Nexus Mods, one of the most popular gaming websites on the planet and home to the greatest modders, is now creating a system to reward their modders. For fans of Bethesda games in particular, this is a big deal. Part of the longevity of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series falls squarely in the hands of Nexus mods. Now, they are looking for a way to give back.

While Nexus Mods has had donations as a part of the site for many years, the creators and admin of the site have had little direct input into helping out financially, something the founder has acknowledged as inspiration for the new system. Essentially, any modder that would like to opt into the program can. Every month, Nexus Mods will tally the most downloaded mods and distribute points accordingly, which can then be redeemed for paypal cash, games, or other hardware. The donation point pool will vary month to month – Nexus Mods has promised to give $5,000-$10,000 a month in addition to anything the community would like to donate.

While not a perfect solution, it’s a unique approach to trying to reward creators for free content. Unlike Steam or the Minecraft workshop, all mods and content on Nexus are free, so any monetary value is made purely from donations. The new system not only allows for the site to directly help, but it ties into the larger trend of crowdfunding found across most major esports. For instance, Dota 2 and League of Legends both share massive crowdfunded prize pools for their international tournaments, with Dota 2 having the largest prize pool in the world. Other games, like Star Citizen, have proven that just through crowdfunding you can receive tens of millions of dollars more than you would through traditional funding avenues. This also stands in stark contrast to Bethesda’s own Creation Club, a system that has thus far been a failed attempt to monetize mod creations.

Though Nexus Mods has never stood in direct opposition to Bethesda, the two have seemed at odds as the years have gone on. Bethesda was behind one of the most reviled moves in modding when they started charging for mods through Steam, something which backfired horribly and forced the company to backpedal. This also led to the eventual idea of the Creation Club, which has been mostly ignored as a money-making scheme by fans.

While Bethesda could ask Nexus Mods to shut down many of their payment or modding programs, they would be doing so at their own risk. Nexus Mods has existed longer than Fallout 3, Skyrim, or Team Fortress 2 and is one of the most visited gaming sites in the world. They are largely responsible for Steam’s community modding program – something that has paid out several million dollars to modders – as well as giving rise to a PC modding culture that has persisted across numerous games. While there is no guarantee that the community will donate into the pool, Nexus Mods has at least promised to continue doing so for as long as they are able. Modders and fans alike will see the program coming in the first quarter of 2018.