Mods costing money?

[James Isaac]

I heard that some good mods might cost money. But are they actually allowed to do that without permission from Valve. Because I would have thought that Valve wouldn't like people making money from games with their engine.

So my question is, can anyone make their mods cost money?

(Please don't flame me- I searched for teh answer to this question, but I couldn't find it)


Thanks,
James

 

[Wilco]

I would suppose so, as they are building the tech in to do it into steam

 

[Aknot]

Yeah this goes hand in hand with their "pricing" plan. If someone could (if it is availiable) point out a link that breaks down what is included in each plan.

 

[Shuzer]

http://planethalflife.com/half-life2/merchandise/

Although not 100% confirmed, it breaks it down

 

[James Isaac]

OK. Thanks.

 

[KagePrototype]

I think pricing amateur mods just doesn't fit in with the community spirit. I certainly wouldn't price my mod, it just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[theGreenBunny]

Making people pay for your mod would be very lame, and I wouldn't be surprised if Valve would take a small percentage of the revenue. As they made Steam, etc.

 

[ShaithEatery]

My question is... can you subscribe to steam for one month and dload all the mods u want (counterstrike, opposing force, etc) and unsubscribe?

 

[Chris D]

ShaithEatery, if Valve did that, they'd lose a lot of money. $10 for 5 games instead of $120 for a years subscription?

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

Originally posted by ShaithEatery
My question is... can you subscribe to steam for one month and dload all the mods u want (counterstrike, opposing force, etc) and unsubscribe?

I doubt it. you'll probably loose your right to play the mods(not sure with single player mods) when you unsubscribe...

I was wondering if there would be a point though, thru subscribtion, that the product would be considered fully bought, when the subscribtion fee make up for the retail price. anyone know about this?

 

[Mountain Man]

I'm hoping pay-to-play mods will be the (rare) exception rather than the rule. Otherwise you're going to see a lot of promising mod teams close up shop once they realize nobody wants to pay good money for a product that has traditionally been free.

And, no, you won't be able to subscribe for a month and download all the content you want then cancel your subscription. Products purchased via Steam will require online validation before you can play them, so once you cancel your Steam account, all the content you downloaded will be useless. In order to keep playing, you have to keep paying.

Personally, I think that's one of the worst deals in gaming, but I suppose it might appeal to some people. I'll be buying the traditional boxed copy myself.

 

[SidewinderX]

As far as I know, the pay-for-play will be an option for mod developers, but it won't be the on;y way to get mods out there, or else no one would play mods.

*If* someone wanted to charge for thier mod, it'd have to be through Valve (in some way or another) or you'd have to pay $350,000+ for a liscence for Source.

 

[EinsteinsBrain]

I think the term mod and expansion pack needs to be sepearted..

Yes mods will be free, no expansions pack will not.

I assume that all idenpendent groups will start out as mods, mayne a few of them will grow into expansion packs.

I think CS2 and TFC2 will be Expansion packs (just assuming). Expansion packs normally costs $10-$20 less then the actual game. say $30-$40 and the game will cost $50.

So they need to release the game and two expansion packs to reach $120 for the first year to make steam just cost the same as buying them separatley. I fail to see how this is a good idea for the consumer.

 

[bastard_loud]

Originally posted by Mountain Man
...once you cancel your Steam account, all the content you downloaded will be useless. In order to keep playing, you have to keep paying.

Personally, I think that's one of the worst deals in gaming...

I didn't know that either...
to me that sounds very logical and f*cked up at the same time.

Weird.

 

[The Terminator]

Maybe after you paid for x amount of time, maybe a year, you can cancell your subscription and just play them normally.

 

[Mountain Man]

Originally posted by EinsteinsBrain
So they need to release the game and two expansion packs to reach $120 for the first year to make steam just cost the same as buying them separatley.

I fail to see how this is a good idea for the consumer.

Exactly.

 

[SidewinderX]

However, say the release HL2 ($50), TF2 ($50) and a HL2 expansion (@0$-30$) there ya go.

 

[silent]

It goes as so's:

If someone makes a Mod they CANNOT sell their mod for money. This would violate copyright laws and so on. Anyways, they don't have a license to run Source.

Most mods cost money to make. Whether paying for a domain name, advertising or to purchase programs that are needed, modding costs dough. This is why ANY mods made should be at least appreciated for a member's free gift to a community.

This is why I don't understand anyone who would try to steal the source code and create a game with it. All somone would have to do is look for signatures within your code and then you'd be sued for an ass load of money. Basically your life would be ruined.

 

[Aknot]

Originally posted by SidewinderX143
However, say the release HL2 ($50), TF2 ($50) and a HL2 expansion (@0$-30$) there ya go.

what if I do not want TF2? Do I get a credit for the next year?

 

[EinsteinsBrain]

Yeah. To me $9.95 a month and you can't continue playing as soon as you stop paying for steam seems steap. the solution would be if they managed to release more expansion packs duriing that time...

I rather go with the $50 and then pay as you go strategy (paying up front for expansion packs) but then again I'm not a huge tf2 player

 

[EinsteinsBrain]

I think that you would only pay 9.95 a month if you know that you would play every game that Valve will release. I think they have a base of fans that do that.

I am not sure I will play all games they release so I will instead buy the games I'm interested in up front. I would still like to buy them through steam though if that would be cheaper then in the store.

 

[ShaithEatery]

I'm torn between Steam and buying seperate. Definately getting standard single/multiplayer bundle, but I'm not really interested in all the mods that will be comming out. The only mod for HL2 I really want is Counterstrike, so I guess I should just get that seperate and pay once for it.

I wonder how they will prevent people from copying mods people get from steam and getting for free. ID# for each mod i guess?

 

[genocide604]

Well the mod would have to be "cs" "dod" quality of gameplay and would require a hell of a lot of work... for people to even think of paying for them..

But if a team really puts in the effort some great games will be produced, and if forced to buy im sure it wouldn't be more than 20$ at the local eb.

 

[Ahnteis]

1) Subscription is good deal for people who want to play for a short period of time and then move on to other games AND for people who want to try it before they buy it.

2) Modmakers WILL have the option of charging for their mod through steam. However, if their mod isn't good enough then no one will want to pay and they'll have wasted their time. Most mods will continue to be free.

 

[EinsteinsBrain]

ShaithEatery
I think you can buy the games throuh steam and pay for them upfront (correct me if I am wrong) so it seems to be two steam options... the upfront cost and the pay as you play cost... I like the first but don't see the added benefit of the other... but if Valve can deliver enough content then maybe a subscription can be justified...

 

[Mountain Man]

Originally posted by ShaithEatery
I wonder how they will prevent people from copying mods people get from steam and getting for free. ID# for each mod i guess?

Any game purchased through Steam will require a Steam connection to play. As such, only one instance of each game will be allowed to be active at a time, so if your account is already active (for instance, you were dumb enough to give that information to your friend) you will be prevented from starting the game.

 

[theGreenBunny]

Originally posted by Ahnteis
1) Subscription is good deal for people who want to play for a short period of time and then move on to other games AND for people who want to try it before they buy it.

2) Modmakers WILL have the option of charging for their mod through steam. However, if their mod isn't good enough then no one will want to pay and they'll have wasted their time. Most mods will continue to be free.

*has a strange feeling of deja vu*

 

[MultiVaC]

Mod makers will quicky realize that charging for their mods would be stupid. There will be tons of mods out there, most gamers would just say "screw that" to a mod that would cost them.

 

[OCybrManO]

Originally posted by ShaithEatery
I wonder how they will prevent people from copying mods people get from steam and getting for free. ID# for each mod i guess?

You don't think Valve would have a record of any mods you purchased through Steam (most likely the only way the pay-mods will be distributed... unless Valve makes a hard copy available at retailers like with CS, and when you install those the cd-key will be registered under your Steam account)?

 

[ShaithEatery]

Well all I know is that i'm against monthly fees. I can see how it would be worth it for other people, but I don't like having to pay each month. I wouldn't play all those mods, so I am just gonna stick to buying CS seperate.

 

[BloodyMario]

I really hope Valve will create an opportunity for mod makers to charge money for their hard work. This will drastically improve the quality of mods since a lot of professional developers will see it as a chance of making a buck without having to develop a proprietary game engine from scratch. As a nice side effect this would also keep annoying little kids without jobs from ruining the multiplayer (I guess this is why so many of them are so adamantly opposed to the idea).

 

[silent]

Okay, if a game company makes a "Mod" then they'd get money for it. Think if THX or ID actually used halflife2's engine, called it a mod and sold it...

 

[poseyjmac]

I hope they dont let map makers charge for their work! although id pay a dollar to get a good map.

 

[ImJacksAmygdala]

I won't pay money for mods. If hl2 mods cost money I'll just play free mods on other game engines.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

That would be funny as hell silent. But still. I would buy it. If it was good of course.

 

[silent]

Hell why not!???

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

Argh stupidity getting annoying now.....


The likely hood is that you wont have to pay for almost all mods

AND

By the way its set up there are likely to be alot of mods out there. The more mods there are the more competition there is which means LOW LOW LOW prices for us and lots of great indipendant games in the form of mods

 

[silent]

Strider????

You bastard, How'd you get to strider before me?

No offense of course

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

Look when I joined

Also. I look at this bloody forum every single day. Except when I was on holiday. I belive I am one of the top users





how sad...........

:bounce:

 

[Dalamari]

Good mods will cost money, its called retail, and if they had pay to DL the mod that would be illegal, its like me taking Rainbow 6, changing the skins and so on to look more futuristic and selling it as my own game.