Valheim developers posted an update on the game’s official website detailing Iron Gate Studio’s stance on its game. In short, mods are A-Okay as long as they don’t have paywalls and are clearly marked as unofficial.
This post attempts to clarify which types of mods are approved by the developers, and comes after months of community outcry over the MMORPG’s official mod support. The game has had a dedicated modding community for some time, but with no official position on the matter, many have been confused and concerned about the validity of such content in the eyes of Valheim’s creators.
The first major issue mentioned in the statement was the team’s attitude towards Valheim mods. “First off, while we don’t have any official mod support, we’re really excited to see people take part in our game and create their own mods for it. It’s absolutely flattering that you want to be creative and add your own mod ideas! Iron Gate doesn’t have any Official mod support, which means that any mods created and used are at your own risk, and we cannot guarantee that mods will be compatible with newer versions of the game.”
Following this, the team at Iron Gate Studio clarified its stance on paid mods. “However, the one we get the most questions about is the fact that mods cost money. We absolutely understand that you spend a lot of time creating mods, and you may want to be financially compensated for this, but Iron Gate does not condone locking mods into paid Behind the zone.”
It continues: “We believe that charging for mods is contrary to the creative and open spirit of mods themselves, so we urge all mod authors to make their mods freely available to anyone who wants to play them. This should include the entire mod, not just parts The mod is free, while the other part is paid. If you want to show your gratitude to the mod authors, you can of course still support them with a voluntary donation, but we don’t want payment to be a requirement to access the mod. “
Finally, the statement asks modders to clearly mark their creations as unofficial: “Additionally, we would appreciate mods that clearly indicate that they are unofficial mods, both in-game and on any mod-available website. Sometimes joining a mod-dedicated server will automatically trigger a mod download, we just want to avoid confusing players so they can know if they’re playing a modded game or not.”
The long-standing debate surrounding paid mods has become prevalent in recent years due to the amount of work that went into some of the more substantial creations. The argument that people should pay for their transformative work, no matter the size or scope, is a compelling one: if you create something and put it out in the world, why shouldn’t people pay for it?
However, as mentioned in Iron Gate Studios’ announcement, this will be a murkier topic when paywalls are introduced. There are many concerns about charging for mods, including but not limited to how this will affect IP rights, how this will affect modders creating content for monetary gain rather than passion or real need, etc.
EA Maxis actually implemented similar rules for The Sims modders not too long ago, requiring that any unofficial mod content not be placed behind a paywall. It also caused an uproar among fans who received income from their modding work.
It’s these concerns, as well as the Valheim team’s own views on mods, that have led to this firm stance on the issue. Do you agree with them? Let us know below!
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