A prominent Skyrim modder, Kukielle, who has accumulated nearly 500,000 downloads on her creations, has announced her departure from the modding scene. Despite dedicating "thousands of hours" to developing her intricate and popular mods, she cited community demands and harassment as the primary reasons for stepping away.
Kukielle's mods, downloaded around 475,000 times, gained significant attention for their depth and detail, particularly her follower mods. The most notable of these is Daegon and Kaeserius, described as "two custom-voiced followers with 6k+ lines that play off each other," offering a richer gameplay experience akin to a party system found in D&D or Baldur's Gate 3. Kukielle regarded this mod as her "passion project," a substantial effort that allowed players to engage with companions beyond the standard follower format.
Since the release of Daegon and Kaeserius, Kukielle has continued to expand her portfolio with three more followers: Koemia, Little Witch Taeka, and Daegon Legacy. The latter was created to address fans' criticisms about changes made to the original Daegon character. Over time, she modified Daegon's personality and backstory, resulting in negative feedback from some users. Responding to these reactions, she re-released the original version as Daegon Legacy and admitted in its description that altering the character had been a mistake she would not repeat.
Despite her attempts to respond to community feedback, Kukielle's work on these mods continued to be subject to scrutiny. One significant update added a two-part romantic questline to Taeka, featuring over 1,600 custom voice lines and personalized interactions for different player names. This endeavor, which took a year to complete, exemplified her dedication to creating "super followers" with intricate world interactions. Kukielle had also promised a third part to Taeka's romance quest, but it now appears this content will still need to be completed.
On November 10, Kukielle responded to a comment on her NexusMods page regarding potential updates to Taeka, stating she was "done" and would no longer add new content to her mods. She expressed frustration, noting that Taeka's recent major update included a detailed questline she crafted despite having yet to have a personal interest in romance gameplay. Reflecting on her work, she highlighted the immense effort she put into Daegon, adding new content daily for a year and making her "the most advanced follower ever to exist," only to reverse many of those changes later.
"I put thousands of hours into Daegon, creating, changing, adding options, and listening to everyone's preferences," Kukielle wrote, adding that she ultimately spent "a thousand more hours undoing everything." Though she had been developing other characters to meet audience expectations, she stated that these projects would remain unfinished as there was "no point" in continuing.
Kukielle also referenced fellow modder Goredev, who stepped back from the community in August after 1.3 million downloads and reports of doxxing. She echoed Goredev's sentiment that the modding community "takes and takes and takes and rarely gives." On her Discord server, Kukielle claimed that photos of her had been shared and criticized alongside negative commentary about her work.
Although Kukielle's Patreon reflects earnings of just under $300 per month, the treatment she and other creators like Goredev have faced has sparked broader discussions about how the community engages with modders. One of Kukielle's modding partners mentioned on Reddit that they had intervened multiple times to dissuade recurring trolls from posting inflammatory comments, underscoring the toxicity that can permeate modding spaces.