I’m seeing games (CK3/The Sims/Cities skylines) release DLC done by popular content creators or modders, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. On the one hand I’m glad they are being recognized for their work and getting paid, on the other hand, it kinda feels like it’s turning the already unstable game dev career into an gig economy? Obviously, there are reasons why these studios can’t have every creative and talented person working for them all the time, but if they keep going like this, what’s to stop them from making larger and larger core mechanic DLCs more like gig work? Maybe that works for these modders/creators, but I worry about the industry in the long run. I’m sure most of the deals are under NDA, so how do they know what they’re getting paid is more/less than what someone else did (and yes that matters imho, just because someone undervalued their work doesn’t make it ok to pay them less - hence why salary transparency is important and the law in a lot of places)? I also feel like it encourages people to do free work (legit love modders, so no hate here) for the potential chance at getting a larger gig, which is common in the dev space, but I’d like to see that go away completely. I’m conflicted, and I keep hearing people say that it “supports modders” but it feels like in the long run, a stable core team of devs with job security helps everyone more. Like sure, donate to the wildfire victims, but what if the money ends up passing through a bunch of for profit companies who are actively hurting the environment? Just kinda feels off to me. Would love some other perspectives.
I think as long as these extra packs don’t replace work done by the devs on staff, it’s fine. Here are some things to consider:
- While it’s not specifically gig work, many studios already hire contractors to work on games while in development, just to terminate the contracts after launch. This also isn’t unique to the games industry, as companies in many other industries regularly hire contractors for a specific project or duration.
- If these content creator and modder packs stopped being sold, they won’t automatically equate to content being produced by the studio instead. The staff may be working on other DLC or expansions, after-launch support, or moved to another project.
- The studio may decide to stop officially developing for a game, but community-made packs could be a way for them to add additional content.
I used to play Warframe, and the studio, DE, would regularly add skins that were designed and voted on by the community. The studio still produced their own cosmetics, so it was cool to have additional skins and also support designers in the community. Ultimately, I think we should look at these on a case-by-case basis, as we’ll probably see some studios doing it “right”, while others may lean a little too heavily on modder work.
Look at your nuanced take. I forgot those existed recently lol. I definitely agree that taking it company by company or DLC by DLC makes the most sense. I think I’m partially feeling a little burned by the fact these DLCs seem to have had more care and consideration put into them than some of the official stuff which is just often sooo buggy. Modders have come in and made some unplayable games absolutely magical, and I just worry they are being taken advantage of and us as consumers just don’t know, but it might just be me so used to negative gaming news it’s hard to take things positively anymore lol. I think the warframe model you described seems pretty good seeing as it was cosmetics and there was community involvement, so glad to see it’s been done well in other places too. Thank you for your response!
