Will mod content have DRM?

[TequilaZaire]

A couple of questions.

1. How will Valve prevent users from uploading paid mods and making them free? What's to prevent someone from uploading the $1 mod they bought under a different name?

2. Will future mods contain DRM to prevent other users from exploiting their content? For example if someone makes a total conversion mod using new textures, what will prevent a user from taking those textures and selling them as say, an HD texture pack?

3. How will content be secured from users who will simply copy/steal from others mods both paid and free? If a mod is available for free, what will prevent numerous users from simply selling those free mods under new names?

Honestly curious about this as it seems the risk is high for rampant abuse.

[SolviteSekai]

Valve doesnt care who loses money and why.

They will do what theyve always done in this situation.

Flat out ignore everyone having technical issues and refuse Refunds after 24 hours, no exceptions.

[Ironclad Amoeba]

Originally posted by I'm A Dude Stop Hitting on Me:

Valve doesnt care who loses money and why.

They will do what theyve always done in this situation.

Flat out ignore everyone having technical issues and refuse Refunds after 24 hours, no exceptions.

1947 : First video game
1972 : First sucessful arcade video game
2000s : Rise of DLCs, online piracy, etc.
2006 : Horse armor for Oblivion
2015 : Paid user content
2015 : Pirated user content

We're screwed.

[TequilaZaire]

Yeah I don't have high faith that Valve will do much here. We're already seeing tons of stolen mods put up by users who had nothing to do with it.

[Skeloton]

Originally posted by TequilaZaire:

Yeah I don't have high faith that Valve will do much here. We're already seeing tons of stolen mods put up by users who had nothing to do with it.

And then the DMCA's that will be spammed everywhere by everyone and hell will ensue.

[TequilaZaire]

I do freelance art. I've seen numerous artists have their work stolen, often by big companies or at times business minded opportunists. They will take ideas, sell them as their own, and even in some sad cases make huge profits because the original creator can't afford the legal fight.

Valve had a good system with their titles, but for something like Skyrim and similar it breaks the foundation the communities are based on.

[Cannonball]

Originally posted by LethalShade:

1947 : First video game
1972 : First sucessful arcade video game
2000s : Rise of DLCs, online piracy, etc.
2006 : Horse armor for Oblivion
2015 : Paid user content
2015 : Pirated user content

We're screwed.

Singularity in action.

[Kazaanh]

Prepare for TES6 or F4 which will have a mod authentication method and a serial key attached to it.

No more external sites for mod sharing.

[TequilaZaire]

Another question, what prevents paid mods from being put on 3rd party sites for free?

[dundudun]

Exactly, DRM are one of the worst problems that can now follow for mods.

I understand that modders are allowed to try and get money, I have no problem with the concept of paid content or paid user created content, BUT the problem here is control. Having paid mods directly conflicts the possibility of just dragging and dropping files. This means there will be an incentive to make modding harder, have a license, DRM, etc. And also control mod managers, send takedown requests to mod websites, etc etc etc. And imagine all the bugs! Bethesda has an abysmall record on bugs, and modders usually fix them. Imagine now if Bethesda is the only one allowed to write a mod manager...

Here is my negative review of skyrim now:

Buy this game someyhere else, this version is crippled by the interference of steam in the gestion of mods. Mods used to be something you can modifiy yourself by drag and drop of files, manage with community software and in general do without steam's permission. This will soon be over since this directly threatens steam's new plan. Act now by playing skyrim using another vendor, and by penalizing participating mods, which chose to help steam.

[riverreveal666]

Originally posted by TequilaZaire:

Another question, what prevents paid mods from being put on 3rd party sites for free?

Im sure Steam will come up with the handy idea of banning any mods not from the workshop to combat this, thus at the same time destroying amazing sites like Nexus.

[Darth Postal]

Originally posted by Kazaanh:

Prepare for TES6 or F4 which will have a mod authentication method and a serial key attached to it.

No more external sites for mod sharing.

I'm 100% certain this is EXACTLY what's gonna happen. FO4 GECK will auto-encode .esp files with Steam library so only authenticated Steam users can use upload/download/enable the mod.

[Ryika]

Good thing is: All these horror fantasies can be prevendet if users don't accept this nonsense. And up until now the whole thing looks very much like a huge fail. 18k+ people signing a petition to remove this system vs. a few hundred people actually buying mods.

[TequilaZaire]

Originally posted by riverreveal666:

Originally posted by TequilaZaire:

Another question, what prevents paid mods from being put on 3rd party sites for free?

Im sure Steam will come up with the handy idea of banning any mods not from the workshop to combat this, thus at the same time destroying amazing sites like Nexus.

That does raise the question of who exactly OWNS mod content? It's not like modders can copyright anything nor can Bethesda say they own the work from users they've never paid. Does Valve own the content because it's on their system?

[Lofi Coffee High]

Originally posted by TequilaZaire:

Another question, what prevents paid mods from being put on 3rd party sites for free?

Nothing. This isn't some attempt to pay recognized modders for their hard work, this is because they know gamers are suckers and if you ask people to pay for something, no matter the quality or the price... there will always be people willing to pay. This is an attempt to cash in on the demographic who have more money than they know what to do with.

They won't police content, provide support (for gamers OR modders). I doubt anyone's actually going to take legal action on seeing their assets being used. It will just turn into one giant cluster ♥♥♥♥ and people will look at the modding community like a volenteer worker gone greedy.

[TequilaZaire]

Without any way to make sure the mods we're paying for are created by those selling them it seems like the system will fall under its own weight soon enough.