This is my opinion with regards to the suspected resurgence of paid mods on Steam, rumoured to arrive alongside the Fallout 4 Creation Kit or GECK (modding tools).

I have seen a lot of people suggest that the right model for paid mods just hasn't been discovered yet but it's out there, and maybe they're right, but at the moment I couldn't disagree more. Mods, by their very nature, are free. It's not that they can't be sold, it's just that as soon as they are, they are held to the exact same set of standards as any other paid for product. They are literally a piece of paid software or DLC, not a mod. Free sharing of information, assets, developers, code, and ideas are the fundamentals of modding, or more specifically, a thriving modding scene.

If a mod becomes paid for then the following is just some of what could and/or will happen:

• Mod piracy which could hurt developers' livelihood and might result in DRM restrictions which is literally the antithesis of what modding is about
• The reselling of other peoples existing free mods and the stealing of assets form other mods without consent
• Devs creating free and paid for versions of a mod, whereby the free version has advertisements and pop ups for the paid version within the game
• A messy, uncurated, app store style experience full of poor quality joke, scam, and amateur mods
• Mod creators selling assets from other games
• Mod restrictions and take-downs due to dev and publisher restrictions in terms of allowed content and regarding use of other existing licensed IPs
• Paid mod revenue streams will result in greater attention from publishers interested in "protecting" their games from free content offered by mods
• Mods that make changes to system files wouldn't be allowed by Valve
• Some mods require special steps to be taken to be installed or uninstalled
• Some mods have long term unintended consequences, rendereing the culprit of a particular error undiagnosable within a large mod library
• Game updates, mods updates, or mods that have reliance's on other mods that update would cause and incompatibility mess
• Infinite variables of incompatibilities between mods would result in a nightmarish disaster is left unattended but would probably be subverted with a Early Access style disclaimer "you should know what you're getting may be broken, so it's not on us" approach

But games like Team Fortress 2 have paid mods and they work out fine, don't they?

Incorrect. Games like TF2 have very specific areas in which content creators can make and sell items within the game (weapons & cosmetics, not code, not .dlls, not .inis, not .exes, not launcers etc...) which are carefully curated and tested to work within the game before being sold as DLC. It doesn't matter that it was created by the community, It's just DLC, not mods.

Shouldn't all modders be paid for their work?

Bad question. Some mods are small tweaks that the mods developer didn't pour a huge amount of time into. Some mods are not things that would be regarded by consumers as paid content (bug fixes, ini tweaks, convenience mods, UI mods etc...) and just wouldn't sell, unlike a quest pack or well modelled sword. Other mods like Falskaar for Skyrim are big and content complete enough to become paid content, but at that point it may as well be tested by the dev and sold as DLC (similar to TF2 and Counter Strike evolving into "real" games from mods). At that point, its DLC or a full game, and deserves to be held to the exact same set ofstandards.

So some mods don't suit a paid model but some do, so don't those devs deserve compensation?

No they don't. The modding scenes for games like Skyrim are flourishing and beautiful without any forced, paid content, so no offence to developers who haven't the time or money to create a great mod but there are armies of modders willing to do what you won't for free, with some exceptions, of course. They were well aware when they created their mods that the modding scene is free, a hobby, and a passion project. The little money there is to be made is through donations. All of them know this going in, it's not a surprise. You don't automatically deserve compensation for engaging in what is known to be the "hobby" end of a particular activity. If they wanted so badly to get paid, they could create entire games to be sold on steam, or work on content similar to what htey would have been doing but for other developers. It's not like there aren't other avenues for their talents in this day and age.

So is there no way to show support for modders without inherently destroying the concept of modding?

No. A centralised platform like Steam or the Nexus could provide an easy way to donate to a particular modder. At the moment there is no way on steam, and on the Nexus it's convoluted and requires credit card details. If it were a large button under the dev's mod that instantly allowed you to donate you're desired amount, there would be far more willingness form mod users to donate. This could be taken further with a humble bundle style slider to donate to a charity as well. Further still, inspiration could be taken from Twitch subscriptions, for example, for donating $5 or more, you unlock certain emoticons, themes, icons, badges, or other guff to make people's purchases feel worthwhile and validated (a system proven to work in TF2 and CS:GO where the DLC maps are free but early access and other fringe benefits are given to those who choose to pay). Why not allow stats to be exposed to actually see how much money was raised for the dev and for charity on the mod page. Further yet, there could be specific pages for "mod contracts" (like Kickstarters) whereby mod users could donate to fund the development of a particular mod.

There are endless creative configurations that don't involve ruining what makes modding, modding. What valve are trying to do is contract DLC out to developers whilst hiding behind the excuse of "mods!" if anything goes awry. In other words, they're trying to have their cake and eat it. A DLC content creation system similar to TF2 could work, a donation system could work, but paid mods are a recipe for disaster.