We like to ease you in with the shocking exclusives on a Monday morning, so let’s start with this lukewarm scoop: Valve are clever. I know, right? They’ve realised that, while some are making six figure salaries from the Team Fortress 2 Workshop, most aren’t. Ask most whether they’d like to donate a portion of their 25% profit to deserving community figures only if you want to see what a sea of backs looks like.
Instead, the developers/distributors/gatekeepers have decided to offer part of their own cut to a valuable source of the item creator’s choosing: whether they be place, program or person.
Since late last week, item creators have been able to browse communities, toolmakers and the like, and divvy up a set percentage of their items sales between them. That percentage will come directly from the pocket of Valve – a trouser hole so large as to render even that conventional metaphor ridiculous.
“The thing is, nobody creates a TF2 item in a vacuum,” say the developers. “Chances are if you’ve made something for the Workshop, you’ve probably gotten some amount of help and feedback from various toolmakers, communities and mentors.
“A lot of these resources have proven to be immensely valuable to item creators. We’d like to give you a chance to show them just how valuable.”
N.B. Creators with items already live in the Workshop can set Service Allowances via the appropriate tab on each item’s page.
Valve have put together a preliminary list of suggested benefactors here, incorporating tools like BlenderFoundation and handplane3d, idea hubs like reddit and Facepunch, and a number of prominent guide authors. It’s a work-in-progress, though, and if you think they’ve missed any you can point out as much in this thread. Any you can think of off the top of your head?