I'm seeing games (CK3/The Sims/Cities skylines) release DLC done by popular content creators or modders, and I'm not really sure how I feel about it. On the one hand I'm glad they are being recognized for their work and getting paid, on the other hand, it kinda feels like it's turning the already unstable game dev career into an gig economy? Obviously, there are reasons why these studios can't have every creative and talented person working for them all the time, but if they keep going like this, what's to stop them from making larger and larger core mechanic DLCs more like gig work? Maybe that works for these modders/creators, but I worry about the industry in the long run. I'm sure most of the deals are under NDA, so how do they know what they're getting paid is more/less than what someone else did (and yes that matters imho, just because someone undervalued their work doesn't make it ok to pay them less - hence why salary transparency is important and the law in a lot of places)? I also feel like it encourages people to do free work (legit love modders, so no hate here) for the potential chance at getting a larger gig, which is common in the dev space, but I'd like to see that go away completely. I'm conflicted, and I keep hearing people say that it "supports modders" but it feels like in the long run, a stable core team of devs with job security helps everyone more. Like sure, donate to the wildfire victims, but what if the money ends up passing through a bunch of for profit companies who are actively hurting the environment? Just kinda feels off to me. Would love some other perspectives.