Seen some people complain about Gumroad so as a modder who uses it (
https://opperslang.gumroad.com/) I figured I give my reasoning.
My biggest reason is that I just wanted a single place where I could upload my work with some pics and details and have it neatly sorted. While I could use Patreon for this I think Gumroad does it a lot better and more clear. The thing is that Gumroad offers a lot of extra stuff that I can appreciate as a modder and a nerd as well. Not only does Gumroad keep track of all downloads, it also tracks where users are from (country) and where they were coming from (link source). While those things may seem useless to you as user, to me as a modder they can provide a lot of motivation. I purely make mods because I want to drive these cars and if other people can enjoy those too that is awesome. My back-end tells me there are quite a few people who download my mods which in turn makes me want to release more.
Some other things for me are simply the fact that I only need to upload my mods to a single place. When I update my mod I only need to update a single file which greatly reduces the chance for errors. The other things I like is the possibility of reviews, as someone who always reads reviews I think they are important.
Finally about emails and money. Like others have said, most mods in Gumroad are free, you can just input $0 everywhere. Sometimes a mod page input box can say "$1+" this DOES NOT MEAN you need to pay 1 or more, it is simply a suggestion put in by the mod author. The email address can be literally anything you want. You could just input
test@test.com and it should be fine.
While as a UX Designer I agree that the extra steps are annoying, for me as a modder the easy access of payment is a real blessing. Of course I do this for fun and because I want to, that doesn't change the fact that I've spent hundreds maybe even thousands of hours doing this so if someone wants do donate me a beer I'd gladly accept it and it is very motivating!
I know there are a lot of greedy modders out there so it's always a bit hard to talk about monetization without coming across like one. I just hope people can understand that all my mods are free but a small donation means a lot. So if a Gumroad page motivates people to donate it only makes sense to make one, not because I do it for the money but it's nice to know people WANT to thank you. Just know that there still are a lot of modders that would never-ever lock anything behind a paywall even if they use Gumroad!
Sorry for the long post but I'd love to hear your guys opinion. Should modders all have a discord (requires account), a patreon (requires account), a facebook page (requires account)? Or should they be posted on sites like GTplanet or Overtake where copyright issues are bound to happen?
thracing.de
