Hey guys! Do you happen to play Hytale? Do you like my pretty Wyverns for Ark Survival Ascended?

WELL I've got GOOD news for you! I've made a mod for Hytale called Runic Pets! These cute lil guys have a summon item that can be crafted at a Tier 2 Farming bench, and when used, pops out an adorable, magical companion who will light the immediate area around you! No need to carry torches everywhere!

They don't attack, so they won't run off chasing some enemy, and they're invulnerable so they can't be killed! They'll also teleport to you if you get too far away from them or they get stuck! Do you need your shield to defend yourself or do you use a two hand weapon, but you're blind as a bat without a torch? RUNIC PETS TO THE RESCUE! These lil cuties can also be turned BACK into their item form via interaction if they get in your way, or if you want to try out a different one! There are FOUR pets currently available in the mod, but I'm working on more every day! :D (Crow, Bunny, Ghost Wolf Pup, & a Phoenix)

The next update to the mod will include a Stag, Raptor, and Fox (Kitsune- heavy WIP screenshot)!

So Hytale community Discord has been HEAVILY in debate over the monetization of mods and custom content- all in hypotheticals, because Simon has alluded to there being revenue for creators (specifically that the dev team will NOT take a cut for the first 2 years, therefore indicating somehow there's something planned)

Personally I think Simon Hypixel and team have a system already planned/set up and not much the community is saying will change it because Simon and team have already gotten TONS of feedback and considerations over the last few months on twt. At least not at the start. But Simon has been making every choice with SO much balancing and compromise in mind Im trusting hes come to a system that will likely be fine.

That being said, Im gonna yap because this is my post and I can!

Theres a few systems to compare to for UGC servers and mods being monetized. Specifically Minecraft's, then something more like Roblox's or Fortnite's.

Minecraft is by and large where the majority of the community is coming from (Hytale stemming from Hypixel, only THE biggest Minecraft server ever) and are how players are likely thinking of servers and server monetization- specifically things like ranks and/or lootboxes. Naturally, with this generally pay-to-win system, players are against it as its aggressive marketing and unfair.

Minecraft players are also very entitled. Java players (again where most of the Hytale base is coming from as Hypixel isnt on Bedrock and Hytale is going to be using Java coding language for modding) are used to getting EVERYTHING for FREE. It is BANNED for Minecraft Java to directly monetize access to things such as mods, Minecraft skins, data/resource packs, maps, servers. Commissioning artists to make these things is kind of a grey area, and admittedly servers often just get away with breaking the EULA. But this EULA statement is why CurseForge, Modrinth, PlanetMinecraft all host things for free and only are able to pay out site ad revenue to creators.

(Then there's also the Bedrock Marketplace which uses dark patterns and manipulative tactics to encourage children to spend money without confirmation while they recently pushed two updates that made the game LITERALLY NOT ANY KIND OF SLANG unplayable and made players accidentally permanently delete their worlds and have taken a week+ to fix it)

This has, in my humble opinion, damaged the Minecraft playerbase pretty irreversibly. Skilled creators- artists and programmers alike- have been denied any sort of direct income from their most popular work. Players are unwilling to pay for interactive art (skins, packs, mods, servers) because theyre used to not HAVING to pay and Bedrock has such a terrible reputation. People who have learned skills that are DECENTLY WELL PAID in the outside world undervalue their own skills and work because theres a culture of making entirely separate games in Minecraft for FREE.

So I will be incredibly disappointed if Hytale goes down this route of similar to Minecraft, enforcing very strict limitations on what can be monetized vs what must be free, falling back to rank systems and pay-to-win for monetization. This IS what Hypixel uses, so its not impossible.

I dont think thats a good solution, and I suspect Simon Hypixel is aware of it from the intense debates on the Hytale discord and the feedback from 6+ months of discussions he's had on Twitter. He's creators first, but has heard loud and clear player's outcries at not wanting to pay for mods and more when theyve already bought the game.

Personally what I think works better for what Hytale seems to be, is something more like Roblox's (GAME SYSTEM NOT THE CATALOGUE) or Fortnite's in-game donations system.

Now dont get me wrong! I think both Roblox and Fortnite SUCK. I dont trust either company. I am NOT advocating for Roblox's HUGE child safety risks or AI age-verification or paying devs that are a lot of minors in company scrip or Fortnite's collaboration with known bigots. Also not advocating for in-game purchases!

But when I used to play these games, what I noticed is that in a game's entry/ending lobbies, there were places to donate to the game's creator if you enjoyed the game. And I think this could work well as an established system!

Most players say that things like Ko-Fi and Patreon are satisfactory ways to monetize for them. The issue with these (at least for Minecraft community) is that they're FAR removed from where players minds are when they would want to support a creator.

To put it into perspective, to download a mod/texture pack, all a player needs to do is

Go to Modrinth/CurseForge

Find what they want to download

Download it and install it into their Minecraft

So let's assume they have a GREAT time with the mod or REALLY love the resource pack. For a creator to get a reward for their hard work, they need

A player to discover and play with their work

Decide they like it enough to be thinking about the creator's other work

Go to the creator's Modrinth/CurseForge page

See their other work

See on the side that they have a Ko-Fi/Patreon/Discord server

Decide they want to give the creator some money for their time and skill

Go to THAT third party donations page and make judgement there, see if theres any perks to donating

Decide an amount to donate

possibly be forced to make an account if its their first time, might make them go find the creator's page AGAIN

Make the donation

Theres over THREE TIMES the steps (and places where a player will likely back out!) For a player to use some of this skillfully made, interactive art, than it is fir that art's creator to get any kind of financial return on their time investment. Now not every creator WANTS a return on their work and do it for the love of the craft, and not every player wants or is able to donate. Both of these are fair and fine! But for creators that want (or often NEED in this economy) to make SOMETHING off of their work, the bar is EXTREMELY high. They need to get pretty damn popular on at least one platform (Twitter, Reddit, PMC, sheer numbers on Modrinth/CurseForge to funnel into a Discord server) to be able to have the FRACTION of players who will go through all the steps to donate. A lot of times creators need to consistently go out of their way to remind players to consider donating. This is simply a losing battle for artists who are already heavily undervalued.

So with the idea of in-game donation button for a server (where all Hytale mods are going to be hosted from, client side is confirmed to not be moddable) the process is:

Player plays game, donation option in entry. It is ignored at first

Player plays game, has fun! After finishing a map theres a prompt to donate again. Donation page is directly linked and opens separately.

Unsure if Hytale would have a built-in creator support page or just linking to a creator's Ko-Fi/Patreon

Assuming things are safe, secure, and fair, a player has had a good experience and a creator rewarded for their work!

Even if the player skips donating at the end, if they enjoy it enough to replay it a donation prompt is at the beginning as well. More frequent exposure + less steps = more likelihood for a player to donate. Or, a player can continue to choose not to for whatever reason and relatively easily ignore something they've decided against.

Is it perfect? No. But I think its a better compromise than Minecraft's options. This does hinge on cultivating a different attitude towards supporting creators than what Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite (which I do think is possible!) This is an indie game, indie studio. Hytale's community has been more than willing to go all in to save the game LITERALLY from death, said they were willing to support Simon financially in buying back the game from Riot. Within the world's largest indie game are going to many smaller indie creators making incredible experiences with nothing but blood, sweat, and the same passion and spark that saved Hytale.