I have an idea for modders on how to earn money without paid mods or donations.

[Rezkin]

First of all I am against paid mods 100% or at least bethesda version of it but i also feel that modders deserve something more than thumb up for the hours and hours of work they sometimes put on their mods. and it's not fair that the ones getting money from the views and ads on the modpages are third parties while the mod authors doesn't get anything.

There 2 methods i can suggest now to any modder who wish to earn some money without people coming at him with pitchforks!

 

 

Youtube

• Create a channel for mods release only.

• Make a simple video showcasing your mod.

• Upload your mods to free file-host websites like mega or google drive.

• put the link in the description.

• Don't upload (or remove) your mods on (from) nexus or steam so the only source for your mod be your youtube video.

So once you set your adsense with your youtube account you will be earning money from the ads on your video. You can then can post your video on forums and subs like this one as [mod release] or just allow other blogs to showcase your mod but to link your youtube video for download.

 

 

Be sure to tell people to support you by whitelisting you on adblock if they have it and even though no one going to complain about 4-5 sec of ads to download a free mod and show their support don't overdo it by adding ads to the video and the download link too.

 

 

Now few questions to the moderators here... if modders decided to go on this path, Would you allow them to post on your forums if they still doesn't upload the mod here? would be it okay for modders to showcase their mods and link their youtube video so people can get the download link from there? or even like the minecraft forum do "allow direct adfly links to be used to mask real download links ?

 

 

Edited:Removed the shorten links idea

[Kaz Aanh]

I'd rather create Patreon. More legit and anyways 95% of people are using adblocks.

 

Anyways plenty of modders from other games are actually doing it like klub17/hs/various links to other games.

[Rezkin]

I'd rather create Patreon. More legit and anyways 95% of people are using adblocks.

 

Anyways plenty of modders from other games are actually doing it like klub17/hs/various links to other games.

 

You can still do that but really unless you're super modder or something you won't be getting much. This way you can earn money from leecher like us too who doesn't have the money to spare.

[MadMansGun]

Host File: Armed

NoScript: Activated

Firewall: No Exceptions

[nopseudomoi]

The problem with your suggestion is that files will be hosted randomly, no storage place, no categories, no ranking, ... Maintaining any form of data base will be a nightmare.

It seems like an unpopular opinion here but I really like the Nexus, it's really convenient and well-thought, I can't think of any other platform capable of hosting so much mods yet remaining easy to use.

You can't expect free times modders to organize such a thing: here on loverslab people make lists of mods and stop maintaining them after 1/2 years, and it becomes useless (I don't blame them at all).

[Rezkin]

The problem with your suggestion is that files will be hosted randomly, no storage place, no categories, no ranking, ... Maintaining any form of data base will be a nightmare.

It seems like an unpopular opinion here but I really like the Nexus, it's really convenient and well-thought, I can't think of any other platform capable of hosting so much mods yet remaining easy to use.

You can't expect free times modders to organize such a thing: here on loverslab people make lists of mods and stop maintaining them after 1/2 years, and it becomes useless (I don't blame them at all).

 

Well it's not like that people on nexus are the ones who organize every mod page .. it's simply how the website designed and how it work. The mod authors are the ones who choose the category and maintain their own mod pages. Getting the mod in database is something a lot of people willing to do if they can getsomething out of it and the reason that stopped them before was that nexus is a file hosting and database too but if authors allowed others to share their download links them more of them would pop up. and anyway something like this wouldn't just goes into work in day or 2 and it's suggestion only to modders who might want to earn money from mods without breaking rules or going the hassle of making website and such.

[pinky6225]

admittedly i'm not much of a youtube user (mainly for music video's for posting on forums) doesn't the sort of content that gets made here go against there age restriction rules?

[Rezkin]

admittedly i'm not much of a youtube user (mainly for music video's for posting on forums) doesn't the sort of content that gets made here go against there age restriction rules?

 

Well i would recommend youtube mostly to non-adult modders but adult modder can use it if they careful when showcasing their mods like mxr and shinji72.

 

So unless you upload full-blown sex video without censoring you can get away with posting adult contents.

 

What i really would recommend to adult-modders is something like adult.xyz/ (from the same guys who owns adfly but for adult content) that allow you to mask your link with 5 sec adwall and pay you for clicks.

[gregathit]

Really, masking your mods?  So you get what........ something like .00001 cent per click?  And possibly expose someone to a virus due to the shady masking service?  Really???  Good luck getting anyone to download anything from you.

 

If you are planning on getting into modding to make money.....just stop!  Seriously!  STOP!  Making money and modding are almost NEVER synonymous.  Not saying it can't be done, but outside of greenlight or patreon or a gaming company snapping you up, it is going to be damn near blind luck.  The time most folks spend modding won't equate to the amount of money they could make.  Hell, you can make more going down and working half a day at Burger King.  Leaving aside that many folks are porting things, which they can't legally charge for anyway..............

 

It is a nice thought OP, but not based on any reality I can see for the present or foreseeable future.

[myuhinny]

@pinky6225

 

Have you ever really really searched at all on youtube? If you know what to search for you can find sex nudity porn sex blow jobs you name it it's probably there. Google isn't very good at policing their shit they are only good at peeking at what everyone else is doing. Somethings have a age gate but literally hundreds to that one that are not behind a gate.

 

Just type in something like 18+ and you will find quite a few things.

[Grine]

Well besides the Patreon idea... How about being a modder for hire?

Client asks for something, you get paid by a deposit first (first you need previous clients and a portfolio) and then you get paid when the mod is finished.

 

To be honest I am interested in paying someone to finish somethings for me but no clue how to find this said person. It becomes complicated but it should be workable. Oh well just my 2 cent.

[Rezkin]

Really, masking your mods?  So you get what........ something like .00001 cent per click?  And possibly expose someone to a virus due to the shady masking service?  Really???  Good luck getting anyone to download anything from you.

 

If you are planning on getting into modding to make money.....just stop!  Seriously!  STOP!  Making money and modding are almost NEVER synonymous.  Not saying it can't be done, but outside of greenlight or patreon or a gaming company snapping you up, it is going to be damn near blind luck.  The time most folks spend modding won't equate to the amount of money they could make.  Hell, you can make more going down and working half a day at Burger King.  Leaving aside that many folks are porting things, which they can't legally charge for anyway..............

 

It is a nice thought OP, but not based on any reality I can see for the present or foreseeable future.

 

People really seem to overreact when they hear about masking services but it's nothing true.. you know they got successful business that earn them as much and more from these clicks. I don't see why they would let something shady in when they earning good money without all these crap. Adfly and shorte have been up for years now and adfly have it own forum where people can talk about payments and problems in it and most the problems people had with them in the past was that users abusing their masking to mask link upon link or faking links to get money.

 

The viruses if it ever came didn't came from the ads but from the links masked in the ads or from people masking malicous websites and download links and sending it to users as something else.

 

Paying people for ads clicks and views is not something new or shady. Youtube do it and allow you to earn as much from ads.

 

Also Masking is just one out of 100 methods to earn money without putting your mods through paywall. Like i said before you could simply use youtube or you could even use file-hosting websites that reward you per download like usercloud also the rates are not as bad you seem to think.

As long as the mod authors hold the control of their download links they can earn money.

 

and again i don't agree with you about modding and money. a lot of people already earn money from modding on different games and there nothing wrong with earning money while doing something you love and enjoy.

[zzz72w3r]

Really, masking your mods?  So you get what........ something like .00001 cent per click?  And possibly expose someone to a virus due to the shady masking service?  Really???  Good luck getting anyone to download anything from you.

 

If you are planning on getting into modding to make money.....just stop!  Seriously!  STOP!  Making money and modding are almost NEVER synonymous.  Not saying it can't be done, but outside of greenlight or patreon or a gaming company snapping you up, it is going to be damn near blind luck.  The time most folks spend modding won't equate to the amount of money they could make.  Hell, you can make more going down and working half a day at Burger King.  Leaving aside that many folks are porting things, which they can't legally charge for anyway..............

 

It is a nice thought OP, but not based on any reality I can see for the present or foreseeable future.

 

This.

 

Just to add, I am a Patreon patron but that model is limited.  It's a good way to support creators who generate continuous standalone outputs, basically artists like animators and unique situation like LL (for this site's operating costs).  For these creators Patreon appears to have a decent correlation of quality output and financial support.  Coded programs on Patreon are clearly vulnerable to fall into bait-and-switch de facto paid-to-play whether by design or natural evolution so I am against them on principal.   

 

The best way to generate financial positive reinforcement while ensuring free-to-play is a crowdfunding system using Dutch auction reverse bounty.  Based on the economics we likely will never see it happen.  This idea is nothing new and for those who are not familiar this is how it works:

 

Mod is free for all once bounty is met.  Public publishing is the condition for creator to receive the bounty money.  There is no exclusive lock on bounty, i.e. having your reverse bounty project advertised does not prevent anyone from posting a similar reverse bounty or to publish a mod that does what you want to do without using the bounty system. 

 

The system will have three boards: bounty listings, bounties posted, mods.  Project listing is for creators to put out notices of their reverse bounty projects.  Bounties posted is for projects already got the committed money but yet delivered.  Mods is for publishing and downloading mods.  Registration and downloading are free.  Anyone can publish mods but bounties only pay out after it's published on the mod board. 

 

Example:

A creator sets the reverse-bounty: say $100 for an armor to be published within x days of bounty posted, bounty notice will be good for y days on the notice board.  The bounty will be posted after $100 committed from the crowd and the creator is notified and has to release the armor to public within x days to receive the money.  Anyone can pay any amount toward the bounty.  We can have one guy paid $100 or 100 guys paid $1, the important thing is that as soon as $100 is reached the bounty is ON and listing taken down so people know there is no more need to pay.  Listing and posted boards have ticking clocks.  If there is not enough money committed after y days, bounty is off and creator is notified.  Money is returned without service fee.  If the mod is not published after x days, money is returned and a penalty is assessed on creator's reputation (see below).  Once the project is finished and published the creator receives the bounty after service fees or commission to platform operator.       

 

Where is the Dutch auction?  If a bounty price is not met, the creator needs to come back with a lower price.  Also, while the bounty is listed, it opens up the idea for other creators to make the same mod either for lower price or free.   

 

The system can have someone wanting $5 to create a follower preset or a team looking for $100,000 for a DLC size mod, doesn't matter.  The platform will have a creator reputation system based on bounty EARNED.  So a user pledged said $10 into a $100 bounty and not happy with the result can remove the amount from the creator's reputation (reputation is 90 instead of 100) BUT there is no money back.  The reputation system is to shorten the listing duration for well established creators and encourage them to try larger projects.  There will be minimum fraud, unlike Kickstarter creators don't get the money until they deliver.  Someone with low reputation is unlikely to get people to commit to a large project.

 

Given the finished product is free-for-all and the bounty is really just paying for labor and not intellectual property, permission for assets should be easy to get.  All bounty listings are public so if someone thinks they can profit from an idea chances are either another will publish an identical/similar mod for free just to spite or list a bounty for cheaper.  I don't think expired will mind someone listing a follower made with RaceMenu for $10.  Mind you It's not each download is $10 but that for just $10 everyone in the world gets to have the follower mod. 

 

Now the real world problem: there is never going to be enough revenue for this platform to be worthwhile or even self sustaining.

[gregathit]

Now the real world problem: there is never going to be enough revenue for this platform to be worthwhile or even self sustaining.

 

Exactly.  Well said.

 

Paying people for ads clicks and views is not something new or shady. Youtube do it and allow you to earn as much from ads.

 

Also Masking is just one out of 100 methods to earn money without putting your mods through paywall. Like i said before you could simply use youtube or you could even use file-hosting websites that reward you per download like usercloud also the rates are not as bad you seem to think.

As long as the mod authors hold the control of their download links they can earn money.

 

and again i don't agree with you about modding and money. a lot of people already earn money from modding on different games and there nothing wrong with earning money while doing something you love and enjoy.

 

 

Click bait is shady and always has been.  Who are you trying to kid?  That crap pisses folks off and you know it.  I don't know what folks hate more, click bait or advertisements...........

 

Comparing click bait to Youtube? Really?  What freaking modder can generate the necessary volume to make it worth a red hot damn?  Maybe one or two out of hundreds of thousands?  

 

I'm sorry, but this is just pie in the sky thinking.  I get the real sense that you have never modded, or at least never done anything really big.  If you had, you'd realize that the time one sinks into a large mod just can't be compensated at any real world wage.  The average mod takes hundreds of hours to make.  Hell some take thousands of hours.  Folks would be better off getting a real job than attempting to mod for money.  

 

And I'm not real up on the "lot of" modders out there earning money.  I hope we aren't taking about the scam artists that are ripping assets from DAZ or other games and porting them.  Cause that ain't modding my friend.  Not by a long shot.

 

Mod because you enjoy it.  Modding for any other reason is just going to disappoint and leave you bitter.

[pinky6225]

@pinky6225

 

Have you ever really really searched at all on youtube? If you know what to search for you can find sex nudity porn sex blow jobs you name it it's probably there. Google isn't very good at policing their shit they are only good at peeking at what everyone else is doing. Somethings have a age gate but literally hundreds to that one that are not behind a gate.

 

Just type in something like 18+ and you will find quite a few things.

 

No as i said not a big youtube user and lets face it as this is the internet porn is literally the last thing i have struggled to find so whenever i want to view i've never had to "search" at all just thought that in principle youtube was a non-adult content platform

 

 

 

 

[Rezkin]

 

Now the real world problem: there is never going to be enough revenue for this platform to be worthwhile or even self sustaining.

 

Exactly.  Well said.

 

Paying people for ads clicks and views is not something new or shady. Youtube do it and allow you to earn as much from ads.

 

Also Masking is just one out of 100 methods to earn money without putting your mods through paywall. Like i said before you could simply use youtube or you could even use file-hosting websites that reward you per download like usercloud also the rates are not as bad you seem to think.

As long as the mod authors hold the control of their download links they can earn money.

 

and again i don't agree with you about modding and money. a lot of people already earn money from modding on different games and there nothing wrong with earning money while doing something you love and enjoy.

 

 

Click bait is shady and always has been.  Who are you trying to kid?  That crap pisses folks off and you know it.  I don't know what folks hate more, click bait or advertisements...........

 

Comparing click bait to Youtube? Really?  What freaking modder can generate the necessary volume to make it worth a red hot damn?  Maybe one or two out of hundreds of thousands?  

 

I'm sorry, but this is just pie in the sky thinking.  I get the real sense that you have never modded, or at least never done anything really big.  If you had, you'd realize that the time one sinks into a large mod just can't be compensated at any real world wage.  The average mod takes hundreds of hours to make.  Hell some take thousands of hours.  Folks would be better off getting a real job than attempting to mod for money.  

 

And I'm not real up on the "lot of" modders out there earning money.  I hope we aren't taking about the scam artists that are ripping assets from DAZ or other games and porting them.  Cause that ain't modding my friend.  Not by a long shot.

 

Mod because you enjoy it.  Modding for any other reason is just going to disappoint and leave you bitter.

 

 

If you took a look at the views the armors and follower the modder get in their modpages you might rethink that but i don't think you would see it my way so lets pass on this one.

 

 

Modders earning money... well you know that unreal engine 4 is a thing right? and it doesn't take more than what modders already do for skyrim ... Someone like zero who make his armor from scratch could sell his work there. Animators of ll could simply use a different rig and start creating animations for unreal 4 instead of skyrim and they would get paid for it. It's what most modders do right now when they learn of ue4> Switch to ue4 and create their own games for free or do what they were doing before and get paid for it. Yes modding for fun is cool but sooner or later people would need money or they would stop... getting paid and turning the fun into job is not bad for anyone. It's simply mean the modder will pour more work into his mods and more people learning and creating mods too so they can earn some too.

[D_ManXX2]

http://www.loverslab.com/topic/24722-sexiest-dance-mods-list-stripper-dance-etc/?view=findpost&p=1790269 Is this what you try to accomplish ?? a user promoting his mods on a shady site where there is no dowload link and only after you pay will you get a real download link ?? If that is the case then no read the site rule again it is against loverlab policy. He used to use a very poorly made downloadlink witch will fail more then not and also cap the download to only a few kilobyte so it will take hours to even be able to dowload, then after a few tries and wasting time there is no download and it will fail leaving you with nothing but wasted time and only offer you a real download link but now you have to pay for that. And when users actually asked to upload it to megaupload he started threathen to remove everything. 

 

 

 

 

So once you set your adsense with your youtube account you will be earning money from the ads on your video. You can then can post your video on forums and subs like this one as [mod release] or just allow other blogs to showcase your mod but to link your youtube video for download.

 

I use youtube add blocker. so how is the user earning money ?? you do know that adds on youtube are a major source of virus spreader right ?? especially when it comes flash player etc.. 

[The DarkSlayer]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[gregathit]

If you took a look at the views the armors and follower the modder get in their modpages you might rethink that but i don't think you would see it my way so lets pass on this one.

 

 

Modders earning money... well you know that unreal engine 4 is a thing right? and it doesn't take more than what modders already do for skyrim ... Someone like zero who make his armor from scratch could sell his work there. Animators of ll could simply use a different rig and start creating animations for unreal 4 instead of skyrim and they would get paid for it. It's what most modders do right now when they learn of ue4> Switch to ue4 and create their own games for free or do what they were doing before and get paid for it. Yes modding for fun is cool but sooner or later people would need money or they would stop... getting paid and turning the fun into job is not bad for anyone. It's simply mean the modder will pour more work into his mods and more people learning and creating mods too so they can earn some too.

 

 

Wow......just wow.  First you talk about paid to download click bait, then you switch to "views".  You do realize that "views" are going to generate even less than downloads right?  Again, I'll say this plain: "only a very small handful of folks can generate the views/downloads needed to beat working at a minimum wage job."  Wake up already.  The average modder can NOT make this work by any get rich quick scheme you can dream up.  So do us all a favor and stop already.  You have zero proof obviously or you'd have already countered with that.  If modders could make all kinds of money then why in the freaking hell are they posting them here or at the nexus, where they don't get a single red cent?  Because modding is NOT equal to a real wage earning job.  

 

Oh, and it is clear you don't know much about modding by the statement of modders just "switching" from one game to the next and blam!  getting paid!.  Guess you forgot about mod tools, skeletons, building the damn rig itself, scripting, coding and all those little details that consume HUNDREDS of hours before you even have something to show.  Do you even know how many hundreds of hours it takes to build and script a small mod?  How long it takes to animate something?  Clearly not or you would not be so flippant about it.

 

And NO!  Folks don't stop modding because they don't make money off of it.  If that was the case, there would be ZERO mods.  My whole case of "mod because you love doing it" can be seen in the thousands of existing mods out there, with new ones cropping up all the time.  Some of which took a team of folks hundreds of thousands of hours of their free time.  Free time they spent because it was a hobby they enjoyed.

 

As to just "making" your own game.  Well, that takes a fuckton more of a commitment than making a mod.  Even making a simple text based game is a huge undertaking.  Again, you are showing you know zero about this by the crass way you are saying folks can just "do it".  There is a learning curve ya know.  Guess you are going to have folks take out a loan while they master the learning curve until they can produce something they can sell..........so ya know......they don't starve.....? 

 

You are killing me.  Really.  How about you just stop the nonsense.  No, I am not against folks making money via modding.  I'm just trying to point out that it is NOT a viable option for the vast majority of folks as things are today.  Now if steam goes back to paid mods, then that changes things slightly.  However, it isn't the total game changer that you might think.  It still takes way too many hours to make a decent mod that will generate the income to pay for the many hours that it will take you to create said mod.  Not to mention that you can't just create one mod and retire.  You'd have to continue producing to keep folks coming back.  At the end of the day, you're going to realize that the minimum wage job pays more per hour than you can earn via modding per hour.  So why would you want to mod for money with that reality smacking you in the face?????  You won't bottom line.  You'll mod because you like it or want something that no one else is doing.

 

And don't forget all the other things that modding for a living would need to do, like pay taxes, provisions for making sure folks aren't posting your mods for free everywhere and all those other details of being in business.  Devil in the details and all that..............

[PsychoMachina]

So... what system would be implemented to prevent people sharing the actual download link or downloading the mod files and uploading somewhere else?  

[Rezkin]

So... what system would be implemented to prevent people sharing the actual download link or downloading the mod files and uploading somewhere else?  

 

The same thing that prevent people from doing it now. Respect for other modders and that if they didn't the modders will probably fill dmca and take down their mods or blog too if they kept stealing. Most blogs play it safe by showcasing the mod then linking the author link (even most korean blogs do it that way) some won't even re-upload mods to other links even if they dead so they don't get in trouble and why bother when you can just link the mod page and get traffic anyway from showing their mods?

 

[Rezkin]

 

Wow......just wow.  First you talk about paid to download click bait, then you switch to "views".  You do realize that "views" are going to generate even less than downloads right?  Again, I'll say this plain: "only a very small handful of folks can generate the views/downloads needed to beat working at a minimum wage job."  Wake up already.  The average modder can NOT make this work by any get rich quick scheme you can dream up.  So do us all a favor and stop already.  You have zero proof obviously or you'd have already countered with that.  If modders could make all kinds of money then why in the freaking hell are they posting them here or at the nexus, where they don't get a single red cent?  Because modding is NOT equal to a real wage earning job.  

 

Oh, and it is clear you don't know much about modding by the statement of modders just "switching" from one game to the next and blam!  getting paid!.  Guess you forgot about mod tools, skeletons, building the damn rig itself, scripting, coding and all those little details that consume HUNDREDS of hours before you even have something to show.  Do you even know how many hundreds of hours it takes to build and script a small mod?  How long it takes to animate something?  Clearly not or you would not be so flippant about it.

 

And NO!  Folks don't stop modding because they don't make money off of it.  If that was the case, there would be ZERO mods.  My whole case of "mod because you love doing it" can be seen in the thousands of existing mods out there, with new ones cropping up all the time.  Some of which took a team of folks hundreds of thousands of hours of their free time.  Free time they spent because it was a hobby they enjoyed.

 

As to just "making" your own game.  Well, that takes a fuckton more of a commitment than making a mod.  Even making a simple text based game is a huge undertaking.  Again, you are showing you know zero about this by the crass way you are saying folks can just "do it".  There is a learning curve ya know.  Guess you are going to have folks take out a loan while they master the learning curve until they can produce something they can sell..........so ya know......they don't starve.....? 

 

You are killing me.  Really.  How about you just stop the nonsense.  No, I am not against folks making money via modding.  I'm just trying to point out that it is NOT a viable option for the vast majority of folks as things are today.  Now if steam goes back to paid mods, then that changes things slightly.  However, it isn't the total game changer that you might think.  It still takes way too many hours to make a decent mod that will generate the income to pay for the many hours that it will take you to create said mod.  Not to mention that you can't just create one mod and retire.  You'd have to continue producing to keep folks coming back.  At the end of the day, you're going to realize that the minimum wage job pays more per hour than you can earn via modding per hour.  So why would you want to mod for money with that reality smacking you in the face?????  You won't bottom line.  You'll mod because you like it or want something that no one else is doing.

 

And don't forget all the other things that modding for a living would need to do, like pay taxes, provisions for making sure folks aren't posting your mods for free everywhere and all those other details of being in business.  Devil in the details and all that..............

 

 

Sigh here we go again... I don't know why do you think views different from clicks when it come to ads on but okay.... and where the did you get this click bait from? do you even know what that mean? click bait is when you show or tell people about something but give something else. Masking mega link with something like adfly and telling people this the download link is not click bait when they are getting the download link from it. There no survey there no paywall it's just 5 sec wait before they get to the link ... where there the bait in that?

 

and as for switching do you really think that only skyrim give their modders the tools to create mods? you think there not already tools and rigs made for authors to use? you think there not blueprints and assets and tutorials for people to use? That every one there need to create animations and assets from scratch? 

 

Yes people like zero could make the switch easily but also people who can retexture can make the switch. Animators can switch because they can still use same tools they will just need a different rig (which available for free too) . People who create homes and locations can make the switch because the tools are there too and even people who make quests can make the switch too because when it come to these mods it's about creativity as much as scripting.

 

 

and i am not saying creating games is easy but i am sure you didn't really look into ue4. There blueprints and packs ready for you to set it up with few clicks. It's just like modding where you install your favorite combat mod or animation or maps. Everything is already there you just pick what you want and tweak it. You don't need to be animator and whatever else to create game on ue4. It's take as much time to understand as it take someone to understand how to mod his game in skyrim.

 

 

As for the" only few modders will make money" What the hell ? just check the nexus and check the most useless mods of all time "Followers" and see the download numbers for the most recent mods. check the clohes and armors... We have got tons and tons of leechers who will download anything the modders dish out for them and there enough for everyone so why not get something from them while creating mods?

 

[Chaos63]

I got an idea too...a game development career.

[zzz72w3r]

The #1 most downloaded mod on Nexus has 25 million views so it averages 5 million views per-year.  This translates to maybe US$$5000 per-year at most for the #1 most downloaded mod of the by far the most modded game in history, that is even before Nexus takes its cut.  The #10 most downloaded mod has only 7 million views over 5 years or 1.4 million per, which may not even clear $1000.  Out of 50,000+ mods only maybe 10 could get some ad money.  Looking at these mods I am guessing even for those top 0.02% "earners" the money in hourly wage terms is probably less than 10% of what they can make in real life.  Likely below minimum wage in most OECD countries. 

 

No hobby in the world can generate commensurate income of the needed skill and labor to produce them in a free commercial market, ever.  Not even paid mods can change that, for the simple fact that "modding" means you are working on someone else' property.  In terms of economic structure it's basically serfdom for creators looking for money.  The get-rich story of Second Life is not modding, it's developer working with individual contractors to fleece people who are willing to pay for vanity in a virtual world. 

 

 

[MadMansGun]

 

You are killing me.  Really.  How about you just stop the nonsense.  No, I am not against folks making money via modding.  I'm just trying to point out that it is NOT a viable option for the vast majority of folks as things are today.  Now if steam goes back to paid mods, then that changes things slightly.  However, it isn't the total game changer that you might think.  It still takes way too many hours to make a decent mod that will generate the income to pay for the many hours that it will take you to create said mod.  Not to mention that you can't just create one mod and retire.  You'd have to continue producing to keep folks coming back.  At the end of the day, you're going to realize that the minimum wage job pays more per hour than you can earn via modding per hour.  So why would you want to mod for money with that reality smacking you in the face?????  You won't bottom line.  You'll mod because you like it or want something that no one else is doing.

 

And don't forget all the other things that modding for a living would need to do, like pay taxes, provisions for making sure folks aren't posting your mods for free everywhere and all those other details of being in business.  Devil in the details and all that..............

 

 

just for fun, lets do the math on the biggest mod i have ever made: Horny Dragons of Skyrim

note: numbers are estimated.

42 animation sets  X 4 stages = 168 animations

168 animations X 12 hours to make one (give or take)  = 2016 hours

2016 hours X $11.25 Canadian minimum wage = $22680

$22680 ÷ 360 mod followers = for the work already done, they would each owe me $63 Canadian (or more)

 

its a good thing i mod for fun eh?