Donation Points FAQ
What are Donation Points?
Donation Points (shortened to "DP") are the local currency of Nexus Mods that mod authors can accumulate, through unique file page downloads, that can then be redeemed for rewards through our storefront, donated to charity, or shared with other users.
How much is each Donation Point worth?
Each Donation Point is worth $0.001, so 1000 DP is worth $1.
Where do Donation Points come from?
The source of all Donation Points is Nexus Mods itself.
Each month Nexus Mods will donate, from its own money reserves, into a central pool that is then used to generate new DP that is added into the system and shared amongst mod authors who have opted in to the Donation Points system. The pool is supplemented by our
Mod Author Donation Fund on Patreon.
How do mod authors earn Donation Points?
At the end of every month, the money Nexus Mods has decided to donate into the Donation Points pool will be converted into its DP equivalent. For example, a total donation money pool of $10,000 is the equivalent of 10,000,000 DP.
A script will then sum up the total unique downloads that each file page has received in that month, from mod authors who have opted into this scheme, and divide the total available DP amount by the total unique download amount for that month.
For example, if the total donation money pool is $10,000 (which is 10,000,000 DP) and the total unique download count is 5,000,000 then that means each unique download would be worth 2 DP. Ergo, a mod author who receives 25,000 unique downloads that month will receive 50,000 DP, which is the equivalent of $50 to redeem in our storefront, share with other users or donate to charity.
What can I use my Donation Points on?
You can use your Donation Points in our
store area.
We will always offer the ability to redeem your Donation Points for money via PayPal and the ability to donate your DP to a number of different charities that we have selected. We will also try to keep the store stocked with various gaming related items, including games, software and hardware for your system.
How many Donation Points will I earn if I opt in?
How many DP you receive each month will depend on factors that change from month to month, including how much money Nexus Mods donates in to the pool that month, how many mod authors have opted in to the system, how many unique downloads your file has had and how many unique downloads all the other mod authors have had.
When are Donation Points given to mod authors?
Donation Points are automatically split between all opted-in mod authors at the beginning of each month. All end of month reporting needs to be gathered from multiple sources.
This means donation reports will generally go out after 6th day of the month.
We operate a NET90 system, which means we wait 3 months before we give Donation Points out for the month that just ended. For example, Donation Points for unique downloads generated in January will not be handed out until the beginning of May.
We do this to give us enough time to ensure any files that have accumulated Donation Points are legitimate and do not break our TOS. A grace period, if you will, to prevent fraud.
How can I opt in to the Donation Points system?
Receiving Donation Points from your files is not automatically turned on. You need to opt into the Donation Points system in general,
and then opt in individual mods of yours as well (see below.)
If you're a mod author and would like to turn on receiving DP for your files, please go to our
opt-in page and scroll to the bottom.
By default, anyone can share the DP they receive on their files with other users unless they've specifically opted out of the system.
Once you have opted into the system, you need to opt in each mod you want to earn Donation Points with individually.
To do so, in the site navigation at the top go to Mods > My Mods >
Mod rewards
From this page, you can now search for the mod(s) you would like to opt-in and do so by clicking the link in the "Actions" column on the right labelled "Opt-In".
On the Opt-In Confirmation screen, you can choose to split the revenue from the mod with other users by typing in their username, and/or with one of five different charities. You can adjust the percentage you want to distribute to each user/charity via the sliders below. Once you're done, click "Save" in the bottom left to confirm your settings.
Can I opt out of the Donation Points system?
Yes, you can opt out at any time from your settings page.
Opting out will mean you cannot receive DP under any circumstances and will remove you from any DP you might have earnt from your files had you been opted in.
It will also remove you from any DP you might have been receiving from other mod authors who are sharing a cut of their DP with you. Your share of that DP will go back to the original mod author.
You will not lose any DP that you have already earned before you opted out.
Where can I see how many Donation Points I have?
You can see how many DP you have from your wallet page.
Can I split the Donation Points one or more of my files earns between other users?
Yes, you can split the DP that your files will earn each month between up to 24 other users per mod on a percentage basis. For example, you can set your file donations so that you receive 50% of the DP, and two of the people who helped you build your mod each receive 25%.
You can do this for each individual mod you are the author of.
Can I give my Donation Points to another user?
You can specify to give a share of DP earned by a mod you have opted in (up to 100%) to other users, as well as send DP from your wallet to other users directly.
Can other users see how many Donation Points I have earned?
No, DP are not publicly shown anywhere on the site and are private to each user.
Why does the contribution Nexus Mods makes to the total donation pool change from month to month?
We cannot commit to an official figure each month as our financial situation and financial needs change from month to month. We need to be flexible on what we can contribute as our monetary situation can change from month to month. However, we aim to commit between the $5,000 to $10,000 range every month.
Why do you use unique downloads as the metric by which you allocate Donation Points?
As we're sure you can understand this issue is complicated and can create the potential for a lot of drama in the community. Whatever system we use has to be reasonable and most of all, devoid of subjective human opinions as much as possible. That basically means that there should be no one person or group of people in charge of who receives Donation Points.
Unique download counters are perhaps the most objective metric we have on this site and are a direct representation of the popularity of a mod, even more so than endorsements. And most of all, unique download counters are so hard to game in the grand scheme of things that they are the safest bet when it comes to preventing fraud. You'd need to make about 20,000 new accounts, and download the same file using each of them, to make any sort of noticeable dent in the unique download counters across the site. We think that's unlikely. In contrast, if we were to use something like the endorsement system, or the file of the month system, you'd still need to make a lot of new accounts but it would be considerably less difficult to game.
While we appreciate that popularity is not a comparable metric to quality and that in an ideal world quality would be rewarded over popularity (or equally rewarded), we honestly think that this is the only way the system can remain as objective as possible. If you start proposing rewards for file of the month winners or endorsement ratios or anything of that ilk then we run into serious issues in regards to people trying to undermine these systems in order to try and gain an advantage and, in turn, more points. The unique download system cannot be undermined in the same way.
For us, this needs to be as hands-off as possible. We do not want to be micromanaging disputes between mod authors in regards to this system (e.g. "that author asked for endorsements in his description/comments/YouTube videos and therefore got lots of points when that isn't allowed! Delete their points or ban them!", and similar veins of thought). While we envision there will be some disputes between mod authors over this system, they shouldn't be based on the metric we use.
While we completely understand a system that's less about popularity would be better, no such system exists that won't simply be a huge magnet for drama, people leaving the community over petty reasons and so on and so forth.
What unique download counter do you use? The one on the mod page, or the one on individual files you can download on a mod page?
We use the mod page unique download counter.
If you're wondering what the difference is; if you upload a mod with one file, version 1.0, and this file receives 1,000 unique downloads, your mod page counter will also show as 1,000. If you then upload version 1.1 of your file, and 2,000 people download this file, 1,000 of which are the same users who already downloaded version 1.0 and then 1,000 new users, then version 1.0 will have 1,000 unique downloads, version 1.1 will have 2,000 unique downloads and the mod page unique download counter will also be 2,000 (not 3,000). This is because only 2,000 unique users have downloaded your mod.