Hello everyone! 2 months ago I posted a very long Google survery asking the community various questions. Here are the results and I will also type an opinion for each result! n = 851 for the survery, a good sample size imo
First thing's first, my website. Seems like most people hear about my website from Nexus and Lovers Lab, with the third most popular being Discord. This doesn't surprise me as I used to be active on Nexus and LL. Most often times, users share screenshots while wearing my ports and they will most likely ask, "Where did you get that armor?". Often times they are then referred to my website. Regarding Discord, I'm very active there so it doesn't surprise me.
It was almost even. But seems like most barely do not visit my YouTube. On the positive side, almost half do watch my content. Most people in the community are here to play and mod Skyrim, not really watch YouTube. I'm content with the replies.
This helped me gauge why people visit so that it shapes my content. Most are there to see outfits being shown as often times, screenshots don't really do it justice. Looks like the replies Also indicate that they're just there to hear me. I'm very flattered, which is why I took on the idea of using V-Tubing to increase my interaction on YouTube. So far, it's been going well but I am trying to find a rhythm and identity with my YouTube.
I'm not surprised. I did not know this but apparently Twitter is considered toxic. Twitter is also not really good with showcasing outfits. I believe that these are the reasons it is not popular. This is fine as I am the least active on Twitter and now this survey as informed me that I shouldn't waste too much time on it.
I asked this question to help increase the availability of my mods. Before I was using only MediaFire because I had a paid yearly subscription just to host mods. Google Drive looks to be the second most popular so I decided to get a paid subscription for it as well to double host my mods and make download links more accessible to people. Korean community and others in Asia find it easier to download from Google Drive. Hopefully it has helped everyone gain easier to access to my mods.
A question that helps me gain an entry level understanding of the types of mods people want to use based on their purpose for playing Skyrim. Many play it for the actual story/quest. To me, this implies that most people would prefer mods that alter gameplay by enhancing it or changing it dramatically.
These questions are so funny. They are giving conflicting responses. I'm not sure what to make it. Can anyone in the comments provide some insight?
On the topic of outfits now to talk about THE MOST POPULAR BODY! According to my survey at least.
CBBE 3BA is the most popular body! I was a little surprised with this one. I thought the standard CBBE would be most popular and then 3BA would be second most popular. However, I think the reason this is the most popular is because of the extra jiggle physics that many people love in addition to being versatile in being able to use HDT-SMP and CBPC. It's a good solution for people with weaker PC's to take the CBPC route. In addition, CBBE 3BA comes with extra unique sliders compared to normal CBBE. The sliders are not numerous and redundant like BHUNP. The 2nd place popular body is BHUNP! BHUNP is similar to CBBE 3BA in that it can work with HDT-SMP and CBPC. Those that prefer BHUNP are usually the ones that had an innate preference for the UNP body shape. I honestly did not expect BHUNP to take second place as normal CBBE held a monopoly in the body department for Skyrim SE for 2-3 years before CBBE 3BA and BHUNP became mainstream. The availability of outfits strongly correlates to the popularity of the body. In my case, I was supporting 4 bodies but sadly, despite the availability of the body for my mods, it wasn't enough to sway the community. The similarity in the base shape of CBBE and CBBE 3BA made it near effortless to port outfits which helped it gain traction. In BHUNP's case, it shares a similar body shape to CBBE LE for easier ports. Congrats to both Acro749 and Bakafactory!
This question was asked to see where I can expand my modding. 97% of my mods are outfits. The second most popular mods are face/body presets. I can agree with this because many people have asked me for my body and face preset. I have uploaded them before and I plan to share it again soon. The 3rd most popular choice was weapons and texture replacers (I don't know why image removed the name). I like to do what the community wants while mixing in my preferences. I can do weapons and I can most certainly share the presets I use as well.
I'm conflicted with this answer. I'm surprised but at the same time I'm not. People enjoy packs because it is very easy for them to download. Just download and install at once and then batch build at once. However, since packs tend to be large, most of the time they cannot be ESL flagged and so they will take up a mod slot. It looks like people don't mind as long as they can get the convenience. This question encouraged me to start on the Ninirim pack again for BHUNP. In addition, I also have a major project for a [Christine] pack of mods.
I used this question to see how much effort I need to place when it comes to male armors. Often times, male armors are way harder to port because the clothing must be manually sculpted to the body. Not to mention that preference for male body shape is all over the place. There is the default body, SOS body, HIMBO, and now recently Talos Blessed body. The response is 50/50. A little disappointing. I was hoping to get motivation to increase the amount of male armors in Skyrim (my main level 61 playthrough is a male playthrough). But that's okay. I'll still port it from time to time but not as frequent.
PATREON RELATED QUESTIONS AHEAD
Disclaimer, I asked these questions to see community opinion. This will not dictate how I treat my current mods. I will not pay wall, ever. This will only dictate how I can thank and encourage my supporters. One of the questions asked my supporter what sort of non-mod related rewards can I offer. That was very helpful.
The first question was asked to gauge how much of the community is involved with external Patreon creators (not me). Not surprisingly, majority do not use Patreon to donate/pay for mods but the percentage is still quite moderate. The second question asked why they decided to become a patron. The answers are cut off but I will type them out below:
I want to show appreciation by donating: 70.8%
I wanted to commission a mod: 7%
I wanted access to a time exclusive mod: 14%
I wanted access to extra textures: 15.6%
I wanted access to extra outfit variations: 27.6%
I wanted access to entire locked mods: 34.9%
I kind of expected to see more people say they wanted access to extra textures or outfits variations (slutty versions for example). But surprisingly, it seems that many authors are locking entire mods without a free alternative OR the alternative is mediocre. It's also possible that things like face presets are being completely locked without alternative or maybe the full version of the mod is so good that they are forced to pay. This is sad. It's disappointing to see this. This is Skyrim 2021.
I just wanted to see what percentage of people that use my mods support me. I have no opinion of this number since my primary purpose of Patreon isn't to make money. Just a tip jar. AND ACTUALLY, having a tip jar has enabled me and encouraged me to buy outfits from DAZ with licenses to expand the type of outfits I bring over. So, everyone needs to appreciate those that donate for bringing the entire community free and varied outfits. Regardless if you donate or not, I still really love everyone in the community. To me, community rapport is really important. I want to satisfy as many as I can which is why i don't take the paywall route.
The next question asks what the community opinion is on mod authors that use Patreon. For mod authors that paywall, either timed or full lock, the opinion seems somewhat neutral if not just slightly steered towards the negative spectrum. It's somewhat of a bell curve. This is where my surprise starts, you would think that a community built on forever free would have a less favorable opinion on authors that paywall. Which then brings the next biggest elephant in the room: What is the community's opinion on paywalling?
As the above image says, one of the questions asked what your opinion is on paywalling. People that answered this question were free to type whatever opinion they had. When reading all the replies, I noticed a major trichotomy with the results........all the results were split in a way that allowed answers to be consolidated into three categories as you can see in the graph.
The results surprised and disappointed me. Frankly, people are okay with paywalls now. 33% people say yes it's okay while 24% said paywalls are never okay. The rest of the 43% said paywalls are okay if certain stipulations are met. I really did not expect this. I expected "no" to be the majority, "limited" to be in the middle, and "yes" to be last. But this isn't the case. How should I feel about this? I have several opinions as a mod author I feel that can explain this.
Money and mods. What is the line?
As a mod author, mods that extend beyond face and body presets take quite some time. For the average person, converting an outfit might take a few hours. The effort, energy, and time needed to port an outfit is highly dependent on the author's knowledge and efficiency. Simply put, the more you mod, the better you optimize your methods and take less time. Even if you save time the more you do it, you STILL had to spend so much time to learn the process. For example, I can port a full simple outfit for 3BA and BHUNP in just 10 minutes. In this sense, this is why many people felt that paywalling mods to any extent is okay. Afterall, the capitalistic market preaches that time is money. HOWEVER, I also feel that no one is forced to mod. So if you feel that it's a waste of time without monetary gain, then why mod?
We live in an age where amateur content creators are really taking the storm in the media that people consume. These days, many people like to watch YouTube instead of cable television. Many people like to pay sexy girls on OnlyFans instead of paying for professional pornography. Many people like to see and support streamers as the interaction, rapport, and customized content is invaluable. With the way Internet media consumption is evolving, many content creators are pushed to produce better and better content. Even myself, I have made vast strides in improving the quality of my ports and learning new processes along the way. I wanted to stand out. Without digressing, the consumers often feel that monetary compensation is completely fair in order to guarantee that they can consume the media for longer, whether it's for extra content or whether it's for their favorite content creator to continue doing what they're doing.
This same logic applies to mods in my opinion. If many mod authors didn't have Patreons, they would quit. If they quit, that means less mods for them (and by extension the free community since the mods get leaked anyway). If Ninirim never had a Patreon, the community would have 113 fewer outfits that they can enjoy from ONE person. Now imagine if several quit? We can see losses in the thousands.
I guess I'm disappointed because when i entered modding, things like Patreon and locked content was only a whisper in the community. As the years flew by and talent was becoming more and more scarce, it started making it difficult for people to get the mods they wanted. Many lost the motivation to mod and realized it expends so much time. Which is where Patreon comes in. I feel that part of the problem was how the community handled and took advantage of kindness. This is something extremely prevalent with the Nexus Mods website. The website itself isn't bad but the growing toxicity of the community drives many mod authors away. Many users FALSELY equate free mods with "entitlement". No one is entitled to free mods. In a similar sense, no one is entitled to troubleshooting help for a mod that's free. Authors that spend hours hoping to receive a few endorsements or even a few words of encouragement are often met with ignored and empty feelings, and worse yet, are often met with complaints about the mod or even strong disgust for the mod. Couple this with the fact that for the longest time, Nexus Mods had zero incentive for content creators while they filled their own pockets. Even with the changes they brought with the DP system, many felt it wasn't enough. But Nexus Mods cannot be to blame, they cannot be handing out hundreds in compensation relative to the large amount of authors they have.
For many independent authors, their earnings are crumbs compared to the head honchos that run the modding scene on Nexus, normally those that develop popular bodies, tools, gameplay overhauls, etc. And so what happened? They resort to Patreon. In Patreon, they can guarantee that the only nice comments they get are from people that were willing to pay them. Plus.....the pay. Some authors make exorbitant amounts of money. Even myself with JUST donations, I've made more money in 1 month of Patreon compared to 2 years of Nexus "donation points" and I don't even have to paywall.
To conclude my opinion on this, I suppose it's becoming the norm. Many people have different reasons for paywalling. We don't know their situation. But now that this survey has opened my eyes in regards to people's opinion, the next thing I would recommend is at least supporting authors that have ethical practices. What do I mean by this? Well, simply put support authors that:
Are willing to provide troubleshooting for the mods you pay for
Make original content
If content is not original, at least have the license and/or permissions
Positively engage with the community
I suppose only then can I justify the community's newest sentiment regarding Patreon.
Anyway, I'd love to hear everyone's opinion about the survey in the comments! I read everything that is sent to me in all social media platforms but sometimes I don't have the time to reply.