Bethesda: A Cesspit of Endless Theft and Greed

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mlee3141

Bringer of Dawn
Bethesda is destroying the modding community with their joke of a platform, and their willful negligence of Modder's rights and concerns everywhere. After about a week, they have done nothing to address the issue of thefts on their platform, save for a DMCA policy that requires us to file complex legal documents every time our work is stolen! This situation is obviously not enough, and they have decided to spurn, and blatantly disrespect and disregard all modders with such statements such as calling us "hackers", and dehumanizing us with such tactics as segregating their respective platforms for the PC/ XBox1/ PS4, refusing to show modder's names on the downloads page at betheftda.aids, and ignoring (even encouraging, with their segregated platforms) the active culture of piracy on their site.

Now, you would think they've done enough damage to the modding community already, but no! They've taken things a step further in the throes of endless greed, and decided to make a quick cash-grab with their highly destructive and invasive "re-master" of Skyrim! I have every confidence that the upcoming "re-master" will not only break the millions of mods for Skyrim already out there, but it will offer no new features of worth whatsoever (such as a new story/ main questline, or a 64 bit exe), but instead, will use this as an excuse to open the floodgates to the console crowd, and throw the toxicity of paid modding on top of that! They plan to announce this at the E3 convention on Saturday, and when this is officially confirmed, I'm done with modding and the Nexus forever.

All of my mod pages will be nuked, and all of my future projects will not be published (even team efforts; I'll make things clear from the start.) I will still leave my website up though, and stay in touch with my friends from the Nexus. I find it very sad that it had to come to this, but I want to leave before the storm of the century hits. Things will get worse, I'm sure, when bethaidsda.FYouHackers start taking down sites like the Nexus to stifle out competition, and keep modding under their boot of tyranny and oppression. I won't be there to fight them on this, although I would dearly love to, but I'm sick and tired of all the drama and pure exploitation of the modding community.

Now then, what can you do to fight Bethesda in my stead? Make your voice heard! Boycott them! Flood them with complaints! Stop buying their games, stop uploading your mods to Bethesda.net, stop being silent and post exactly what you think of their wanton destruction on their "official" site! Share the experiences of modders like me who had to go through hell on earth, thanks to Bethaidsda, and are taking down their mods in droves, or retiring from modding altogether. Step up, and become a new generation of free modders, unbound by any but our own hearts and minds; driven onward by mutual respect! Don't let our sacrifice be in vain! As long as the free spirit of a true modding community remains, then we shall never truly die. Long live free modders everywhere!
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
Very nice rant. Very well thought out and eloquent. Concise and to the point.

No - I am not joking. Truly. Very good and makes a lot of sense and certainly states the case for the modding community.

I do have a question though that I have always wanted to ask a modder.

Personally, I would never offer up my work and creativity for free.

Do y'all do it simply because of love of the games you mod; or because you can; or are you altruistically doing it to benefit others that I am sure won't really appreciate all the hard work you put in to it?

It is my understanding that y'all do not get paid for doing this. Why not? Don't you deserve to get paid for your efforts?

There must be a marketplace for this kind of thing where you could monetize your obvious skills.

My personal belief is that a marketplace for both free and paid mods (depending on the modder, of course) needs to be established with strict rules and regulations run by, and for modders and their supporters outside of the developers workshops.

Admittedly, I have not studied closely the relationship that modders have with the developers, but, I would assume it involves those things called "creation kits". These kits should be purchasable from the developer as part of the purchase of the game for each platform (from PC to console).

I am probably wrong in all of this, but I can certainly feel your passion in this.

I hope they include some of the work that all of you have done for Skyrim, but I also hope they give y'all some credit for it.
 

The Honorable Gidian Diva of Sass

Sahrot Vahlok Spaan. Bahnahgaar. Minion #88!
Staff member
Bethesda is destroying the modding community with their joke of a platform, and their willful negligence of Modder's rights and concerns everywhere. After about a week, they have done nothing to address the issue of thefts on their platform, save for a DMCA policy that requires us to file complex legal documents every time our work is stolen! This situation is obviously not enough, and they have decided to spurn, and blatantly disrespect and disregard all modders with such statements such as calling us "hackers", and dehumanizing us with such tactics as segregating their respective platforms for the PC/ XBox1/ PS4, refusing to show modder's names on the downloads page at betheftda.aids, and ignoring (even encouraging, with their segregated platforms) the active culture of piracy on their site.

Now, you would think they've done enough damage to the modding community already, but no! They've taken things a step further in the throes of endless greed, and decided to make a quick cash-grab with their highly destructive and invasive "re-master" of Skyrim! I have every confidence that the upcoming "re-master" will not only break the millions of mods for Skyrim already out there, but it will offer no new features of worth whatsoever (such as a new story/ main questline, or a 64 bit exe), but instead, will use this as an excuse to open the floodgates to the console crowd, and throw the toxicity of paid modding on top of that! They plan to announce this at the E3 convention on Saturday, and when this is officially confirmed, I'm done with modding and the Nexus forever.

All of my mod pages will be nuked, and all of my future projects will not be published (even team efforts; I'll make things clear from the start.) I will still leave my website up though, and stay in touch with my friends from the Nexus. I find it very sad that it had to come to this, but I want to leave before the storm of the century hits. Things will get worse, I'm sure, when bethaidsda.FYouHackers start taking down sites like the Nexus to stifle out competition, and keep modding under their boot of tyranny and oppression. I won't be there to fight them on this, although I would dearly love to, but I'm sick and tired of all the drama and pure exploitation of the modding community.

Now then, what can you do to fight Bethesda in my stead? Make your voice heard! Boycott them! Flood them with complaints! Stop buying their games, stop uploading your mods to Bethesda.net, stop being silent and post exactly what you think of their wanton destruction on their "official" site! Share the experiences of modders like me who had to go through hell on earth, thanks to Bethaidsda, and are taking down their mods in droves, or retiring from modding altogether. Step up, and become a new generation of free modders, unbound by any but our own hearts and minds; driven onward by mutual respect! Don't let our sacrifice be in vain! As long as the free spirit of a true modding community remains, then we shall never truly die. Long live free modders everywhere!
Can I get a link to all of this stuff? I'm sorry, I live under a rock when it comes to this stuff.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?

Gregor Moon Fang

Champion of Azura
So what I've gotten from this little rant of yours is that Bethesda is making an upgraded version of Skyrim so that console players can continue playing the game on next gen and this makes you upset because you think that this will screw with how the game plays on PC. Why would this anger you? This is simply a way to give console players (yes these still exist) a way to enjoy one of their favorite games while keeping their gaming up to date by upgrading to the next gen console. Seeing as how this wouldn't affect PC players as they always upgrade their hardware I highly doubt that it's anything to worry about. You're ranting off baseless conspiracy theory. You have to chill with that my man.
 

Hart

Sassmaster
Weeeell. Ain't someone a ball of sunshine.
 

The Honorable Gidian Diva of Sass

Sahrot Vahlok Spaan. Bahnahgaar. Minion #88!
Staff member
I undersand your pain.. I really do.

Companies try to make too much money and over do it.

Literally the reason why I stopped gaming.
I found ways to get DLC's for free so XBL banned me for a year.
I also found ways to get free gold membership, another reason why they added another year on.

Okay fair play they banned me for getting things for free..
But I spent like £300 on a console that was probably produced for less than a quater of that money. And I did essensially make them lose money.. (but like £50 out of a multi-billion company? bog off mate, that's money I could have used elsewhere, whereas its probably worth nothing to the company)

Any company to announces a re-release of their game is a company to avoid. Reviving old content to squeeze more money out of the common man, and wasting the countless hours that content makers (modders) have spent ingeniously manipulating and creating code for the older version, and then left untouched in the realm of the internet- a piece of forgotten art.
I guess you're not a fan of the HD remake of Final Fantasy 7.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I undersand your pain.. I really do.

Companies try to make too much money and over do it.

Literally the reason why I stopped gaming.
I found ways to get DLC's for free so XBL banned me for a year.
I also found ways to get free gold membership, another reason why they added another year on.

Okay fair play they banned me for getting things for free..
But I spent like £300 on a console that was probably produced for less than a quater of that money. And I did essensially make them lose money.. (but like £50 out of a multi-billion company? bog off mate, that's money I could have used elsewhere, whereas its probably worth nothing to the company)

Any company to announces a re-release of their game is a company to avoid. Reviving old content to squeeze more money out of the common man, and wasting the countless hours that content makers (modders) have spent ingeniously manipulating and creating code for the older version, and then left untouched in the realm of the internet- a piece of forgotten art.
You realize, of course, that what you were doing was illegal, yes?

Not to judge, to each his own, but, still illegal. Probably best not to admit it in a public forum.
 

Cordelia

Global Moderator
Staff member
In no way do I mean any disrespect to the people who sacrifice their time and energy creating the mods we love, and I do not wish to diminish whatever trouble they may be experiencing as a result of mods being made available for console players. However, we should also remember that the Creation Kit is still proprietary Bethsoft programming. To my knowledge, the modders use the codes and engines provided by the CK to create their mods. For free.

That means they don't legally own the work they've created. Obviously, correct me if I'm wrong on that count. However, it is why when you download the free versions of the Unreal and Unity engines, you are only allowed to release the games you create for non-profit purposes until you buy the full engine and license. You're using engines and graphic codes that developers compiled by hand -- you are benefiting from the work of people who were paid to create the engines in the first place. You don't get to profit from their hard work just because you put in a lot of time creating something with their code. The license gives you permission to use the code for profit. It says you paid them for a full copy of the code someone else strung together and compiled, and in return they are giving you permission to make whatever you want, and sell it for whatever you want. Until then, anything you make is still considered using someone else's product and code for free.

Same with the CK. Except there's no license, because anything you make with the CK has to do with a Bethesda IP; the Elder Scrolls. Which they also own.

That's why modders don't get paid. The content is their brainchild, and they have put in the time, and effort, and occasionally come up with DLC-sized mods, or complete overhauls, total bug-fixes, etc, but they used Bethesda's free, proprietary software to do it. That makes the content ultimately Bethesda's. The time and effort is not Bethesda's, and it could definitely be argued that the intellectual property of the mod content is not Bethesda's, but by producing something through software provided by Bethesda for use within a Bethesda game, it makes the mod the property of Bethesda, should they ever wish to claim it.

It's also my understanding that places like The Nexus are "unofficial" -- that is, not officially endorsed by Bethesda. That means anyone who puts a mod on the Nexus is not legally protected by Bethesda, anyway. Just as you are not legally protected from theft if the game you made on the free version of Unreal Engine has been plagiarized or stolen; there's no one to back you up or protect you, because it's not their responsibility to do so.

By providing your mod for use on console platform, you are entering an official partnership with Bethesda, who are not legally obligated to offer you credit for your work. Just as they don't put the names of the developers beneath the DLC you buy to go with the game. You are treated as part of the Bethesda team, as a whole, not an independent developer credited for individual contribution.

If recognition is what you're after in the first place, modding shouldn't have been your goal. Your goal should have been game creation, either in the form of the indie market after purchasing Unreal or Unity engines, or in the form of using mods to start your portfolio to sell yourself to game development studios so you not only get recognition in the official credits of a game, but you get paid for the endless hours you put into producing your end of it.

If Bethesda's "greed" has you so upset, then make something better then they can, and change the landscape of the gaming market by contributing something more than a selfish rant calling for other people to fight a fight you're unwilling to fight for yourself.

Do something, or stop complaining. You get no sympathy from people if all you want is for someone else to make your problems go away. Especially when those problems seem to stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of how the system you have participated in actually works.

Again, I'm not a modder. I'm not on the inside of this. I don't work for Bethesda. So I don't know what modders are being asked to go through specifically. I do know, however, that the CK is Bethesda's property, and, without a license for the mods created from that kit to be used or sold under the modder's preferred name, so are the mods created with it.
 
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DrunkenMage

Intoxicated Arch-Mage
http://www.geek.com/games/bethesda-...on-and-pc-gamers-may-get-it-for-free-1657914/

Yep total cash grab. That's some nerve of Brothesda. Giving the remastered version to nearly 15% of their customers. For shame.

Already looks remastered on the PC, and they've always had mods. Be hard to sell it to PC users as it'll probably be a graphics downgrade for those using enhancing mods and it offers nothing else in terms of gameplay or content. I'd laugh if it conflicts with current mods in this PC update.
 

Sah

Well-Known Member
the issue with the remastered is NOT if its going to be better or the price ...................its if its going to be the foundation for the new number six .................witch has been rumored to be the LAST of the Elder Scrolls Franchise,


Yes the PC version will be in 64bits witch is a step in the right direction and that the graphics on all platforms will be ENB quality & will have dynamic depth of field (yes I am making all this stuff up) ........and also will still be MOD friendly.


the question is how much of this is just another marketing ploy to sell more copies? AND MORE CONSOLES


at the end of the day I can on a PC; MOD the game to hell with graphics, immersion & overhaul mods........BUT it never will change the fact I am still playing the same game (unless the quest structure is changed, like new quests & other stuff)


my concern is number six ..................and why its going to take so long to develop technology for the new number six http://au.ign.com/ar...elder-scrolls-6 Is it going to be 100% full vertual reality where you have sensors that make you feel real PAIN with every hit, and has a real Dead is Dead setting where you actually die for real? (just joking)


but why rush ................The Elder Scrolls 5 - Skyrim is very healthy ..............the best game of all time ....... 5 years later its going strong even without a remasters version ............, if Skyrim was fading and becoming just a distant memory killed off by other games it would be a totally different story .........but as it is now, one of the biggest fan based games will JUST have to wait a few more years! (20.000.000 copies sold counts for nothing?)


PS ...............how many will have to upgrade to a PS4 or a Xbox One just to play this new upgraded version? ......so if you have a PS3 or a Xbox 360 the game will cost you a good $450-500 just to play the SAME game on a PS4 or Xbox One


if a Moder asked you to pay $400 for a better looking Skyrim you would say he was a scammer and trying to rip you off .............what? pay $400 for a MOD to change the way the game looks? yea right......But I wonder how many would pay PS & Xbox the same money to get the same result?


so Mr Xbox 360 & PS3 ppl...............we are so sorry to say .............but your stuffed!

the plot gets darker the more you think about it ..............yes I think they want to get everyone to upgrade to the next gen consoles that are on the market today ..............


so we go from Xbox360 & PS3 to a Xbox One & PS4 ..................it should be that simple and every one should be happy.


but using this ones powers of prophecy .............. Microsoft & Sony wont stop making NEW & better consoles ......................by 2020 there could be at least one new release (taking into account the competition between the two)


the NEW Elder Scrolls will be created to work using the new technology of the future console releases & this New remastered Skyrim will most probably only work on a PS4 or a Xbox One and not the new ones


Soooooooooooooooo that's a new consoles witch by the way are becoming more and more like mini PC ....................


THAT'S what there waiting for, the full utilization of a 8 core processor and a graphics card for a console to match that power .................pop into that console a SSD and you will have a powerhouse of a console to run the New Skyrim 6




3D world reality & gadgets that will let me pick up game objects instead of just clicking on them, swiping style menus like on mobile phones & the latest AI technology ...Skynet! ..............giggles
 

Voorth

"Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy." - Josey Wales
And with the way that the Fallout 4 Mods for PS4 are coming along (LOL!), it'll be shocking if they are even out for the Remastered Skyrim.

And if I can't mod it, there's NO way i'm buying Skyrim again, just for slightly updated graphics.
 

Papoy

DON'T EXPECT SPOILER WARNINGS FROM ME
Ok, sooooo, after reading all thse comments, i decided to put my DLC/Mods ideas? thread in trash can. Brb.

Edit: still need time to fiqure it out....

So, after reading every1s toughts on the matter, fact that this is a huge blow to modders stays. About Bethesda giving free kits, it's what they did on purpuse and now are suddenly pissed and blaming modders.
How I see it: they gave me a cake. I accepted the cake. I wished a wish and blown candels. Cake looks nice. They nail my face on that cake. Result, cake is ruined and my face is dirty.

Point I'm trying to make is, if they dont like it that kit is being used for free, why haven't they put price on it in a first place? They gave it for free and are upset that its being used. Welcome to internet, Bethesda. They have all legitimate right to do what they have done, but this is an asshole move.

Note: nobody is forced to buy this Skyrim Remastered. IMO, its not worth it either. It looks better, alright, but to buy same game for slightly improved graphics is waste of money. As for the next gen consloes, it'd be a miracle if 5% of console gamers even had skyrim. There are so many other games, skyrim is simply out of race.
 
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The Phoenician

Shiney, let's be bad guys.
Yeah Bethesda mishandled introducing mods, but I seriously doubt there was any intent on "screwing the modders."


Knowing how much mods can add to a game I plan on getting it. The updated graphics will be a nice bonus
 

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