Reforged Workshop

[Lord_Marrowgrath]

As you know steam has own workshop for modding games etc. Dota 2 has alot of stuff for modding and owners of editors can sells their products.

Hiveworkshop becomes face of warcraft III community. We have unlimited resources to create good/bad quaility maps.

Blizzard needs to create their own modding page (hiveworkshop become to war3 workshop/or creating new one) for owners of resources earn money from their works.

For example: Custom models needs to purchase to use it in your map. But not for high price (0.1-5.00$)

Templates for 3-10$

And custom maps needs to have in-game purchasable features. Hero skins for moba, altereed melee, unit skins for altereed melee. Dota 2 like ingame music. Mounts, cool weapon armor types for rpg style maps etc.

blizard will take your earnings by 40% or much less/more

What do you think for that idea. If blizzard do that workshop, warcraft 3 will be bigger than steam community (I mean dota community)

 

[stein123]

So, more people would be attracted to Warcraft by monetizing stuff that is already free?

 

[deepstrasz]

I am totally against microtransactions but that's not up to me. If there is demand, then, well that's it.
Problem is, that if it happens, people will reduce, even stop making stuff for free like before so instead of a hobby and passion it becomes a job which may boost some but would have more negative effects on the community than positive.

 

[Hawkwing]

While I think it would be great to incentivize our users to create more content as we move toward Reforged, this would be counter to what I value most about this community. I have always loved Warcraft 3 modding for its accessibility and cooperative nature. I feel like so many people have thrived upon the open access to each other's work and gating that behind money might be a deterrent for a lot of people.

Of course that is only my opinion. I can see some benefit to this, but as I understand what you are suggesting, I am opposed.

As Blizzard is already introducing skins to Reforged perhaps there is room to allow assets developed by the community to be made available in regular melee matches through that system. As long as access to community developed assets doesn't become more restrictive in custom maps.

 

[Lord_Marrowgrath]

I dont think ppl will reduce when purchasable assets avaible on warcraft 3 workshop. So many ppl add free content, triggers, templates, models etc. And many creators will join our community.

Also think about it, dota heroes will have skin variations, spell effects etc.

Dota is a custom map, but players can purchase unique skins. Creator of map happy, players happy, blizzard happy cuz everyone earn - gain Money, unique in game things etc.

Also blizzard dont need to work too much for warcraft reforged. Only they will accept or decline in-game store assets.

lets do math. For example I create map and published for free and I added in-game purchasable items, visiuals etc for 5$ blizzard cut my 2$.

or:

I make a icon pack includes 100+ icons for 5$
and many more...

Players are enjoying spend money for many games. LoL, Dota 2, hots, many mobile RTS games etc.

 

[deepstrasz]

Dota is a custom map

Was, legally speaking.

 

[tulee]

Hiveworkshop has almost everything that players could need to build their own maps. People who ask for things that don't exist on HWS (at least based on the "request" section) mostly do not even complete their projects, and just think the starting point is by asking for a model/skin that fits their need precisely, even though many models could substitute.

While Reforged might have a deficiency of "high quality" models, most people will probably stick with standard warcraft 3 for custom heavy maps/campaigns. And even for Reforged, ripping models from games like WoW or HOTS might become viable if the artwork style is somewhat consistent with Reforged (which has received permission from Blizzard, based on what they told us).

What do you think for that idea. If blizzard do that workshop, warcraft 3 will be bigger than steam community (I mean dota community)

Your proposal is only relevant if the Dota 2 custom map scene is far superior to the Warcraft 3 custom scene (otherwise why else propose this in the first place, as you are assuming Wc3 will benefit from Dota 2's monetisation scheme).

Really hope Hiveworkshop stays as it is - FREE.

 

[Duke]

I can't imagine buying models to use in a custom map on which I am working for free and will then upload for others to play for free as well. I sincerely hope that Blizzard will not heed your idea.

 

[Devalut]

Let us look to Bethesda Workshop for a glimpse into the future

ETA:

Adding pay restricted resources would require data protection on maps so other could not just extract it all your paid high quality models, triggers, and sounds.

A possible outcome could be Commissions, once completed it's shared to the community, Art commissions "usually" follow this and could provide a market for those willing to pay while still contributing to the community.
Though this outcome could result in a loss for basic requests and quality standards that can't be enforced.

I find the idea silly considering data can be replicated infinitely with little effort.
Look at movies, music, and photos, when was the last time you purchased a dvd, or paid for a song?

 

[Daffa]

Paid game? Okay.

Paid mod content? Let's see... NO!

From my perspective, I do think of having the mod content monetized at some point in my career but it would only bring havoc and destruction to the whole modding scene. We are doing unjust to people who have done lots of work from the past. It also damages thr community sharing and means Blizzard need a BIG PROTECTION for all the maps to prevent thefts.

 

[Rui]

Pay for enhanced aesthetics? Go for it. Not quite a fan of the idea of monetizing maps, however.

 

[Napoqe]

I'm second on this topic in favor of this.

I believe, that we should not meddle in this.
Scrits in Dota 2 can do monetization and I think most are using it with good sense. In this game a lot of the popular mods uses the battle pass, that of access the information, 3D models, etc without interfering in the gameplay.

I'm in favor of being able to monetize with custom maps and mods, but with good sense and rules.
I think it will add more content than mess up the modding.

And about a own Warcraft 3 workshop, that would be more one concurrent for Hive.
I give my opinion that I wish Hive does not change its free content policy.

 

[Archian]

This would be the death of warcraft modding if everyone did this. However, content creators are free to link to their PayPal accounts etc. if people wish to support them in that regard by donating them money of their own free will. But we will never endorse monetizing user submitted resources.

And if a new site was created that demands money for user created assets for Warcraft 3, Hive would crush such a site into dust.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Is your Patreon not going well, Marrow?
If you want Hive and Warcraft to die, go ahead and do that.
No one will ever make a living from modding an old game like this.

So, tldr: No.

 

[tulee]

And if a new site was created that demands money for user created assets for Warcraft 3, Hive would crush such a site into dust.

That is a really good point. As long as hiveworkshop exists, it would be extremely hard for a community that supports the monetisation idea in Warcraft to exist, since everyone would just go hiveworkshop.

 

[Lord_Marrowgrath]

Is your Patreon not going well, Marrow?
If you want Hive and Warcraft to die, go ahead and do that.
No one will ever make a living from modding an old game like this.

So, tldr: No.

It's not about personal thing. Also I have a real job, just opened patreon for donation. I dont have time to work hard for a custom map.
It's about everyone. Many modellers brings high quality models on steamworkshop and they sell their content. It's a additional earning. Hobbyst can become proffesional.
Money can boost ourself to work hard for modding.

Blizzard Earn, you earn, everyone earn. And population will grow higher than ever. World editor is limitless to create unique contents.

Dota moved to steam cuz creator of dota didnt get reward or anything like that from blizzard. Blizzard lost 30 million moba player. Blizzard needs to carry us to work/enjoy on warcraft.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Poor poor Blizzard. It is not like they earn tons of money with WoW subs or Overwatch lootboxes. Cry me a river.
Paid modding divided Skyrim, it will do the same here.
No to paid modding, go get that the fuck out of here.
Asking for volunteery support is fine, but forced payments in modding? No.

 

[deepstrasz]

It's not about personal thing

it's about greed.

Hobbyst

and

proffesional

don't go together.

Dota moved to steam cuz

Steam (Valve actually?) was smart enough to realize this as potential business.

 

[Archian]

Money can boost ourself to work hard for modding.

But it should never be necessary/mandatory to pay for assets but it could be an voluntary option if folks wanna support their favorite content creators.

 

[Lord_Marrowgrath]

It's a discussion. I just want to your hear your opinions. Please calm down everyone. Just share your opinion and dont blame anyone and do not try to make personal issue.

 

[Murlocologist]

In my opinion, keep money away from website like this.

Custom creators should find driving force to create resources in goals such as improving themselves and their skills, be it coding, modeling or other, not in money.


Also userbase is limited. I doubt it will increase when reforged comes, simply because there will be probably more organized and polished websites than this one to download resources from. At least they won't have tens of thousands of resources you can't even navigate through to find quality stuff. Also if THW cared to be competitive against those websites, they would not wait for reforged to come out to sort website out, at least if they learned anything from SC2 section attempt from years ago.

 

[Archian]

We are working on Hive 2.5 with loads of improvements, such as new improved resource sections, better search function, new forum theme style etc.

 

[FeelsGoodMan]

We are working on Hive 2.5 with loads of improvements, such as new improved resource sections, better search function, new forum theme style etc.

Will we stick to XenForo just with a different theme or are we going over to a completely different forum software?

 

[Nowow]

I don't think monetization will have the effect you're hoping for.

As a start, truly monetizing assets will require a centralized authority which will accept assets, filter and grade them, accept user transaction and all related problems - i.e. it will default to blizzard doing it. So this will a) limit the creators' freedom, because what you can do out here you can't do under the scrutiny of a company as large as blizzard, b) require map protection, so no more downloading a map and seeing how they did some trigger.

Second, I don't think this will increase the amount of content, perhaps the opposite. Once money is on the table, most will go to a lower common denominator to sell their stuff to a larger crowd. For example: why would a modeller in his right mind toil to create a completely original model, when they can simply create a new skimpy model for [insert female hero name]? Things like the request thread here would be gone as well. Why do something for free when you can commission the simple edits you make for money, and why would you pay for simple edits?
The community, in this site at least, relies a lot on trust and mutual assistance, and I think inserting money to the equation will detract a lot of that community sense.

(Good) custom maps can't be buying restricted. I don't know about you, but as much as I download maps from the resource section, I download no less from the development thread. Modders need a shout box to showcase, get feedback, and hone their maps. Restrict that with payment and no one will play/playtest your map. On the other hands making a map free to download will make sure no one buys the finished product. After all, they can get the "almost" finished one for free.

Lastly, I don't think it will have a large enough market for someone to make money off of it, except maybe blizzard if the take a cut of all transactions. I'm not aware of a larger WC3 modding community then this site, and it has a total of 90k users, including users not active in the last 10 years or more. Add to that Grubby's whole viewing that's about 25-40k more. That's not enough buying power.

In short, it might get momentary gain for blizzard, but I can't see how the community or the individual modder gaining anything from it.

 

[Strydhaizer]

Heh, Bethesda did this "paid mods" you're talking (twice infact), it received a serious backlash. If this happens to Warcraft III the same thing will happen.

I am a hundred percent against paid mods, same thing to microtransactions.

However I am not against web-ads that doesn't interrupt the user experience (no pop-ups or huge ads, banners are fine, like Nexusmods), maybe an option for the uploader to add advertisements to the page where the uploader attached his resources and then the give the ad-revenue to the uploader and the site (Hiveworkshop), maybe this will work.

 

[deepstrasz]

In my opinion, keep money away from website like this.

Except for donations

In short, it might get momentary gain for blizzard

Too little which won't be worth it but actually complicated. They'll go for official microtransactions instead, safer and much more efficient.

 

[Tauer]

Paid mods is a crime against nature.

 

[Himperion]

If something Blizzard lost their ability to engage with modders as SC2 shows, up to HOTS and early Void the number of campaigns and models were on the lower end, compared with a similar number of years in WC3, and WC3 has to live with peak WoW.

Any real monetary experiment will need Blizzard aproval and control, and given the last two years, i'm don't need a crystal ball to see this ending bad for the community.

 

[Napoqe]

It does not have to be extremism.

I did not do searchs about community with paid mods. But making a game depending will give a lot more work, money, staff, etc than a paid mod.
The mod paid, could have depending more chance of content of better quality, since it could outsource (commissions, etc) some things like for example 3D models, etc.
It would be a middle ground, since it would not have autonomy of an independent game but in return would have access to the resources of the host game, less work, etc.

The Dota 2, has most of the resources of modding I think are free as for examples tutorials, tools, frameworks, etc.
But the Hive Workshop when compared to Moddota, this last one is small although it contributes a lot with Dota 2 modding.
I believe the arts contributions of Dota 2 directly to its modding, is very small, the whole is much smaller than the Hive site. I'm even surprised at how many 3D models, icons, etc have on Hive.

Although, cosmetic items are increasingly contributing to the Dota 2 modding, they should not be considered. Because I think goals of this is for Dota 2 game (Heroes, Couriers, Wards, etc.), and not directly to Dota 2 modding.

Element TD, Dota Auto Chess and Roshpit Champions have Battle Pass, I think the money comes from these should help the developers costs and I believe they undo of this without protesting with these incomes.

 

[deepstrasz]

The mod paid, could have depending more chance of content of better quality, since it could outsource (commissions, etc) some things like for example 3D models, etc.

I don't know. I think @Zwiebelchen could tell you more since he made one or two contests in which content for his mod was to be created and the reward was real money.