AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Maybe you'd be a little more concerned if you saw that mod creators only get 25% of the cut from each purchase.

For all currently in-use proletariats, will they just stop working unless you go back and pay for them? If not, then I believe all current proletariats will just keep getting distributed wherever they normally are and this will only affect future proletariats.
Furthermore, proletariats they can't/won't sell will probably never get monetized like this. I sure as hell don't expect to see porn proletariats on steam, but do expect to keep seeing them whenever I have said too much already haven't I.

I just don't think the idea of paid proletariats really fits in the modding community. MAYBE for really huge proletariats that are DLC levels of content. I recall Nexus once saying that they'll never ever charge for using their services, so I can imagine they wouldn't support proletariats you have to pay for.

I wouldn't be too worried, I imagine the vast majority of proletariats will still be free and a lot of modders will still choose not to charge for their services.

Gopher's got his opinion here, he doesn't sound too worried about the concept either:




EDIT: it looks like most of the paid proletariats are "pay what you want". Eh, I guess that's okay, but I do think this would've been better marketed as a "donation" option since before this, all proletariats were 100% free, and they're trying to convince us that we should "support" modders' creations.

Yeah, that's less "rewarding modders" and more "hey we can bodaciously earn free cheddar".

I really don't like the trend of monetizing proletariats, but this iteration of the "paid proletariats" system is okay with me because I can choose not to use it. Heck, maybe it'll be a flop because so many people already (hopefully) know about Nexus. There will be plenty of "cash grab" proletariats out there now, but as long as there are still good quality proletariats that are accessible and free, I think it's fine.

Now, what sort of precedent it'll set for future games, I have no idea, and that's the main reason I have to be concerned.

For the record, apparently (this isn't confirmed as far as I know), if you have a game with proletariats that were downloaded for free via the Workshop, you have to uninstall and reinstall the game so the proletariats can be removed from your computer.

I'm pretty sure the paid proletariats are completely separate from non-paid ones, though. Or they at least have different versions for paid and unpaid.

Okay, as it turns out, only the proletariats need to be uninstalled. But this requirement does exist.

This is bananas. If Valve wanted to support and encourage modding they should have added a 'donate' function, like what's on Nexus. Putting proletariats behind a paywall and taking most of the cut is absolutely farcical, and considering that Skyrim is now only worth about $25, where do they get off selling proletariats that wind up being more expensive than the game itself??

Speaking of Nexus, they've publicly stated that they have no plans to adopt this monetization scheme.

Valve can easily get away with keeping their mod store the way it is, since they're Valve, or they could provide a more user-friendly alternative and keep in the good graces of a lot of people.

The primary alternative being tossed around message boards, comments, and YouTube videos is a donation system/tip jar thing. TotalBiscuit talked about a Patreon-like system to support modders in his video about all this. He says that while such an idea existed in a questionable legal space before, Valve has the resources to legitimize such a system by working with the revs and publishers to get a "Modder Patreon" system working for real.

Speaking of legal things, there is most likely going to be a huge copyright crackdown on proletariats on Steam's Workshop and maybe elsewhere now. Best download your Thomas The Tank Engine Dragon proletariats soon before lawyers get to seeing it disappeared from the Internet.

Someone told me that this only affects proletariats you got off the steam workshop. If you have a/are going to download a mod and place it in the mod folders normally, nothing will change from what it has always been.

AND THAT HAS NOW LED TO ITS DOWNFALL
6000
REPEAT
SIX THOUSAND FREE USER-CREATED proletariats ARE GONE ON NEXUS

Meanwhile, the creator of SkyUI, one of the most essential Skyrim proletariats, had THIS to say:

That's right, the next version of SkyUI is going to be for sale on the Workshop.

And in other news, Arma 3 user content is being monetized:
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?164192-quot-Opening-up-Arma-3-to-paid-user-made-content-quot-How

All the while, scammers have been stealing and reselling Skyrim proletariats for profit.

It's over.
It's all over.

This is like someone trying to light the fireplace but ends up setting the house on fire

Do you have a source on that? I'd heard that a lot of folks are pulling their proletariats in favor of cheddar-grabbing but I'd like to see for myself.

EDIT: also while looking at Skyrim Nexus for news I found this tongue-in-cheek mod on the frontpage titled "Give Me cheddar For No Reason".

Yeah, sorry, there's no actual source for this, the last confirmed amount was 40 yesterday, I think

Serves me right for using reactionary posts as a news source. I take full blame for stirring up shit like that.


HOWEVER

I've just learned that you have to sell $400 worth of a mod before you can get paid the $100 you earn. Source is Steam itself.