Make money with Skyrim? Here's how

For the past five years, Team Fortress 2 players have been able to cash in on their in-game creations. Now, fans of Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim are getting their chance.

Valve is slowly opening up its Steam Workshop to other games - and Skyrim is the first in line. And though it might seem a minor thing, there's big money in virtual swords and other modifications. As of June 2013, Valve has paid over $10 million to people who have created in-game items for Team Fortress 2.

But does Skyrim, a game that came out some 3 and a half years ago, still have a fervent enough audience to make paid mods a potential windfall? Absolutely.

The game is a regular among the 10 most played games on Steam. At press time, there were over 31,500 people playing the game, according to Valve.

As with Team Fortress 2, the introduction of paid mods, items and maps doesn't mean you won't still be able to find free ones. There are over 24,000 free Skyrim mods available today - ranging from quests to soundtracks to graphical improvements.

The idea is to let authors who are spending a lot of time or producing especially high-quality content profit off their time and effort. And it can become really interesting if and when a small, professional developer decides to make an add-on for the game.

That's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Bryan Shannon, a former Maxis employee who worked on both SimCity and its Cities of Tomorrow expansion, is already creating content for Cities: Skylines. Since that game is not yet part of Steam Workshop, Shannon has begun taking donations through a third-party site.

As with TF2 items in the Workshop, mod makers will set their own prices. And the risk for players is minimal. Unsatisfied customers can get full refunds on most Workshop items within 24 hours if they're unhappy with the purchase - whether due to quality or bugs.

Skyrim's just the start for this expansion, too. Valve told fans in the announcement that "many more of [their] favorite Workshop games will support paid content in the coming weeks."

Other games that support Steam's Workshop include Sid Meier's Civilization V, Portal 2 and Football Manager.

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