Skyrim mods and the future

• Posted by Paul December 3, 2011 - 683 views

  

  Bundled in with news that there'll be another patch next week was news that the much-anticipated Creation Kit will be released to hungry modders in January. Obviously that is excellent news!

  But more controversial is the announcement of the new Steam Workshop platform for mods. Let's have a look at the announcement itself

  Using the Workshop, you’ll have free user content with the push of a button. The Creation Kit will bundle your mod and upload it to the Workshop, where everyone can browse, rate, and flag mods for download. You’ll be able to do this from any web device, including your smartphone. Like a live Netflix queue, when you fire up Skyrim, mods you flagged will be automatically downloaded and installed. Everyone here is really excited about the opportunities and possibilities this opens up for our entire community. Prefer to use existing modding sites? Not a problem. You’ll still be able to upload/share/access Skyrim mods on fan-created mod sites.

  On the face of it, this seems like an exciting development. PC users will know that installing mods and keeping your Elder Scrolls is far from simple. Even with considerable care and time, it is all too easy to permanently cripple the game, necessitating a complete reinstall. Speaking personally, I must have reinstalled Oblivion at least half a dozen times because of damage caused by incorrectly installed or conflicting mods.

  So, anything which makes the process simpler, more streamlined and more painless has got to be a good thing hasn't it?

  But, hang on, let's look at this from another angle. Am I the only person who can foresee a potential problem here? I mean, why are Bethesda trying to get their fingers into the modding pie? It's hard to believe that they have set this up with Steam simply out of the goodness of their hearts.

  Frankly, we have to ask the 'elephant in the room' question: 'How long before Steam Workshop starts charging for mods? Even a small amount would 'cross the rubicon' in an environment that might be anarchic, yet has always been gloriously free!  

  Then there's things like Script Extenders and other third-party tools -  will they be 'approved' or supported on the new Steam platform? 

  And what about mod 'censorship'? I'm not a fan of nude mods, mods which enhance the bosoms of the female NPCs and mods which make children killable - but will those mods be permitted on Steam Workshop?

  Of course there is still Nexus to get those mods, as was stated in the announcement. But will we? Nexus needs ad revenue to pay for bandwidth, will that ad revenue come in if a large proportion of mod users get their mods from Steam? I think there are some serious issues with Nexus (trolls and idiots, for a start) but I'd be concerned if we ever got to a monopoly that is controlled by Steam and Bethesda.

  Maybe I'm just being overly concerned about nothing here. I'd be interested to hear other people's views. We do know that the proportion of PC users who ever use mods is very small. If this brings mods to a much wider user base, then that's big step forward. But I think there are concerns over this.

  What do you think?