Can you imagine Better UI 2.3 being behind a paywall? It's essential for me, I couldn't play EU4 without it, I'd give up after ten hours, the original font simply puts too much strain on my eyes. Right now I played over a thousand. I can't say the idea is unfair, but I wouldn't pay for mods, no buts.
For me there are two types of mods. First, the additional content, if you complete the game, but you want more of it. New quests for Skyrim for example. Monetizing this type of modification for me is easier to accept. I still wouldn't pay for it, because it's most likely not of the same quality as the original game and it will stick out like a sore thumb. Another reason is that I don't like gameplay changing mods. Again, for Skyrim they're easier to accept, because they add new content on top of original one, meanwhile any new gameplay changing feature in EU4 will influence the original stuff. In any case, monetizing these kinds of mods redefines mods completely. Now they're not the additional content you can get if you're done with the base game, now they're shady DLCs of lower quality. Those DLCs one simply avoids. I am definitely not the target customer for this type of mods, there is not enough motivation for me to pay for them.
The second type of mod is the kind of mod that fixes something interface related and the like, nothing influencing gameplay in any way. Better UI 2.3 for Europa for example. This... Suffice to say this stirs some negative feelings within me. These mods should not exist in the first place. It is the developers responsibility to satisfy the customer with how the game runs. And if a random dude can make a simple mod that improves the game by so very much, while an entire studio of professionals who created the game in the first place couldn't do it, then shame on those devs. To clarify, trying to satisfy everyone is futile, but there are mods that undeniably should have been part of the game from the beginning, such as items being sorted in the inventory in Skyrim. These mods give a game another chance to shine and satisfy the player. In a way, putting in the effort and sacrificing the time into researching these mods, downloading and testing them is paying on top of what the base game costed. So why should I be investing more money again in a game for which I already paid in order to give it another chance? There are mods that reshape things that didn't need reshaping, without changing gameplay, just for the sake of looking cooler or fitting with something the mod creator had imagined. These mods fit in with the first group of mods I spoke about. I personally have no interest in reskins and such, I dislike skins in DotA (I do have my reasons, but this is not the place to discus this).
I'm not the most generous customer which is tied to the unfortunate size of my wallet, but I'm certainly loyal if the game deserves it. I recommended EU4 to a bunch of friends who bought it and also enjoyed it. I played for over one thousand hours, and I realize I am still a newbie in comparison to some people. It's a brilliant game, but none of this would have happened, it wouldn't matter how brilliant EU4 is if not for the god damned (blessed) Better UI mod for which I would not pay. Even if it costed less than a dollar. There is no guarantee that the mod will be of acceptable quality, that it will work and keep working on as intended with other mods or after the base game is updated. Once you set your mind to patching whatever bugs you with mods, you have to get through a lot of mods, testing how each one works and how combining them works if it does at all. Well, if mods were costing money, this would be the equivalent of throwing coins into a pitch black hole just to see what happens.
With games costing as little as they do and there being countless new crappy and interesting ones these days, I'd rather try out a whole new game, whether it's on PC or iOS rather than spend five bucks on an uncertain mod. Prices bellow a single dollar won't help to convince me. Instead of looking attractive, they will look just as discouraging. However, I do like the idea of donations, if you feel like it and you can afford it, knock yourself out. Rewarding someone when he deserves it can be satisfying for people on both ends. Ohh and Steam taking 75% cut is plain wrong.
With all that said I just can't say monetizing mods is wrong, but if this comes to be... To my eye, they will be as invisible as MMOs with subscription fee. If I had enough money to gamble it away, I would have gone to any casino rather than Steam. This pretty much sums it all up.
EDIT:
This has already been posted in the other thread about this but it deserves to be spread here too
Lovely^_^.
EDIT 2:
I could have written this in a new post, but I'd like to contain my full opinion on this subject in just one post...
I did not mention the long term effects of this, but the future seems grim. Publishers almost begging and tricking people to suck off just a little more money. As if games were made on assembly lines in factories. The quicker content is made, the faster it can be shoved down customers throat. It's terrible, and now it has become a trend to sell separate parts of the game - that the customer is already entitled to - right after selling the pseudo-whole game. Mods costing money stretches that money grabbing boundary one step further. If we get used to this, then what stops them from forcing us to pay for the feature of settings or even paying each time we changing something like a sound slider in games' settings? Sticking "purchase" button everywhere is really agitating, almost as if there was this intensely greedy gaze looking down on you, nagging you to buy whatever. Every financial model seems to be turning into the same pay-at-every-step model. It may or many not be as dramatic as my description makes it seem, but it rubs me the wrong way.
What is dramatic however is the power that Steam wields. They have effective monopoly on PC gaming. If they say jump, everyone jumps. It's a "paradox", they're getting more users and games, because they have a lot of users and games. If they do paid mods, everyone who can will follow their lead, but since they did it first and they're biggest service provider, they will no doubt claim the biggest market share of mods. Steam becoming even more omnipresent is bad news for everyone but Valve. This potentially leads to even more, audacious (as if the 75% wasn't enough) money grabbing. One could ask how is half the nasty stuff they do even legal? Well it's definitely morally grey at best. Although I can't say whether paid mods are right or wrong, I can say that nothing good will come of this.
If I was part of Valve, by now I'd be moisturising my hands after rubbing them against each other so much. Truly splendid idea, I can already see the swollen coffers.
Oh man, I keep adding a lot of words! It was a wall of text to begin with. By the time I exhaust my opinion on the subject at hand, this post will turn into a book with chapters and all
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