I saw this guy post this on a forum. He is trying to get a mod team by promising them financial rewards "in the future." I wanted to hear your guys' opinion on his take on commercially released mods. He seems to think it is only a matter of time before Valve starts selling people's mods on Steam and giving them a cut. What do you guys think? Especially, what is Valve's stance on this?
Ohh, and he's saying that HalfLife was started as a mod for Quake, then turned to a commercial product. I've never heard this before and am pretty sure that it's complete BS, can anyone confirm or deny it? Here is the quote: *************************************************** I'm sorry but I seem to remember when Half-Life was originally thought up, It was very much being programmed as a mod - and the transition was made to a commercial venture soon after ... Point 1 >Valve have broken the mold in terms of selling their software directly to the end user, the difference has been that it's a high profile game, that you have to register online to play, that the steam vehicle will allow other games to be downloadable and ultimately you will pay for them - I believe that's a good thing - even if it's a mod (I think people need to get over this whole "I'm not paying to play a mod, they should be free" I guess if it's been free for so long people are resistant to that change, but ask yourself one question - if they released counterstrike2 tomorrow for say $5 through steam, would you buy it? ... Point 2 >It's very backward in terms of thinking to presume that the Status Quo is "you have to find a load of money to buy the licence for the engine to sell your mod" - this will change - and i believe that Valve will be one of the first to offer that - They have the Program "Steam" to deliver the mod to the masses and charge people for it - the reasoning behind this is that it will create a whole new commercial enterprise for home modders to actually spend more time producing the best mods they can ... Think of it like this - (Leaving Software companies aside) - If it costs say $200,000 or whatever to buy the licence for the engine it would certainly be out the reach of most people who want to make a living out of it (you've already made that clear), henceforth if you say come to a commercial agreement whereby Valve would say take 50% of the mod's taking's - and we're not talking about charging a kings ransom - say $2 for the intial release per download - doesn't that start cogs whirring in your brain to tell you that more modders would most likely turn to making games "full-time", certainly the mods quality would increase if they can spend more time on them - i.e. give up their shitty day jobs - and Valve already with a captive audience would make more money also ... *************************************************** -- ============================= <SB> Childe Roland "I will show you fear in a handful of jellybeans." _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
