would know that there is a few small wars going on now with a few different groups. Modders vs modders, modders vs users, console vs console, console vs PC and I am sure others. On a few different sites that I will not link here, there have been threats from console users to modders about what type of content they release, the rights of console users and some willing to steal mods. Mod authors considering a DRM system to prevent console users from stealing their works. PC users attacking the intelligence of console players and vise versa.
This has happened before and with the same company, Bethesda, but with minor differences here and there. It was the paid modding fiasco. Bethesda invested a questionable amount of time and effort into a model for modders to get payment for their creations. This resulted in death threats, bannings, DMCA take downs and a relatively peaceful community being divided. Steam stepped in and pulled the plug while Bethesda was quite, this was some time after Gabe spoke with the site owner of Nexus, whether there is a connection or not I do not know.
My gut says that nothing good will come of this. It isn't that I don't want console users to enjoy mods, but to me these groups have been kept somewhat segregated over the years. If we pretend that there won't be any problems with save game corruption and a multitude of CTDs, there is still going to be a very large issue that needs to be addressed, equality.
Equality has a major issue to start in that mod authors on the Bethesda site for mods have the choice of who to share their work with. This should never have been a thing. It is one thing for a mod author to want to stay on their perfected site like Nexus and not share with Console, but imo, if you upload to Bethesda's site, they should be doing the conversion processing and the uploaded files should be streamlined to all platforms. I understand why this hasn't been done. PC can handle more and should they limit the PC crowd to conform with console, it would likely decrease the amount of authors willing to work with in new restrictions. There is no perfect answer for this, but it does create a division among users and will cause unnecessary resentment and attacks.
Console by its very nature will not be able to use many of the mods that PC users are able to, not only due to the 2gb limitation, but to requiring an esp, too many resources used on a system that is already struggling, information gathered from outside of the /Data structure or any number of other untested scenarios. There will always be a divide between PC and console for mods for this as well as the fact that console users require PC users for content.
Hidden information and closed door agreements also enforce a segregation in what should be a unified community. It is common knowledge the PC has been doing this for over a decade, but does that matter. Why is there a role out date forcing a divide between the two consoles? Why does Xbox have a video pandering to their audience with details that seem ill-informed or glory getting. "Get it first on Xbox" This statement can be argued when it comes to PC, but that isn't the issue. The issue is modding is being used in this case as marketing. It's pretty obvious that Bethesda would need to have a contract with Microsoft in order to be allowed to enable mods on Xbox. Although the video did not entirely come across as a marketing ploy, it seems that the hidden message is, "Xbox is a better company then Sony, please continue to fight each other, this is how we make money." It come across as tasteless and unprofessional. You could argue that it is necessary from a business model to spin it the way they did, but was it necessary?
Video context.
I don't share this to cause flames or incite anger, this is meant from a position that doesn't seem to have been addressed and as it directly deals with a Fallout title by the current owners, NMA seemed like a good place to share my thoughts and get peoples opinion on my thoughts. I specifically did not link any threads or sites with stated references because I know there is some grey areas about when sites can be mentioned. If it is okay with moderation/staff, I can link the posts from the sites I was mentioning.
After that, please share your thoughts on this, how do you think things will pan out after the switch is pulled tonight?
