Bethesda's 'Creation Club' A.K.A Paid Mods 2.0

So E3 2017 brought around a lot of surprises, some good, and a lot of it bad. One of these not-so-great surprises came in the form of Bethesda's odd presentation that tried to take us on a whimsical tour around the company like Disney, but ended up coming across more like that tunnel scene from Willy Wonka.

So much so that when it came to not having an earthly way of knowing which direction Bethesda's going, they decided to jump the shark with the Bethesda "Creation Club."

For those who have (thankfully) been under a rock during this entire show, at E3 2017, Bethesda decided to try and showcase the "Creation Club." It was a way for them to present "mini-DLC," things that have been created by the community. However, unlike mods, it would also be tested and go through QA by Bethesda themselves. A lot of fans were already wary about something like this, especially when Bethesda tried to already install the idea of "paid mods" into their own fan base and it met with nothing more than vitriol from fans, and for good reason.

One of the reasons that Bethesda has such a dedicated fan base on the PC is because their games are known for their amazing custom-created mods. There are so many which add so much more content to their own games, mods that fix problems, or add things that fans have desperately been waiting for. Do I think it's good that Bethesda is trying to connect to their fan base through their mods? Sure. But at the same time, this is the worst way for Bethesda to ever "connect" with their community.

Have mods involved finances? Yeah, of course. There have probably been times when a fan has donated directly to a modder just to show some support. Yet there's been nothing like this. But sure, despite it's negative reputation, I'm sure that Bethesda is able to somehow pull off this idea of "mini-DLC" (whatever that is supposed to mean) and deliver some great content at a much faster rate, albeit on a smaller scale.

But unfortunately that is not what fans got.

Aside from the fact that these are obviously "paid mods" in disguise, mostly everything (so far) on the "Creation Club" are cosmetic upgrades. Things like new armour are available and all of it are only available through micro transactions. But this gets even worse! Aside from the fact that Bethesda have just attempted "paid mods" again, the fact that these are all cosmetic upgrades, the "Creation Club" is automatically downloading all the files for mods.

This is absurd, and the way that these "files" activate is through purchasing a mod which gives you a file that will enable the others, and there you go, you can enjoy your new Pip-Boy paint job for Fallout 4! It gets worse when you also realise that a lot of these cosmetic upgrades are already available as free mods.

But this brings it down to the final question, "What should Bethesda do?"

Well this is another classic case of a beloved company (Valve) shilling out for more money because it's far easier to make money based off your old hard work, rather than try to invest in making new games and provide for fans what they're craving. Valve has done this when it comes to "Steam" and were also happy to cooperate with Bethesda when it first came to paid mods (enabling them on Steam). However, Valve has recently been getting a lot of criticism for their new business manoeuvres over the recent years, mostly due to the "Half Life episode" recently.

Bethesda are also suffering from criticism with many gamers uninstalling their copies of Fallout 4 and no longer playing it. After even the disappointment from the Fallout community due to Fallout 4 being considered sub-par and mediocre, you would think Bethesda would do anything to not step on the toes of their fan base? But they've decided to slam the toes with a hammer and slice them off with this disgusting "bloatware" that they're trying to pass off as "mini-DLC."

It's not so much the simple fact that they've tried to release paid mods again, but it's the fact that they've vehemently denied that they are paid mods, and they're something even better. The fact that the company thinks it can pull the wool over our eyes is a clear statement to the arrogance it's garnered over the past few years, believing their fan base will stick by them after all this time.

What we can hope for is that Bethesda stick to what they do best and work on games, rather than bare bones micro-transactions. Especially considering their buggy games wouldn't be nearly as popular without mods there to patch them up and make them better.