Modders make mods for free. Video creators publish free videos on sites like Youtube or Vimeo today without any revenue stream. Prior to that creators published their content for free on sites like ebaums, or albinoblacksheep, or on personal pages.

Humans want to share. If Youtube had never existed, people wouldn’t have suddenly stopped making videos to share, they should have just found another method of sharing or created their own alternative. The desire to create and share is innate to humanity; the concept of monetary compensation is not.

As for wanting everything to be free (I’m not who you were talking to but I’m responding anyway)… I mean, yeah kind of? Here’s my question: why should everything be paid? I think that’s a backwards mentality. People were sharing stories and art and other creations for no reason other than the love of sharing long before Youtube, and they will keep doing so after. Imo not every effort in life needs to be directly compensated. To me this is the same reason I will never pay for game mod: I want to support and encourage a modding community who mods because they love do it and they love sharing with community, not because they see a possible revenue stream.

Imo turning your hobbies into jobs or “side hustles” is one of the worst consequences of capitalism, and one we should push back against.