In the future, ARK modders will receive a scholarship of about €3780 (4,000 dollars) from Wildcard every month. This is intended to give modders more freedom to complete their mods.
As early as 2015, the discussion arose about paying modders for their work on games. Valve and Bethesda introduced a system at that time where modders sold their Skyrim mods directly to players through the Steam Workshop.
Valve wanted to keep 75 percent of the revenue from sold mods, while the developer received 25 percent. This triggered a real “shitstorm” and the system was quickly shut down.
Studio Wildcard wants to pay modders directly
Despite the problems at that time, the idea of paying mod developers has not died at Valve. Gabe Newell from Valve believes that modders must receive compensation for their work. However, not much is happening on Steam yet.
Studio Wildcard has come up with its own system for ARK Survival Evolved to compensate mod developers.
Studio Wildcard will now pay developers directly for creating mods in ARK. Jeremy Stieglitz is the lead designer, lead programmer, and co-creative director of ARK Survival Evolved. He explained how the payment program will work.
Every month, 15 modders receive a scholarship of 4,000 dollars
Studio Wildcard selects 15 modders each month and pays them a scholarship of 4,000 dollars (about €3780). The finished mods will be reviewed every month. Afterwards, Wildcard decides whether the development of the mods will be funded for another month. If the mods do not pass the review, they will be removed from the program. A new mod will be added instead.
According to Stieglitz, there is a possibility of expanding the program and adding more mods. This would be the case if all 15 mods are considered by Wildcard to be good enough to continue funding.
Hobby modders should be able to afford to finish mods
Many mod developers invest their free time into modding, which can often be difficult to manage alongside a job or studies. Studio Wildcard wants to give these developers the opportunity to afford modding and allow more time for development. The studio hopes that the mods can ultimately be completed and made available to the community as a complete product.
One of the best-known and most popular mods in ARK is “Primitive Plus”. The developer, Cedric Burkes, will now determine each month which mods make it into the sponsorship program and which will be removed. This could cause dissatisfaction in the community, as they will initially lose their say in the matter. However, Stieglitz does not want to exclude the community entirely and aims to introduce a community-friendly system. He is considering implementing a voting system.
Modders often do not work alone, which could lead to conflicts
Being paid for their hobby may sound like a dream for many. However, the scholarship system is coupled with a few difficulties. Usually, not just one developer works on a mod, but small teams often collaborate. Modders often depend on each other to get their mods running.
Models, skins, textures, or codes are borrowed from each other: “mutual inspiration” is common. This sometimes leads to conflicts within the modding community. Just recently, there was a case of two ARK modders who both worked on a Pokémon mod. In this case, the dinosaurs were replaced with Pokémon. One of the modders complained about copyright infringement and sent the other a DMCA notice.
Modders who join the program enter into a commitment
According to Stieglitz, modders who join the program enter into a kind of commitment. The studio expects modders to handle and resolve conflicts of this nature themselves. Once a modder joins the program, Studio Wildcard grants them rights to their work. Should disputes arise over copyright infringement, it is up to the modder how to address it.
A safety net ensures the longevity of mods
Anyone participating as a modder in the program is required to submit their source assets to the Wildcard development team. A game like ARK Survival Evolved often receives patches and updates that can render a mod unusable.
To keep the sponsored mods alive, Wildcard sees this safety net as necessary. The developers of ARK would only do this if the modder themselves is unable to perform the update on the mod.
Studio Wildcard will officially announce the sponsorship program for mods at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2017. On the same day, an update for ARK will be released that introduces a new menu into the game. Here, players can easily download the sponsored mods.
List of the first 15 sponsored ARK mods
These 15 mods have made it into the first round of the scholarship program.
- NPC Bush People by Swords (Link opens new page)
- Scorched Earth Decor, RP Decor, eco In Wonderland, and ecoTrees by eco (Links open new page)
- Ragnarok by Excited Kangaroo (Link opens new page)
- Structures Plus, Platforms Anywhere, Platforms Plus by orionsun (Links open new page)
- Steampunk Mod by iSpeZz (Link opens new page)
- Roraima by Jeff (Link opens new page)
- Castles, Keeps, and Forts Architecture by enc | ExileAcid (Links open new page)
- Survival Plus by Tao (Link opens new page)
- Ark Moon Survival by DavidBC (Link opens new page)
- Shigo Islands by ExilogUploader (Link opens new page)
- Madagascar Evolved by Hey my team rules! (Link opens new page)
- Thieves Island and Skies of Nazca by Tkat5200 (Links open new page)
- Inc by MRRadioactiv (Link opens new page)
- Ark Postal Service and Offline Raid Protection by jslay (Links open new page)
- Advanced Admin Command Menu by Woeful Macabre (Link opens new page)
What do you think of the scholarship system?
Also interesting: ARK Survival Evolved has sold one million copies on PS4 in just one month.
