LEGAL FEES

Though Valve’s initial take on the issue of modders’ compensation was swiftly killed, some of the issues that it raised are proving harder to put down. Should the best modders be rewarded for their work, and if so, what better way is there than the disastrous system featured on Steam? One recurring proposal in Reddit threads and news site comments has been the implementation of a ‘donate’ button alongside mods in the Workshop, the common assertion being first that altruistic players are ready and willing to repay creators (a claim contested by Scott Reismanis, among others), and second that Valve and Bethesda cannot legally take a share of donated income. “There seems no legal reason why a commercial donation could not be shared between multiple parties,” says Jas Purewal. “Charitable donations could have issues, but gamers aren’t donating money to charity when they pay for games!”