Will KSP mods ever turn Paid?

[touzenesmy]

Modders should ask for donations, not sell their mods, because they are simply unable to give a GOOD feedback for all the people who'll buy their mods.

Because guys, when you PAY for a mod, you don't say "please" when you ask for a fix, and this, modders can't take it or bear it for a long time.

[NathanKell]

On the other hand, when you buy a product, you agree to a EULA. I challenge you to find anywhere in, oh, say KSP's EULA, where it says Squad's obligated to fix things. Why would (paid) modders be?

[Mecripp]

There has been a mod that posted about paying for new parts and getting test part for a X amount of donate before release and looks like it might as well put a nail in the coffin of a good mod people will do with out paid mod if there are free one's IMO.

[touzenesmy]

I think that the modders who'll make paying mods will just make themselves more broke than they are now ...

People can donate for a good mod, but when it comes to buy, they'll just get it from somewhere else.

[malkuth]

I'm sure this is different for every modder. Me myself would not charge for my mods. Main reason is that I use Modding for KSP to learn how to program, never intended for me to make money off the investment of Learning. Two charging for a mod introducing many challenges to a modder. Right now if I have a minor bug or something is not right in the code this is a learning experience that I use to get better and can take my time to do it better. Since the mod is free the expectations from most end users are not that high on this issue. But on the other hand if I charged for this mod, those same issues would be demanded to be fixed right away. And rightly SO!

I'm your basic back yard Mechanic. I didn't know squat about programming when I started Mission Controller. I have learned on my own (no schooling) along the way I have been helped yes by other modders. But for the most part Lots or reading and late night coding. I can't expect anyone to pay for something like that.

So that's my take on charging for a mod. Some modders are professional though and do produce A+ mods and just might deserve the payment option. In my case not so true.

[Fel]

Modding costs money - When you figure in everything from electricity, the food you eat, to the price of the software that people use to create mods, it's not cheap. Though there are many open source and free pieces of software you can use to develop mods, most don't compare to commercial products.

The open source community routinely debates that. For programming, command line mono is really "good enough" everything else (syntax highlighting, jump to compile error) can be done with various adaptable IDEs. For modeling and texturing, I've never met with a straight answer. Open source advocates claim that their open source software equal to or better than commercial software; commercial claims open source is "unprofessional" and worse.

Modding takes time - You guys are comparing how long it takes a mod creator to make something to how much money they'll get in return. One thing you're forgetting is the amount of time and money they spent on the education to create mods. Learning how to mod in KSP is NOT easy, I know, I've tried.

If I could, I use to be in a different community where people had a fear that other people would steal their assets; someone came along and provided a 15 dollar "service/program" that claimed to protect the assets. Looking at the demo, I found all the service did was attach a self-extractor to a zip archive; and it didn't even bother to encrypt it. I showed you could use 7zip to extract the "protected" contents with ease... his fix was to remove part of the PK header, to which I wrote something to put it back in and found he STILL hadn't encrypted the contents. Few weeks later, someone else picks up the task, provides a free version of the deal, and the "Supply + Demand sellout" ran away.

The point is that there are quite a few mods in KSP that do "how did you do that" things, that are really just a matter of knowing how to read documentation. Other times it is a matter of knowing how to find interfaces in the undocumented code provided "class descriptions", though only a few times is it a matter of finding interfaces in the non-human readable parts. Examining these interfaces takes time, but, with human readable code, they're often self-documenting. The "odd fix", however, takes longer because you don't know what the interfaces are actually doing, just what they appear to be doing.

But, if we go back to what I was initially trying to say; people can be impressed by the simplest of code. People will, of course, be arrogant and yell and scream about how much "time" gets invested in a project... but at the same time the person was initially investing time for her own amusement. Being first on the scene, or being a monopoly, doesn't grant you RIGHTS.

If modulemanager, something that really only uses SQUAD's provided interfaces, pushed as a "for pay" application and managed to gain acceptance into the modding community thus ending up with mods that have commercial dependencies and all that muck, and someone went and wrote a free version of the same plugin, what do you think would happen to the community? What I mentioned isn't the only time I've seen it happen; and sometimes it can get down right ugly between the two. Even consider now, if modulemanager decided to switch to paid and had a prohibitive license protecting his code. What it does is simple, but now you open the door to claims of ip infringement and the even messier aspect if anything from his code can be found in original code on the boards. This stuff gets nasty really really fast.

Other people are already profiting off the labor of modders - While it may be a labor of love to create mods, that labor gets turned into cash somewhere down the line, whether it results in more sales for Squad or websites like Curse who hosts those mods. It's money.

This is a "piece of the pie" argument, I presume. Something that really should be pointed out is that the reward modders get is "official content." Modders spread information about the game, people absorbing the information buy the game, SQUAD uses the money to make the game "better" (because that is subjective), modders use new features in the API to create new features for the game.

Yes, quite a few plugins have been abandoned; more so when they have restrictive licenses that prohibit people from forking the code. Other times it is just a matter of no one wanting to upgrade it. Money doesn't really change this. Someone who is bored of the game and offering minimal updates to the code to keep it working isn't the type of person you want maintaining a mod. I respect that people should reserve the right to prevent people from copying their mod while they're actively developing it, but code segments that sit around doing nothing helps no one and SQUAD has made the decision to respect the original License in these matters.

Take a look around at what this 'open source' movement has created. Even the Apache Software Foundation, one of the most non-profit non-profits you'll find, realize the need for money. Here's their 990 from 2013. They took in over 1.2 million. Why? Because even labors of love cost money. Mozilla for you who think Firefox is a labor of love? $25 million. Even GitHub, where most modders store their code... has a for-profit business model based off these labors of love.

You're assuming that the open source movement is actually as altruistic as they claim they are. Non-profit is just tax code, which given open-source communities are complaining that EVERY project doesn't apply because it "Can be beneficial to people who want to learn about programming in x language" creates a problem. Mozilla/Netscape is born from a commercial company; taking the new route because of Microsoft's actions with I.E. Thank MICROSOFT for Firefox ;p

Open source isn't the best way to make capital, and open source companies DO hire professionals to add features or check the codebase for problems... but in some of the more altruistic parts, what features get added is directly proportional to how much funding they get, and they're very open about the goals being pursued. More so talking about Octave and the occasional time I've perused the boards, where they tell us how much it would cost to hire professionals that they talked to for features being requested.

[Fengist]

Modders spread information about the game, people absorbing the information buy the game, SQUAD uses the money to make the game "better" (because that is subjective), modders use new features in the API to create new features for the game.

So, what you and all the others who are for completely free modding are saying is, it's OK for Squad to make money off KSP and it's OK for anyone like Curse, who Squad authorizes to make money off KSP, and it's OK for Steam to make money off KSP, but it's not OK for those who actually love this game to the point that they're willing to spend their time and their own money to make the game better... to make money off KSP.

I want you to look at Wordpress. It's now one of the largest CMS, if not THE largest. I don't think any of you can argue that the 'modding' community killed it by getting paid for their efforts. Rather, just the opposite. Wordpress thrives because they allow those who put their sweat equity into making it better to earn a living. They've even extended it with every version encouraging people to write plugins, themes and widgets for it.

I don't know if any of you have been to the grocery store lately, but the price of food is not getting any cheaper. I mentioned that I write shareware. The reason I haven't written anything for KSP is because it doesn't put food in my mouth. Yes, I enjoy the game, I enjoy taking a break and creating challenges, spending time with the KSP community on the forums, making videos and tutorials, etc. I do all that for free. I could do a lot more if I so desired, but I don't. I don't put my coding capabilities into KSP because I need to eat and coding is work and food costs money. Squad has decided that only those who have other means of sustenance can use their forums to distribute mods. Now if you make gobs of money and have gobs of free time, make all the free mods you want. I certainly won't stop you. But, I dunno about most of you, I'm not independently wealthy enough to do that.

Don't get me wrong. There is a place for free mods. KSP wouldn't be here without them and I wouldn't be playing KSP without those free mods. And just like Wordpress, there's a place for free plugins and themes. But there's also a place for those who write commercial plugins and themes for Wordpress and there's a place for those would love to create mods for KSP full time but can't because they need to eat too.

Here's a hint, guys. Every game dies eventually. I've been gaming for well over 30 years now and not one single game I played 15 years ago (I still have a few from 10 years ago) is still in my library. It's taken Squad 4 years just to break out of beta. While they've done a stellar job for an indie, that tells me they don't have a lot of manpower. If you want this game to go beyond just the hand full of planets you visit now, if it's going to survive the test of time, and if this game is going to expand beyond just the community of enthusiasts that we are, mod developers are going to need to spend a lot of time and money developing for it and they'll need to eat too.

We can have the best of both worlds. Free and paid mods.

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So that's my take on charging for a mod. Some modders are professional though and do produce A+ mods and just might deserve the payment option. In my case not so true.

I agree, I suck at mods. Blender kicks my ass. But, I'm good at writing code and making apps. I've made a few parts for KSP and had no qualms about giving them away. I made them for me and if someone else can use them, great. But before I sit and write 5,000 lines of code making some app or website based around KSP, I wanna know who's buying my dinner.

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I think that the modders who'll make paying mods will just make themselves more broke than they are now ...

People can donate for a good mod, but when it comes to buy, they'll just get it from somewhere else.

Not true. There is no alternative to mods like Jeb, and KAS. Every single day millions of people spend a $1 or $2 on useless stupid apps for their phone. I'd have had no problem paying that for a good KSP mod.

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On the other hand, when you buy a product, you agree to a EULA. I challenge you to find anywhere in, oh, say KSP's EULA, where it says Squad's obligated to fix things. Why would (paid) modders be?

It's not in their EULA. But they'd be obligated for the same reason Squad is. They like their job and they like to eat.

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Modders should ask for donations, not sell their mods, because they are simply unable to give a GOOD feedback for all the people who'll buy their mods. Because guys, when you PAY for a mod, you don't say "please" when you ask for a fix, and this, modders can't take it or bear it for a long time.

Answer these two questions and you'll know why donations don't work.

How much money have you spent on commercial software? $___________

How much money have you donated to software developers? $__________

And you think because they take donations they'd be more likely to respond to 'please'? Let me clue you in. When you make money, or better, make a living off customers, you learn to fix what's broken or you don't eat whether they say please or not.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Fengist

[Camacha]

I think Squad will have a harder time if this is implemented. A modder, right now, is just an enthusiast that tries to make something nice. Very few strings attached. If Squad and Valve get paid, he becomes a customer of both. That means certain things when it comes to liability, support and in other areas. EULAs might mitigate some of that, but not all countries allow you to do that (or even explicitly ban it) and it will be neigh on impossible to avoid any foreign law being applicable to your business.

How much money have you spent on commercial software? $___________

How much money have you donated to software developers? $__________

A lot of the mobile apps I buy have free versions that work perfectly well, yet still I pay small or large sums of money to buy the pro versions after I found these apps pleasant and useful. This is never because of functionality, and always because I want to support the developer. Though technically buying, it is donating for all intents and purposes. I even bought the deluxe version of a game, while not interested in the actual content, to support the developer just a little more for their great work and efforts.

I know quite a few more people who have the same mindset when it comes to good and useful software. Not everyone is a cheapskate that just wants everything free or as cheap as possible. Those folks will find other ways to escape paying, whether the system is based on donations, payments or anything else.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Camacha

[Fengist]

A lot of the mobile apps I buy have free versions that work perfectly well, yet still I pay small or large sums of money to buy the pro versions after I found these apps pleasant and useful. This is never because of functionality, and always because I want to support the developer. Though technically buying, it is donating for all intents and purposes. I even bought the deluxe version of a game, while not interested in the actual content, to support the developer just a little more for their great work and efforts.

I know quite a few more people who have the same mindset when it comes to good and useful software. Not everyone is a cheapskate that just wants everything free or as cheap as possible. Those folks will find other ways to escape paying, whether the system is based on donations, payments or anything else.

You still didn't answer the questions. I'm not taking about just apps. I'm talking about everything software from your OS, to games, to business software... everything. How much have you paid to companies and how much have you donated to little guys?

[Camacha]

You still didn't answer the questions. I'm not taking about just apps. I'm talking about everything software from your OS, to games, to business software... everything. How much have you paid to companies and how much have you donated to little guys?

I am pretty sure I have compensated (what you call) the little guys much better for their work. Quality yields money, not force.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Camacha

[longbyte1]

I frown when I see people trying to mix money and modding. You want a full overhaul, make your own game!

On the flip side, I'd rather have modders try to sell their stuff for $40 than extort people with

nag messages everywhere.

[Fengist]

I am pretty sure I have compensated (what you call) the little guys much better for their work. Quality yields money, not force.

If you are being honest then Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Oracle, Google, EA, Bioware, etc. ad nauseam, would indicate that you sir, are an extreme rarity. Every single week I get notices from my shareware that someone is yet again using a cracked serial number. They'd rather risk their entire hard drive and their own identity by downloading an executable serial generator made by some leet-speak cracking group rather than compensate me, a one-man-band 'little guy', for the work I've done.

And this next quote is exactly what I'm talking about.

I frown when I see people trying to mix money and modding. You want a full overhaul, make your own game!

Here's some history for you. The Wright Brothers didn't invent the airplane. They didn't invent the wing nor did they invent the internal combustion engine or the propeller for that matter. What they did do was to modify all of those things, invented by others, to make human flight possible. Go look through Google patents. Humans have been making money by modifying the work of others for a very long time. Want another example, go search for patents on the yo-yo and see how many 'mods' you find. And be glad people do modify the work of others otherwise you'd still be living in a cave and beating your dinner to death with a stick.

It seems you have no problem with mods, it's the money part. I assume you have no problem with Squad profiting off these mods that others create? You realize all these mods influence the KSP buyer's decision... they definitely influenced mine. How about Steam? You know they don't sell copies of KSP for free... right? And sales are influenced by the modding community... right. So, do you have a problem with Curse profiting off of these mods? Squad turned the hosting of mods over to them and you know Curse is a for-profit company. Do you have a problem with GitHub profiting off these mods. It's where many mod creators deposit their source code... and you know GitHub is a for-profit company too. And you have no problem with Google, or Bing or any other search engine making a tiny little profit off the searches for these mods by pitching ads at their visitors... do you?

But you do have a problem with the person who MADE the mod profiting? Really???? It's OK for everyone else except the person who made the mod to make money? Are you actually saying that? It's what Squad and all these other game companies who forbid profiting off mods are saying. It's OK for us to make money off your work, but you can't make money off our work. Does all this profit being made by everyone except the mod creator honestly seem fair to you?

I nowhere said I want an overhaul of the game and I'm truly happy the guys at Squad are making money and that they're enjoying what they do. I'm glad my posts on these forums are in some very small way helping them make money. I'm glad to do it because I love the game. But I'm also saying, these mod creators, who go beyond forum posts and screen shots, whom everyone else manages to profit off of, should be given the opportunity and the option to profit as well. Without them, this game wouldn't have made it out of alpha.

And I'll make you a deal. You come up with the funding for me to hire dev's and fund us till we get into beta and I'll be elated to go make my own game! In a heartbeat... but you see... it takes... ... money (ooh, that nasty word again).

And yes, I'd rather pay for a piece of software rather than be bombarded with nags and donate buttons. That I will agree with you on.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Fengist

[Harry Rhodan]

The real tension will probably be between the people who try to turn modding into a living and the people who are still doing it for free, because the former will always see the latter as some kind threat that is keeping the sales volume down.

[AlphaAsh]

Deity forbid I consider charging for something people want. What's the world coming to? I've always had everything I want for nothing. I've never paid anyone for something I consider to have worth. What's next? Rampant capitalism? Rampant financial reward for producing luxuries? I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

tldr: Damn tooting I'd like to get paid for making mods.

[sarbian]

I frown when I see people trying to mix money and modding. You want a full overhaul, make your own game!

On the flip side, I'd rather have modders try to sell their stuff for $40 than extort people with

http://i.imgur.com/yE4vgGL.png

nag messages everywhere.

How is that extortion ? Do we put a gun on you back and ask to click and donate ?

[jerb]

As someone who has worked on mods and community stuff for other games, and currently runs two installs with 100+ mods, I'd be delighted to pay for certain quality mods. Supporting modders can only lead to some modders being able to invest more time and effort into creating quality mods. Modders have driven much of the innovation in the games business over the past 10 years, an era where big publisher games were fairly stagnant due to the last console generation and a decreasing appetite for risk. I see this all as evolutionary steps towards a future where there are many more content creators earning a living than there are today, and the quality and richness of the games and entertainment experiences explodes. I think those opposed need to stop worrying that they will not be able to afford the games they love, as most mods and experiences will be free, and paid mods will have to compete with free. We all need to embrace a future where there will be more talented people working harder for longer at making amazing experiences for us all. We should embrace a world in which people have the option to try to earn a living doing what they love for outcomes that we love. Win win.

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Furthermore, I think that many of those who feel strongly negative about this need to examine their emotions and understand that this is not only could be a net positive for everyone, but that removing choice from mod authors and dictating that they should not earn money to support their modding work is based in fears and assuming the worst of everyone. This is not healthy, live your life with openness and kindness and give people the benefit of the doubt. Despite what the hysterical 24 hour news cycle would have you believe, most people are decent folks just like you trying to figure out how to spend more time doing what they love. If they make product that is not worth the price, no one will buy it. I encourage you to consider making competing free mods if you fear the paid mods, the competition between commercial software and open source software has been a massive net positive for us all.

[Fengist]

The real tension will probably be between the people who try to turn modding into a living and the people who are still doing it for free, because the former will always see the latter as some kind threat that is keeping the sales volume down.

Tension? Good thing most people consider this 'tension' to be good for business otherwise you might very well have uploaded that post via punch-card.

There are many free and paid pieces of software that compete with the shareware I wrote. People still purchase mine because I offer a quality product at a competitive price. I even go so far as to list every single product on the market that does compete with mine, free or otherwise, with links to their website, right on the website where they purchase mine.

For every piece of shareware on the market, odds are, there's at least one freeware product that does the same thing. The free guy doesn't care if there's competition since he has nothing to lose. The shareware guy knows that he has to make a product superior to the free stuff in order to convince people it's worth the money. Tension? No. Competition. You, the consumer, end up with a wider selection and better quality products than if everything were free.

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How is that extortion ? Do we put a gun on you back and ask to click and donate ?

Well, it's not extortion. But, I understand what he's saying. It can get bad. I'm not sure how old you are but back 25 years ago, shareware authors tried an experiment to get people to pay for their product. Authors would release one, fully functional version of their software and then, nag the utter crap out of users trying to convince them to buy... hence nagware. Fortunately, it didn't work well. The sad part is, history repeats itself. Web developers are having to learn this lesson the hard way. Go visit any content heavy website, like CNN or ABC news and odds are, you're going to be bombarded with popup advertising.

Sorry if I'm somewhat hijacking this post but as you may have guessed, I'm rather passionate about this topic. I was about to start this exact thread when I found this one. I'd love to write software that enhances the KSP experience and I have already experimented with several ideas. But as long as have to choose between eating and 'labors of love', food comes first.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Fengist

[longbyte1]

I don't really understand software pricing at all. Functional software like timers and terminal emulators sell up to $70 for personal licenses with a free "non-commercial" version. So you either pay nothing or $70. Video games, on the other hand, could be 70,000 lines and only charge $20.

If I was a game developer, I wouldn't want to be selling my game for $15 and a modder sell some very well-developed realism overhaul mod for $20. That would damage my business because it would put my potential customers behind two paywalls in order to play my game however they wanted to, so they would not buy the game at all. Not to mention that I would get 0.00% of that modder's profit. Solution? Buy the modder off, get the code, and then resell the realism mod as DLC. Or just... put it in the game!

[Fengist]

I don't really understand software pricing at all. Functional software like timers and terminal emulators sell up to $70 for personal licenses with a free "non-commercial" version. So you either pay nothing or $70. Video games, on the other hand, could be 70,000 lines and only charge $20.

If I was a game developer, I wouldn't want to be selling my game for $15 and a modder sell some very well-developed realism overhaul mod for $20. That would damage my business because it would put my potential customers behind two paywalls in order to play my game however they wanted to, so they would not buy the game at all. Not to mention that I would get 0.00% of that modder's profit. Solution? Buy the modder off, get the code, and then resell the realism mod as DLC. Or just... put it in the game!

Pricing is based on supply vs demand. It has nothing to do with how much effort you put into the product, it's how badly the consumer wants it and how many flavors of that product are available to the consumer.

Your argument is that everyone should be able to play a game EVERY way possible without cost and that the game developer should reap a profit off those who enhance the game. Reality: you have many who abhor the idea of playing KSP with anything BUT stock parts. And you have many who play KSP with 100+ mods. You and I are just as different as every mod out there. You play your way, I play mine. And Squad IS profiting from those mods now by the simple fact that they exist. They know this which is why they opened the game to modding in the first place.

And I could turn your suggestion around and say the modders should be upset that the game developer is selling their product based on the fact that mods enhance it and they're getting 0.00% of the game's sales profit.

Solution: Game developers profit through increased sales based on the fact that mods exist. Modders profit based on the fact that more potential customers are created each time the game sells. It's a win-win for both.

[3Dave]

Lets hope Squad doesn't announce support for paid mods. Keen Software House (space engineers) recently just mentioned that they support the idea of modders being paid for their work. and the ratings on Space Engineers is already tanking on steam. Their forums are filling up with anti-paid mod rants.

GabeN has forgotten the root of some of valves most valuable titles. Counterstrike and Team Fortress started as mods for halflife 1 multiplayer deathmatch mode. and grew into standalone titles of their own right. They would have never gotten off the ground if behind a pay wall, discouraging the main population of gamers from checking them out.

I think the key to all of this is that mods are something people make for fun, which makes them unique and maintains variety in the mod community. when you introduce money into the equation, then the competition and trend following gets started, and pretty soon you boil down to 2-3 major mods, that do the same things, with slightly different packages, as everyone else has either quit the game because they cant make any money from it. or they just put out little piddly stuff thats not even worth the time it took to make it.

I have seen this in action in the browser game market. and its a very ugly trend. infesting web portals with what ever type of game is popular that month. We do not want this in the mod community at all. If your a modder, and you have suddenly decided that you deserve to be paid for what you have been doing for fun for all these years. then i present to you the green eyed monster. prepare to lose your soul and hate your former love with a passion, and probably quit before too long.

[DMagic]

But you do have a problem with the person who MADE the mod profiting? Really???? It's OK for everyone else except the person who made the mod to make money? Are you actually saying that? It's what Squad and all these other game companies who forbid profiting off mods are saying. It's OK for us to make money off your work, but you can't make money off our work. Does all this profit being made by everyone except the mod creator honestly seem fair to you?

Does anyone have a legitimate answer to this? One that doesn't resort to some mushy concept like the spirit of modding, or mods being made for fun, or being made strictly for ourselves.

I can't really think of any reason for why this should be so.

Not that I want to start selling my mods (Curse does give some money to people who opt-in, I'm seeing around $100/year, almost entirely from Orbital Science), or paying for others, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't think of a good reason for why others shouldn't be able to.

[sarbian]

Well, it's not extortion. But, I understand what he's saying. It can get bad. I'm not sure how old you are but back 25 years ago, shareware authors tried an experiment to get people to pay for their product [...]

I missed the "nag messages everywhere." part of the message and thought it was an attack on donation. My apologies

I was already putting PC together from part 25 years ago and I perfectly see what you mean. I agree that in game adds/solicitation or putting the mods behind add crap like add.fly is a pain. And situation like what is going on with Skyrim (ridiculous share asked by the publisher + upload from 3rd parties) is worse.

But my original point was more that I did not understand why it is such a taboo for modders to speak about money. And I am not asking (or planning to) users to fork any $ to use my work but I don't see why it would be that "evil". As I said some here work day and night on their mods.

When a streamer gets a donation you don't see 3/4 of the chat booing, so why is it like that for modders ?

[AlphaAsh]

When a streamer gets a donation you don't see 3/4 of the chat booing, so why is it like that for modders ?

Because since the dawn of interactive media, there has been the... dun dun dun... EULA. Ready to drop by at any time and bust your kneecaps. Streaming's young - give it time and the streamers knee-caps are next.

[Fengist]

I think the key to all of this is that mods are something people make for fun, which makes them unique and maintains variety in the mod community. when you introduce money into the equation, then the competition and trend following gets started, and pretty soon you boil down to 2-3 major mods, that do the same things, with slightly different packages, as everyone else has either quit the game because they cant make any money from it. or they just put out little piddly stuff thats not even worth the time it took to make it.

That's a rather pessimistic generalization. Is this based on fact or assumption?

I have seen this in action in the browser game market. and its a very ugly trend. infesting web portals with what ever type of game is popular that month. We do not want this in the mod community at all. If your a modder, and you have suddenly decided that you deserve to be paid for what you have been doing for fun for all these years. then i present to you the green eyed monster. prepare to lose your soul and hate your former love with a passion, and probably quit before too long.

You're comparing apples to oranges. Browser games are dumped on the market by the hundreds by companies that really don't give a damn about the game quality as long as they make money. Their model is to profit off the fact that people with real cash will massage their egos and pay to win. In KSP, there is no 'winning.'

And if you feel people don't need to be paid for their creative efforts then I challenge you to go into your job tomorrow and tell your boss you want a pay cut; That you'll work there just because you love the job.

[Harry Rhodan]

Does anyone have a legitimate answer to this? One that doesn't resort to some mushy concept like the spirit of modding, or mods being made for fun, or being made strictly for ourselves.

Because you are paying the game developer and Steam to develop DLC that you have to support for their game while having to invest more time to keep up the standard of quality and support that people will expect from a product they actually invested money in.