Nexus Guidelines - Update and My Decision (Patreon)

A new design not slated for any particular use - yet.

I've been wracking my head all day about what I should do about this Nexus announcement.  If you sat and created a logic tree of the decisions I have and follow each path to its conclusion it is quite clear that no matter what my decision I lose something. I guess that's the way this world works now. 

Nexus can benefit from mods, Twitch Streamers can benefit from mods, and Youtube content creators can benefit from mods, but the modders themselves aren't allowed to benefit from their own mods or else they are greedy fucks.

You folks should see the people lining up on Reddit to defend the Nexus announcement. It really is frightening the shallow depth most of them have when it comes to understanding the full picture of what is happening here.  In any case, let me explain how I got to my decision.  It all starts with two choices:

Option A. Stop publishing mods on Nexus and let them steal what mods of mine are there.Option B. Completely play by the new Nexus guidelines concerning Patreon or services like it.

Let's Talk About Option A

So this choice has so many what ifs it isn't funny.  First I have to decide where I'll host all my mods.  All on Patreon or some new site? How to I reach users to get my stuff beyond the folks that already know I exist?  Will I ever grow? Should I make my own site?  Should I make a modding site to compete with Nexus (I can - I've been doing web development for 30 years). 

What if I did compete with them? Would I now be the new mod police deciding which side to take in the "you're a thief of my mod" and "I hate adult mods I'm suing you because little Johnny saw something that damaged his brain" debates? This is where part of my sympathizes with these greedy bastards at Nexus.  They have had to deal with these problems a long time and honestly, I don't want the stress.  I just want to mod.  So making my own business out of a mod site is ridiculous and a waste of time to think about.

Clearly I'm limiting my audience by leaving Nexus altogether, and in this sense they have us all by the short hairs.  I can tell you so many ideas I have about making a better community or my own site, or just using Patreon, but in the end, I just want to mod and create things you folks enjoy.  More on that in a second.

Now Let's Talk Option B

Here we are.  Exactly where most of you, or maybe all, thought I would be.  No other choice but to bend over and accept the Nexus Guidelines and comply with the rules. So, as I'm thinking about this, I realize something.  I never started modding to make money off it.  I started this journey to make things in the game I wanted for myself and it grew from there.  I love hearing the wonderful things people say about my mods and that is payment enough. I'll never get rich doing it.  I actually have a great job that pays me very well, to be honest.

The whole thing started when someone sent me a private message on Nexus asking to donate but he couldn't use Paypal because whatever reasons he had.  I didn't even have donations on Nexus turned on back then. I thought it was such a nice thing and what if I got enough built up to pay a voice actress to do some really nice voice acting for my followers or upgrade my GPU.  So I started Buy Me A Coffee,which was a mistake because that same week they stopped using Paypal!  I moved to Patreon and was very happy with how everything worked which led me to being here today.

I wanted to do more than just put up some paywall.  I wanted to build a community where I could talk to my patrons and friends and get ideas, collaborate and more.  I put the membership tier up to release my face presets, which I had been dangerously protective of before (I don't know why - its a face/follower modder thing I guess). The ideas grew from there and according to people in Discord they thought I was going the right direction and not being some money-grubbing modder with a paywall.

Which Leads Me To Today...

So you know where this is going right?  I'm going to keep this Patreon up.  I'm going to remove the paywall and make all the content behind it public - to appease Nexus.  I'm going to remove all my links to Patreon and I'm going to focus on playing by their rules.  I'm going to run a grand experiment and see just how far I can take my modding journey using just the tools Nexus has provided.

You can continue to pay a monthly Patreon subscription to support me if you like, or you can donate to me on Nexus instead using the Donate button there.  Also, you can choose to just support me with kind words or encouragement and ideas on the Nexus comments for my mods.  All of those scenarios make me happy and won't change a thing about my love for modding. When I do something I try to do the absolute best I can.

Nexus - if any of you who work there read this - I'm watching you closely.  If you fail to provide me a fair service and support AS A MODDER, I will throw this passion into being your competitor.  I will invest and innovate beyond your wildest dreams. Right now, the ball is in your court.

As of sometime in the day on April 30th, I will open all my posts to the public, remove the paid tier and refocus on providing updates, enhancements, and mods on Nexus itself.  

Thank you to all who have joined me on my journey and I hope you continue following me after today.

Heath Brown aka coldsun1187