Paid Mods on Steam. Controversy Abounds!

If you've been paying attention at all to anything in the PC gaming world then you know that the biggest news has been the choice by Steam to allow modders the option of charging for their mods.  This decision led to a lot of argument and even had Gabe Newell, the head honcho of Valve chiming in to defend the choice.  Yesterday Valve decided to yank the short-lived paid mod option but it still looks like something that they are considering for the future.  Does this sound like a good or bad decision?

Let me firstly express my complete lack of knowledge when it comes to mods.  I don't know anything about how they are made and don't often use them (I did use them extensively when I played World of Warcraft so I am a little familiar with how they can be great tools to improve a gaming experience).  I do know that some modders create fantastic mods that can make a game much better.  I also know that these modders can spend a ton of time to create these amazing mods and don't get any kind of financial reward for their creativity or effort.  At first glance I thought that this sounded like a very straightforward issue.  Let people get paid for what they create!  If they want to charge, and if people are willing to pay for these mods, why not?  Maybe some of them who make the most popular mods could make enough income that they could dedicate serious time to making their mods a full-time job.  That would be really great!  I remember the unfortunate frustration that circulated in the WoW clique when a new patch would come out and everyone would have to wait for their favorite mods to be updated.  Imagine if people got paid to update them!  Sweeeeeet.

But then a lot of other questions seemed to pop-up as I kept reading about this issue.  What if someone just added onto something made by another modder?  Who should get paid?  What if someone stole the work of someone else and represented it as their own?  Are there safeguards to protect that from happening?  What about the scammers who could falsely advertise a mod?  Is this just another ploy by Valve to make more money?

From what I've read, other people also had similar concerns and did not hesitate to let Valve know what they thought of this plan.  Apparently there was enough backlash that Valve did finally decide to get rid of it...for the time being.

My hope is that Valve tries to work out some of the questions surrounding the paid mod feature.  I think it could be a really great thing for people who spend time creating content for games.  Why shouldn't people who spend a bunch of time creating content to make games better be rewarded for their efforts?

http://kotaku.com/gabe-newell-optimistic-paid-mods-will-be-a-win-for-ever-1700219463