Thoughts on Cash for Mods

Post by **Justincase09** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:22 am

I wanted to open up a discussion about paying for mods. I know that Thermador (many kudos!) opened up mod bounties for many difficult mods as incentive for many of the talented mod authors here in the community, but what about offering bounties for more simple mods? For example, I'm still very limited in my modding ability. I also don't have the time that I would like to dedicate to modding and converting mods. What I do have though is a decent paying job and solid cashflow. I figured I would throw this out to the community as a tempature check before just posting bounties. What do you guys think? I can think of several simple mods that I loved in fallout 3 that could use converting and modifying to work with iron sights, weapon mods, etc.

Post by **paragonskeep** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:49 am

I could see this as being a good idea. As long as everyone agrees and it doesn't get abused.

Post by **thermador** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:59 am

It's up to you to manage the process and not dick people over when it comes time for payment. That's the main issue I think most people will have. They're going to have a hard time trusting you to pay up after hours of work.

Post by **JaxFirehart** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:26 am

The solution that popped into my head (and it's not great, but good) is to send the payment to Therm, and then have him post the bounty and manage payment (if he were ok with it). It takes a lot of the hesitance from the modder, but requires the bounty poster to have faith in Therm (I have infinite faith in Therm).

Of course, at any time the bounty poster can remove the bounty and request his money back from Therm.

I can see plenty of holes and problems but I think it would help attract more modders than bounties posted and backed by individuals.

Post by **Justincase09** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 3:43 am

Keeping the funds in escrow would definitely help eliminate the anxiety, but that is a lot of responsibility to ask of someone. What I had in mind isn't nearly as intense as Vurts or WMX, but I played FO3 years ago with S&W 10mm replacer and thought about converting it since my 2.7 TTW has been nothing short of spectacularly stable, so I read the guide about posting converting mods, got the original authors permission and opened it up in FNV edit and the GECK and was surprised that the author had scripting to ensure the mod worked as intended, and like I said my skills are basic at best. I also read the RHIS tutorial for adding ironsights to guns and it looks overwhelming to me. Needless to say it's out of my reach for the time being, but I'd love to use it game. I'm sure that most of the modders on here would think converting it would be a breeze. But but instead of begging for authors to be generous with their time and effort I feel that they should be compensated somehow.

Post by **Kainschylde** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 4:24 am

I love this idea. I have severely limited time and would rather use it playing than trying to puzzle out converting a mod. I don't have a ton of cash, but I'd gladly chip in what I can to a few things I'd like to see.

Post by **paragonskeep** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:51 am

I can see this being a very cool aspect (if all done well). My thing is although trying to learn modding my time is extremely limited due to both jobs, kids, school, etc. But there are a couple things either conversion or brand new I could see being worth paying to have now while I still attempt to learn the processes myself.

I'm in favor of an escrow account.

Post by **RoyBatty** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 8:25 am

I think it's against the terms of service and EULA to do it, and Bethesda WILL probably sick legal on you for it if it's done openly. I really think such things should not be allowed, just to protect us and the site.

The bounty thing is really walking the line on that and I still feel a bit guilty about it, but I needed the money to move. I feel it's also ethically kind of wrong to make money off someone else's game.

I'm sure such arrangements have been made in private many times on the Nexus and elsewhere for the creation of assets or licensing them, but private business is private business.

Post by **chucksteel** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 8:40 am

I've been following this thread and I have to say it is a really bad idea!

It will open the mod, the site and therm up to some bad things if Beth comes after us!

This should not be allowed it could get the project shut down or even worse!

Post by **Justincase09** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:29 pm

[quote=RoyBatty]

I think it's against the terms of service and EULA to do it, and Bethesda WILL probably sick legal on you for it if it's done openly. I really think such things should not be allowed, just to protect us and the site.

The bounty thing is really walking the line on that and I still feel a bit guilty about it, but I needed the money to move. I feel it's also ethically kind of wrong to make money off someone else's game.

I'm sure such arrangements have been made in private many times on the Nexus and elsewhere for the creation of assets or licensing them, but private business is private business.

[/quote]

I didn't even think about opening up the website to legal issues because of EULA. Glad that I started this instend of just posting up bounties. The last thing that I would want to do is have this mod & community dismantled with legal recourse.

My concern then is this; the site has already done this in the past, (with a stickied post on the front page no less). Couldn't they already attack the site and community?

Just so everyone is clear I am not suggesting that we use this forum to post up bounties or prices for personal use only mods (e.g. ported content, etc). Maybe guidelines would be in order to mitigate risk? What about a donation to the site in honor of a mod request being fulfilled?

Side note: Not trying to be an a$$ hole about all of this.