There's A Cash Shop In The Game?

Some of those are true and some are slight exaggerations, but I think it's far to say that there are a bunch of things missing from the list that fit into the "not quite bad but incredibly awkward" category.

Mike

WHAT!!!!
Where did you get that from. Please post a link.

I use a lot of mods. And think the guys that make them are a bunch of awesome guys. But having to pay money for mods would totally suck.

More in tune with this thread. Uber said they would make more than a 100 commanders to choose from and they mention no pricing on these.
So I see no problem having a few collectibles that cost and insane amount of money.

Mods are going to be monetised at some point, based on the mods themselves, the wishes of the modders behind them, etc. Expect to see unit-packs, overhauls, total conversions and so-on to be just a few of the types of mods that Modders could ask money for; kinda like the SteamWorkshop for Dota2 and TF2, where the community does 99% of the leg work in creating content and then Valve lets it be sold while taking a percentage off the top.

That's Uber's long-term goal.

It is a good model.

I like the idea of creators being able to get a little kick back for the time they invest in creating new content and functionality.

PAY to use mods? Ridiculous. I wouldnt want to charge anyone to use a unit pack I plan to make...

Thats just silly....

I think the plan is that you CAN charge money for mods if you wish to - it's not like anyone forces you to do that.
I can imagine that full-fleshed out mods which add additional races, units, etc.. can be very well worth a few bucks.

It depends on the unit packs and how much it does.

Some of the 'total conversion' mods are worth money, and there are guys on here (e.g. Knight) who are *very* skilled modellers who could very well be (and quite likely will be in the future) employed in a studio for their work. The amount of work that goes into a very large scale mod does warrant some return imo, so I'd have no problem them charging for it. I imagine most of the smaller mods will be free or very cheap- and ok some people might over value their work but then they'll probably not sell anything

At the end of the day, having a paid mod market is likely to encourage some of the best modders or even a few professionals to put work forward in their spare time, and more choice is a good thing.

Also if you want to make a mod, but not charge for it- fantastic Any fees will be at the discretion of the creator and you producing a really good FOC mod will certainly help keep everyone's prices real

Uber's artists have to work on these commanders regardless of whether the shop existed, the people who the commanders are for have approved their sale, they are entirely cosmetic items which don't affect the gameplay at all, they are 100% optional.

I am at a loss as to precisely what the downside of selling these things is. Where's the negative?

lol, a nice pack like the one I had made for Forged Alliance might get a little cash return if I made something similar for PA

We will see what happens after release...and if theres a good working Importer/Exporter for 3DS Max XD

The other thing to note is that last we knew, the Mod Marketplace would be curated by Uber, it wouldn't be a case where anyone could throw up anything and charge any amount for it.

Mike

People seem to be overlooking the fact that if you create a two-tiered system (paid and free) you're inevitably going to see favouritism of the paid mods. Just like you'll see favourtism in a two-teired internet. Paid mods will receive faster downloads, paid mods will be featured, paid mods will be marketed, paid mods will be thought of when Uber patch the game whilst free ones might be made incompatible.

They've already made it painfully clear they're a for-profit company and to expect them to act like one with this whole Able thing... and pretty much finished by saying if you can't handle it - leave... a tone which is worrying me immensely.

I guess complaining about it now is pointless... but as Knight said, what choice do we have? They'll agree all of this behind closed doors, settle on it, develop it, release it then regardless of how the community reacts keep it as it is...

I'm honestly a little nervous I'm going to get a warning or ban just for this comment...

I've said much worse, and I'm still here.

Beside that. Uber is a company, not a charitable organization. It's understandable that they're in for the money. I do not blame them for that: it is not wrong per se.

On the other hand, since day one on this forum I've been surprised to see how many members and supporters seem to grant Uber a license to do what so ever they want with their marketing strategy and choices.

Instead, I believe that we should speak our voice against what we do not necessarily like or appreciate. After all, Uber made promises launching the game on Kickstarter and selling it before release on Steam. Therefore I believe they are morally bond to the Community in here and to their Customers base in general. All people who gave them trust and paid the game way before it has been completed.

I am tempted to say that it doesn't even do much good to keep this forum. This place is governed by Uber, and Uber can shut down and/or delete content that they do not appreciate. We should be able to discuss anything related to the development of the game. Therefore it would be better if a third party (and not Uber) would take care of moderation and content control.

omg, is this thread still going??

I feel calling it a mod marketplace might be a mistake for the reasons above.

Id see it more as a place for independent developers to use the PA engine to make their own games, and then sell their completely new and original game to people whom are also using the PA engine, us.

Less of selling mods, more selling entire games.

They've shelved the Able for now.

Uber is a company and thus needs to make money. I've seen plenty of companies, and when it comes to good or bad, Uber's on the good side. Or maybe there are just plenty of much worse ones, i don't know. It's a company that's willing to listen. However, it's also a company that won't let 40 000 strangers dictate their every move.

As to the mods, i don't see a problem with it. In case it wasn't entirely blatantly obvious, they're aiming for a Minecraft, mixed with other games kept alive by the community (e.g. BF2). Part of that is a way to monetize games. I think it's inevitable that some people will want money for their mods, but there are also plenty who do it for fun, for learning etc. If they're paid for, expectations for the mods will also rise.

As to favoritism, i doubt that. If the Devs help not-break a major paid-for mod, it's just as likely to help a thousand other free mods. Besides, not-breaking mods is pretty simple most of the time. Among others, it involves a well-developed basecode (Not like minecraft where you need to break 20 systems to get something), a largely unchanging basecode (not like minecraft, where the Coders pack randomly renames functions for no reason), and a largely static basecode (not like minecraft, where they are currently rewriting just about the entire game).

As an earlier minecraft showed, if played smart and well mods can easily keep up with the development shedule. However Mojang, Minecraft's maker, has too long refused even basic modloading capabilities. Community mods were made as API's to make more mods play along. it's only the fairly recent behemoth Forge that once again has made modding a pain in the ***.

All in all, after every update mods are almost certain to break. By keeping a proper update shedule, a codebase that can deal with mods and a good Modloader (be it of community make or Uber's make) the pain is not that bad.

Those things are exactly what Uber is working on.

I really don't like the idea of selling mods. It just feels wrong to me, on some sort of ethical level. Usually I ignore ethics (otherwise you can't do real science) but... It gives me the heebie jeebies.

That ship sailed with Counter-Strike, fourteen years ago.

That literally turned into its own game. IT'S DIFFERENT IN MY HEAD.

Who's to say people won't use the PA engine to turn it into a completely unique game? I've got a MOBA-type mod in my head that would be awesome to see happening. People have discussed putting things back on flat maps and stuff. Complete game conversions

BUT THE VOICES.