a big question what is the reason for paid mods?

[gray man]

okay so this kinda started in my head a few weeks ago but really amazing mods i hear about like the formula hybrid 2020 and 2021 mods and the formula junior cars from 1960 but they are paid mods and now I'm trying too fugue out the reason of it. why put a price tag some have even moved from free to paid just a curious person help me understand better

 

[elloLeo Kinnunen]

I would love to know the figure if you guys charged $0.01 per km or per lap for example.

 

[gray man]

is your profile picture "babs"

 

[Interslice]

Got the go ahead from high brass to add a donation button to our club race opening post.

AC - Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR @ Riverside Monday 22nd February 2021

Welcome to the RD Racing Club. This Monday 21st February we are racing the 1973 911 RSR 3.0 at @LilSki's Riverside and you are invited to join! All premium members can sign up for this event and slots are limited so make sure to tag a friend! This event will take place on the newly...

www.racedepartment.com

 

[Cote Dazur]

In most society, it is considered acceptable to ask for retribution in exchange for a service or a product.
The motivation inciting a modder to produce a mod can range from just for himself to intending on distributing it for profit. There is no bad reason to make a mod and the reason is no guarantee of the level of quality of the mod. Talent, work, passion and perseverance will produce great mods.
Expectations are usually higher if the mod as a price tag, but in my experience the best mods are not behind a pay wall but from passionate and talented individuals doing it predominately for them self, proud craftsman taking reward in creating an accurate replica of something they admire. Once their creation has reached a level they can be proud of, they may or may not share it with a little group or the whole community.
We should be great full to any modder, rookies or masters, sharing the fruit of their labor with us, as a gift or as a product, they all deserve our admiration, it is up to us to decide if it is worth paying or donating.

 

[Johnr777]

In most society, it is considered acceptable to ask for retribution in exchange for a service or a product.
The motivation inciting a modder to produce a mod can range from just for himself to intending on distributing it for profit. There is no bad reason to make a mod and the reason is no guarantee of the level of quality of the mod. Talent, work, passion and perseverance will produce great mods.
Expectations are usually higher if the mod as a price tag, but in my experience the best mods are not behind a pay wall but from passionate and talented individuals doing it predominately for them self, proud craftsman taking reward in creating an accurate replica of something they admire. Once their creation has reached a level they can be proud of, they may or may not share it with a little group or the whole community.
We should be great full to any modder, rookies or masters, sharing the fruit of their labor with us, as a gift or as a product, they all deserve our admiration, it is up to us to decide if it is worth paying or donating.

Well put!

One thing you left out is the recognition through the means of a review. Which in my opinion is a bit flawed. RD’s system is limited in a way that it often gets misused. Not fair someone can rate it 1-star for not knowing themselves how to copy and paste a folder, while 1000 reviews before that one were 5-stars. Sure, you can report it...but then content creators themselves have to monitor their uploads.

Not to mention that defending your content against a bad review is often interpreted as arrogance and elitism.

 

[Gevatter]

is your profile picture "babs"

Sorry to be a know-it-all, but no it's not Babs. It's W D Hawkes in the single seater Eldridge Special at Indianapolis in 1926, according to https://triplettracehistory.blogspot.com/2017/06/

Babs looks like this:

(BTW @Nicecuppatea if you're ever out of ideas... )

 

[aphidgod]

To give an idea how well donation works, I released a car 2 years ago, it has 19000 downloads and 110 reviews. 19 people donated, total $125.

You're doing well.

I've released two dozen cars, including half of the "top 10" list here at RD, and I've only received about $140 in donations over the 6 years I've been doing it. (And $50 of that came in one chunk from a fellow modder.) Not to sound ungrateful - I'm not, quite the contrary in fact - but anyone who thinks we get actual compensation from donations needs a reality check.

I'm $220 out of pocket for reference materials just on the XJ-13 alone, and that's not the only car I've bought reference material for, so I'm still deeply in the red on this.

And that's without taking into account the ~8000 hours of my time I've invested. (That's $58,000 if billed at US minimum wage, for the math-impaired.)

So, let's ask again... why are some mods paymods?

 

[Stereo]

(And $50 of that came in one chunk from a fellow modder.)

Yeah I don't know the figure offhand but probably half is from people who've also released cars/tracks on RD. The trope about the same $20 being passed around in circles kinda applies.

 

[aphidgod]

Yeah, with paypal taking 3% off the top each time. It's costing us money to not make money.

 

[gray man]

Sorry to be a know-it-all, but no it's not Babs. It's W D Hawkes in the single seater Eldridge Special at Indianapolis in 1926, according to https://triplettracehistory.blogspot.com/2017/06/

Babs looks like this:

(BTW @Nicecuppatea if you're ever out of ideas... )

yeah i asked nicecupoatea to do babs hahaha

 

[gray man]

 

[gray man]

View attachment 447357

where is the hood

 

[A.Bert]

Well put!

One thing you left out is the recognition through the means of a review. Which in my opinion is a bit flawed. RD’s system is limited in a way that it often gets misused. Not fair someone can rate it 1-star for not knowing themselves how to copy and paste a folder, while 1000 reviews before that one were 5-stars. Sure, you can report it...but then content creators themselves have to monitor their uploads.

Not to mention that defending your content against a bad review is often interpreted as arrogance and elitism.

Great point! While in photography, computers, etc there are many serious and knowledgeable review sites, in simulation they are practically non-existent. I found this one that I really like. Others? none.
PC Racing (tiiiips.com)

 

[TiiipsRacing]

Great point! While in photography, computers, etc there are many serious and knowledgeable review sites, in simulation they are practically non-existent. I found this one that I really like. Others? none.
PC Racing (tiiiips.com)

Thank you, on Tiiips site we try to do the most thorough and independent reviews possible.

 

[gecco]

...i guess the reason why i asked was because I don't feel comfortable putting info into a web site credit card info that is.

I was in the very same boat, just not feeling at ease at all with putting my CC into unknown
Websites, or even using Paypal.

However, decided to jump my shadow, and reactivated my Paypal account 2 years ago, to donate to @fat Alfie, and have since donated for quite a few outstanding mods and people to show some appreciation for their effort and hours spent.

Kind of discouraging to read, that donations seem to drop in so rarely, and sort of do not amount to anything much really...

 

[Nicecuppatea]

Currently sitting at £6.66 in donations, the PayPal Wallet of The Beast. Not that I mind though, I mainly make mods for my own enjoyment, it's a nice pat on the back that other people enjoy them too but I'd still make them even if no-one was interested.

I only added a donation link in the (extremely unlikely) hope that an eccentric millionaire sim-racer would send me a life-changing amount of dosh. No luck so far.

Thanks to the two people who did donate though, much appreciated.

 

[gray man]

you need more nicecuppatea your work is so good if i could donate 1.2M$ if i could i would also babs is the G.O.A.T

 

[Nicecuppatea]

I've read before that people rarely donate so I wasn't expecting anything, just added it for people to donate if they wanted to, no problem if they don't.

Was Babs the one that was buried on the beach where it crashed and dug up years later? I suppose with land speed record cars they're intended to go fast in a straight line so it would be odd to put them on a track but it could be fun to see what happens. Still got to finish the Delage (nearly there) and Rolland-Pilain first. I've come this far I might as well finish the set.

 

[Gevatter]

Was Babs the one that was buried on the beach where it crashed and dug up years later? I suppose with land speed record cars they're intended to go fast in a straight line so it would be odd to put them on a track but it could be fun to see what happens.

Yes that's her. Corners somewhat work for her, not brilliantly tho:

 

[gray man]

turns out rss stuff is amazing lol