Guidelines for Collections

Preface

Please note that our collections system is still in the testing phase and as such the following guidelines are preliminary and subject to change.

We understand and appreciate the delicate balance and relationship between mods and collections, as well as mod authors and collection curators.

As the aim of the collection system is to make modding better and easier for everyone, these rules and guidelines are in place to ensure that nothing a collection or collection curator does will negatively impact mod authors and their work.

We believe that there is a place for both mods and collections on our site, and we’re going to do our best to ensure the relationship between the two is a mutually beneficial one.

Terminology

Collections are released into the public domain

In essence, collections are lists of mods that can be installed automatically through Vortex. 

As such they are ultimately an evolved version of traditional mod lists or mod guides instructing users on which mods to download and install in order to (re)create a particular gameplay experience.

While we appreciate that making a really good mod list can be a lot of work, we do not feel that such a list of mods and/or instructions can or should be something that can be owned the same way, for example, a 3D asset or music track can. When you upload your collection to Nexus Mods, you agree that the list itself, and the associated metadata (summary, description, instructions) is released to the public domain. Within the context of our site that means that anyone will be allowed to create a similar or near-identical collection or use your collection as a base for a new one etc.

To prevent spam, we will, however, remove collections that are exact duplicates of already existing ones.

Curating a collection does not in any way shape or form give you ownership of, or any rights pertaining to the mods in the collection.

Mods referenced in collections

When you release a mod on Nexus Mods, you retain the rights to any assets you own and we will enforce our File Submission Guidelines i.e. no one can take your assets/work and redistribute them without your express permission.

That being said, please note that the inclusion of a mod in a collection, in general, is merely a reference similar to including a mod in a list of mods recommended for a specific gameplay experience (e.g. Top 10 Best Magic Mods).No one can enforce whether others can or cannot include their mod in a mod list, and we believe that the same should apply for a Nexus Mods collection - which is ultimately only a list referencing various mods.

That being said, we do enforce collection-specific guidelines guaranteeing the respectful handling of mods made part of a given collection.

Bundled assets

As part of our collection system, we provide the ability for curators to bundle assets with their collection. This feature is intended for curators to be able to include specific files generated by third-party tools such as e.g. LOD files for the Bethesda games (created by tools such as DynDOLOD).

Please note that this feature is not meant as a way of including mods or mod files and that assets bundled this way do fall under our File Submission Guidelines. 

In regards to patches: anything that could be hosted on its own mod page should have its own mod page instead and be included as a mod, rather than bundled.

External resources

When a mod or resource you want to make a part of your collection is not hosted on Nexus Mods, it is possible to include a link to said mod/resource which will be presented to the user when they install the collection.

Such an “external resource” may not link to anything that would be against our File Submission Guidelines if it were uploaded to our site.

For example, an external resource may NOT link to:

• A mod including copyrighted material from a third party without their express permission.
• A Google drive, or similar, with mods/files being redistributed without permission from the file owners.
• A mod or files that are being offered in exchange for money/donations.

Adult Content in Collections

A collection is considered Adult Content in the context of our Adult Content Guidelines as soon as one or more mods contained therein are considered NSFW/Adult or (in rare cases) if the combination of mods in the collection results in a mod setup that would be deemed Adult in regards to our guidelines.

When a collection includes one or more mods that are classified as adult content, it will automatically pick up on the tags and mark the entire collection as adult. Please note that once a collection is marked adult, all current and future revisions - regardless of the mods included being or not being adult mods - will remain marked as an adult collection.

As the collection curator, it is your responsibility that the collection is appropriately tagged and to ensure that the automated system is working as intended. Please contact an admin if your collection is not being tagged correctly in regards to the adult content status.

Please note that external resources cannot be automatically identified as adult and that it is your responsibility as the curator to tag your collection manually if you’re including one or more external resources that would be deemed adult content as defined by our guidelines.

Respectful handling of mods

As a curator, it falls onto you to handle the mods referenced in your collection in a respectful manner. The collection name, description, media, as well as notes/instructions may not be used in a way that could be construed as disrespectful to the mod author(s) of the mods in your collection.

Examples of unacceptable behaviour:

• Giving a collection a disparaging name like, for example, “Collection of bad mods”, “Stupid mods” etc.
• Misrepresenting the contents of a mod, for example, by falsely stating that a mod does X when in reality it does not.
• Contradicting the instructions/recommendations a mod author is giving about their mod in a disrespectful way, for example by telling users to ignore the instructions a mod author is giving about their mod(s) - “Ignore what mod author X is saying about the mod, it’s all wrong and they don’t know what they’re talking about”
• Deliberately putting a mod from a mod author in a collection in a suggestive manner indicative of trolling, for example, putting someone’s SFW mod in an otherwise completely NSFW mod list in an attempt to annoy them.

We reserve the right to interpret what does and does not constitute respectful conduct in regards to this rule at our sole discretion.

Bug reports and support

Acknowledging the delicate relationship between mods and collections, we ask that collection curators do their best to prevent any additional workload for mod authors as a result of their work being part of a given collection.

As a curator, it is your responsibility to help users troubleshoot issues they’re experiencing with your collection, rather than the mod authors’. 

In regards to troubleshooting, referring users to the mod authors or mod pages of the mods contained in your collection may only occur if the mod author(s) in question have explicitly agreed to provide support for users of your collection.

We may take action against your collection and/or account if we have reason to believe that you are or have been sending users to the mod authors for support for issues related to your collection.

Donations

You can currently donate to any user by visiting their profile page and we have no plans to change this. We will not be displaying donation prompts for the curator on the collection page for the time being, but we may explore donation options as part of a larger discussion with the community in the future.

That being said, we think that mod list/collection curators are and will be adding value to the community, so we do not believe we should be stopping people from donating to them.

If you'd like to include a link to your Patreon/Kofi then you can do so, as long as you follow our Donation Guidelines.

Third-party Use of Collections

We are launching the Collections system with Vortex - our official mod manager - so it will be required. However, as with everything else we build, we'll be providing the source code for Vortex and an open GraphQL API which can be used by third-party tools to take advantage of this feature. Documentation will be made available sometime after the full 1.0.0 release of Collections. Our Acceptable Use Policy applies.