A fan-funded multiplayer mod for the role-playing game The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim may never be released, as the developers of the mod “owe nothing to the fans.” What is going on?
This mod is about: The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is primarily a single-player title. However, with the extensive mod support of the game, it should soon be possible to explore the province of Skyrim together with friends.
The ambitious project “Skyrim Together” – a multiplayer mod for Skyrim – aimed to achieve this.
Current status of the mod: After a beta phase in early 2019, there has been little progress on the mod. Communication from the mod developers has also decreased.
When a fan in a Reddit post titled “Is something going to happen?” inquired about the current state of affairs and future plans, there was a blunt response from the mod developers.
Why might the mod never be released? Although the post has since been deleted, the comments made by the thread creator and several others apparently deeply affected the developers.
MaxGriot, a member of the mod team and the lead developer behind Skyrim Together, responded in this thread: “We owe the community nothing at all.”
Just that statement alone caused a lot of upset among the fans.
He then added that updates would only be posted when the team feels like it.
Additionally, it was mentioned: “The team is not doing this for the community.”
The community had been so toxic that the team even considered saying ‘Screw it’ and then either stopping or continuing, but not releasing anything for the waiting masses.
It’s further stated: “We do this for ourselves because we think it’s a fun project and we learn a lot from it.
The fact that people (fans) are leaving is our least concern. Because they will come back once the mod is released. We are not trying to build a community. Let’s just be ourselves and do things the way we want.”
Why all the fuss? Previously, fans and supporters of the project were unhappy with the progress and communication from the developers. However, the recent comments were the last straw. In a Reddit post with over 10,000 upvotes, fans vented their frustration with the developers.
The crucial point is: The community that has formed around the mod and “to whom nothing is owed” continues to support the development of this project with over $18,000 a month via the Patreon platform. A few months ago, that was over $24,000, at peak times nearly $34,000. So it’s understandable that such statements are not well received by fans.
The reasons for the standstill are also said not to be due to the toxicity of the community and the developers’ casual attitude, but rather due to the use of external code. That was apparently also the reason why the beta ended so abruptly.
It is said that they improperly used the code from the Skyrim Script Extenders, from which significant parts of the project apparently depend – with up to 25% of the mod being referenced. The developers claim to be trying to remove this code. Only then should there be access to it again.
All in all, many fans seem to have lost faith in the project. Often it is said that it is a shame how the so ambitious and promising mod has ultimately developed.
Update 2.5: Support for the mod through Patreon has now dropped to $15,418 a month. The incident has likely cost the team considerable support.
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