All the discussion about specific mods and grandfathering aside, I've been mulling over what to post concerning these rules for awhile and with the recent attention thrown onto EK and AGOT I feel now is the time for me to post this, as I am at a point where I am contemplating if I wish to actually continue supporting my modification(s).
The rules that PI has instituted and the limitations on workshop just aren't congruent to an open and creative modding community; one which Paradox has in the past stated they do wish to encourage.
Total conversions and large scale modifications are simply too large for the Steam Workshop (without splitting up into half a dozen pieces and causing a logistical headache for whomever has to maintain all those parts), and the volume of downloads that many TCs experience generally require further financial expenditure on the part of the mod teams, who are often students or individuals that simply can't afford additional costs for a hobby. For the project I support I have already spent over 500euros over the past year and a half in costs for hosting a development repository, software license purchases and other costs related to the modification, all of which I have covered myself entirely. As a father of 2 young children with an upcoming house extension to pay off I simply cannot justify to myself any additional expenditure for hosting the mod on a premium download site or continued support for the mod itself under these rules; we cannot ask for donations, and so the community cannot support us either (note that I have no issue with financial expenditure for hobbies I enjoy, I am not asking for donations to be allowed, rather I am saying the more rules that are lumped on, and the more flak I/we take for something we're doing for fun is getting tiresome).
Total Conversions such as AGOT and Elder Kings have both provided additional sales to PDS/PI, the popularity of their related universes and the additional advertising provided to Paradox through their hosting on sites such as MODDB, blogs, forums, and the appearances of these total conversions in gaming magazines have all been for the betterment, not the detriment of Paradox Interactive; did you know that every CK2 mod that has been featured in a PC Magazine (which advertises both the mod, and CK2/Paradox Interactive) has linked
not to the subforum for CK2 but to the mod's MODDB page or other external source (in the recent Witcher Kings case, to a thread on TWCenter); do you really think you've lost sales rather than gained them from that?
In the future, projects such as these will be more difficult, people are likely to be driven away to more open platforms or put off by the overly zealous restrictions, and Paradox Interactive will lose that additional, free advertising and added longevity for their products (because lets be honest, it's the mods that keep games going as long as they have).
Some individuals will claim that mods such as the Historical Immersion Project or MEIOU drive sales to EUIV and CK2, but do they? These modifications perhaps encourage users from previous versions of the mods to make purchases, but those individuals are likely to purchase future products regardless; AGOT, EK and other TCs however drive sales from new crowds toward Paradox Interactive, introducing new elements to the community and increasing Paradox Interactives popularity. By implementing such harsh restrictions, you are harming yourselves; instead of encouraging a community to grow and spread, you are promoting insularity and isolation; but you aren't just harming yourselves, you're harming the very modding community that you claim to support and love.
~ Signed, a very depressed and disillusioned Paradox fanboy/modder.
