Nexus Mods has always been a popular site for mods for PC Games, specifically, Skyrim. Mod authors have created thousands of mods to improve the game and add unique features that were never available in the game. The mods were provided by the community members and didn’t cost a single dollar. Now Nexus Mods is going to provide a compensation plan for content creators who want to join the new program. It will be known as a Donation Point Program.
How it works:
Nexus Mods will contribute $5000-$10,000 to a monthly pot. Based on how many donation points (DP) are earned, it will create a larger fund that will be distributed through to mod authors based on downloads. $1 is worth 1,000 DP so mod creation will not be able to replace a full-time job. For example, if the total donation money pool is $10,000 (which is 10,000,000 DP) and the total unique download count is 5,000,000 then that means each unique download would be worth 2 DP. Ergo, a mod author who receives 25,000 unique downloads that month will receive 50,000 DP, which is the equivalent of $50 to redeem. The money value can be redeemed for PayPal donation or Amazon credit or unique items in the future directed towards modding.
What counts as unique downloads?
Unique downloads refer to a mod author’s page visit. So if the author has 14 mods on one page, any download from one user counts as one dp. Even if a user downloads all 14, the author would still only receive one point. All previous downloads will not count for the program. The unique download was considered the safest method by Nexus Mods.The start of the Donation Point program will begin in Q1 2018.
How to make the System safe and fair?
It would be extremely difficult to create unique views as somebody would need to create 20,000 accounts to receive at least $200 from downloads. Authors will only receive points after 3 months after the download. That way, downloads can be reviewed to see if there are any misconducts. Nexus Mods is pushing the program until Bethesda states otherwise. Any Mod author can opt out of the system. You can even state which mods you would want to opt in or out. If your mod is being used in the point system for a packaged mod program and you’re uncomfortable with them earning points on it, you can ask to remove it. The author always has the rights to the mod they created.
What else?
You can also save your points to redeem at a future date. The points won’t disappear each month. They are also expected to add a point transfer system if you want to give it to another author.
Opinions:
The Nexus Mods community has been relatively split on whether it is a good system or not. I don’t know much about the modding community but you can check the comments to hear from many people’s perspectives: mod authors and consumers alike.
Sources:
The Gaming News Corner 