Nicalis, Inc. Case Study

In part to encourage impressive modifications and also to reward contributors, Nicalis, Inc. could donate small amounts of money to the top rated mods. On the workshop, there are nine mods displayed per page unless otherwise altered, which allows the page to hold up to thirty mods at a time. These positions can change at any time depending on community preference. For each week that a mod stays in the top nine subscribed, Nicalis, Inc. could pay a certain amount to the community developers through their Steam account. By doing so, the relationship between community and developer would become more symbiotic and equal, and motivate players to create and improve. However, the Steam workshop would need stricter regulations on which mods were eligible
Steam or Nicalis, Inc. would then be able to peruse the profile of any willing modders and execute a check for ownership based on date uploaded. “Antibirth”’s team would need to upload the mod onto Steam to receive financial retribution, which would eliminate their need to host a separate website for downloads. If “Antibirth”’s team and other modders were given only ten cents a week for each week their mod was in the top subscribed, their yearly earnings would only amount to $5.2, which alone is less than minimum wage for an hour of work. As of 2018, minimum wage in California, where Nicalis, Inc. is situated, is $10.50. As well, this money would have to be split in the case of mods being created by more than one player, which was true for “Antibirth”. While this is nowhere near the amount of money that the mod may be worth, it is a good starting point for compensation. Was Nicalis, Inc. willing to up the amount to fifty cents, the modders’ pay would be more than quintupled at a yearly $26, which seems reasonable in comparison to the amount made by Nicalis,
One fan, Chris Lowe, explains that “Besides a few mod makers who would obviously have a conflict of interest, no one wants to have to pay for mods. No one has interest in paying for content that has been free since its inception” (Lowe 2017). Free mods have been the norm in gaming communities, which has only perpetuated the ideals of free labor, or playbor. In the grand scheme of modding, the developers receive the most tangible benefits of profit and downloads, which in part explains the hesitance of players to see mods as worth money. However, if developers expect to reap the benefits of modding, then it is only fair they contribute to the cause. In her book about free labor and its impact on the Internet, Terranova defines free labor as being “Simultaneously voluntarily given and unwaged, enjoyed and exploited” (Terranova 2000). Free labor is not inherently exploitative, but over time it has grown to become almost expected of gaming communities. For “Antibirth”’s team, there is an assumption in the community that game bugs will be fixed and continuous updates made despite all the work already invested. In the grand scheme of games, modding benefits both the community and developer. However, asking the consumer to pay additional money for game add ons that are not official is understandably an unreasonable request. While game companies occasionally hire modders in response to