Is technology killing mods?

[Tharwen]

It takes time to create a modding interface, and clearly they didn't want to spend that time. They're just saying that to make it seem like it's not their fault.

More complex than Dwarf Fortress? It has tons of mods.

But Dwarf Fortress is relatively easy to mod because of the simple engine.

It's the gameplay achieved with the engine that's complex.

 

[TiefBlau]

Starcraft 2, etc.



Well, basically, yes, modding's gonna be harder. Best case scenario, for both parties. Blizzard does a very competent job releasing editors with their Real Time Strategy games that are just user-friendly enough to enable anyone to make games (Galaxy Editor is a *****, but the other ones are nice). This spawned DotA and Tower Defense genres, so there's no doubt that Blizzard wants its users making for it fresh new IP.

Bad developers (well, more like not-as-expansive developers) will just cut out modding altogether.

Games being larger projects that are harder to code is becoming a reality, and both industry and consumer have to pay for it.

 

[TiefBlau]

Why do people care about mods anyway? I never really understood the appeal of fanfic-quality attachments to otherwise professional games.

Because Team Fortress, DotA, the entire Tower Defense genre, and fuckton of other stuff all started out as mods and are now generating IP that even a multi-billion dollar corporation like Blizzard-Activision are drooling over.

EDIT: Seems I double-posted. My bad.

 

[zehydra]

Why do people care about mods anyway? I never really understood the appeal of fanfic-quality attachments to otherwise professional games.

You obviously haven't sampled a lot of mods for different games.

Bethesda games have some great examples of complete overhauls and great content mods, the guy who created the OOO mod for Oblivion was even hired by Obsidian to work on New Vegas.

Also Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War has some amazing mods that include more content than the vanilla game and are balanced, fully voiced, include new textures, new AI and even some new gameplay mechanics.

I haven't seen a single good Bethesda mod. And I've seen a bunch.

 

[zehydra]

Why do people care about mods anyway? I never really understood the appeal of fanfic-quality attachments to otherwise professional games.

Because they're not fanfic-quality. At least not the good ones. Hell I've seen mods that were better in quality than the original!

The only ones that I've seen that were better than the original were Minecraft mods.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I haven't seen a single good Bethesda mod. And I've seen a bunch.

That's funny because I think most mods are better than what Bethesda create, for me Oblivion was unplayable without mods.

Any mod that fixes Oblivions horrible leveling system, the keyring mod, the DarNified UI mod, OOO, Oblivion Mod Manager, Script Extender, the Unofficial Oblivion patch, Unofficial Official Mods patch, Unofficial Shivering Isles patch (those three fix more things than Bethesda ever did), Nehrim, FCOM, Alternate start by boat, better graphics and of course the plethora of content mods for anyone who wants some more stuff to kill things with.

Oh, and we can't forget the nude mods...

And of course that's just Oblivion.

Morrowind, Dawn of War, Fallout 3 and New Vegas are all games with extensive mod support, some of which are simple, some of which add more things than the original developer ever did.

Then of course there's Garrys Mod, can't forget that one.

This mod is a great example of a complete overhaul and adding more content than the vanilla game...

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

If an engine is really too complex to make mods, the it's too complex to make games.

Bingo! I'm not about to underestimate the ingenuity/technical talents of those who care enough about a game/continuity to expand on it when the real developers express no further interest.

 

[zehydra]

I haven't seen a single good Bethesda mod. And I've seen a bunch.

That's funny because I think most mods are better than what Bethesda create, for me Oblivion was unplayable without mods.

This line alone I completely disagree. I love the Bethesda games THE WAY THEY WERE MADE, and all I've seen from the mods are shoddy attempts at changing the game or adding content without breaking game continuity (which usually fails).

In any case, I understand that some people don't like the vanilla games, and run straight to using mods (which really makes me puzzled as to why they even bought the original game in the first place)

 

[ChupathingyX]

This line alone I completely disagree. I love the Bethesda games THE WAY THEY WERE MADE, and all I've seen from the mods are shoddy attempts at changing the game or adding content without breaking game continuity (which usually fails).

In any case, I understand that some people don't like the vanilla games, and run straight to using mods (which really makes me puzzled as to why they even bought the original game in the first place)

To be clear, Oblivion is the only game I've ever played where I needed mods to play it. The leveling was horrible, the UI was awful, it was full of glitches and generally I didn't like the story, characters or any of that so I looked to mods, some of which I say are much better than anything Bethesda's ever made (they're not exactly my favourite developer), but what they are good at is making games that are easily modded.

Also you call them shoddy attempts, I call them attempts at fixing shoddy things, or at least adding more things to the game.

Just because you liked a game and don't like mods doesn't mean other people do. Mods are optional and in the end do not affect you in any way possible.

 

[Saelune]

Eh....since mods are MODifications to the origional game. To say your game is too complex for mods is to say you cant change it...at all.

 

[zehydra]

This line alone I completely disagree. I love the Bethesda games THE WAY THEY WERE MADE, and all I've seen from the mods are shoddy attempts at changing the game or adding content without breaking game continuity (which usually fails).

In any case, I understand that some people don't like the vanilla games, and run straight to using mods (which really makes me puzzled as to why they even bought the original game in the first place)

To be clear, Oblivion is the only game I've ever played where I needed mods to play it. The leveling was horrible, the UI was awful, it was full of glitches and generally I didn't like the story, characters or any of that so I looked to mods, some of which I say are much better than anything Bethesda's ever made (they're not exactly my favourite developer), but what they are good at is making games that are easily modded.

Also you call them shoddy attempts, I call them attempts at fixing shoddy things, or at least adding more things to the game.

Just because you liked a game and don't like mods doesn't mean other people do. Mods are optional and in the end do not affect you in any way possible.

Fair enough, to each his own e.t.c. However, I'd debate that you ever played Oblivion at all in this case. I'd recommend researching a game before you buy, so you can avoid getting games you don't like, so you don't have to change them into something else completely.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Fair enough, to each his own e.t.c. However, I'd debate that you ever played Oblivion at all in this case. I'd recommend researching a game before you buy, so you can avoid getting games you don't like, so you don't have to change them into something else completely.

Errr, not to be a grammar Nazi or anything but "e.t.c" is wrong, just type "etc" or "et cetera".

OT: Actually I've played Oblivion head to toe, all DLCs, all quests, everything...and didn't like it.

I'm one of those kind of people who believe you should play as much of a game as possible before judging it. There were some things in Oblivion I liked, but there were more things I didn't.

However, mods fixed most of the problems I had and because of them now I can play Oblivion, see how mods can be a good thing now?

 

[zehydra]

Fair enough, to each his own e.t.c. However, I'd debate that you ever played Oblivion at all in this case. I'd recommend researching a game before you buy, so you can avoid getting games you don't like, so you don't have to change them into something else completely.

Errr, not to be a grammar Nazi or anything but "e.t.c" is wrong, just type "etc" or "et cetera".

OT: Actually I've played Oblivion head to toe, all DLCs, all quests, everything...and didn't like it.

I'm one of those kind of people who believe you should play as much of a game as possible before judging it. There were some things in Oblivion I liked, but there were more things I didn't.

However, mods fixed most of the problems I had and because of them now I can play Oblivion, see how mods can be a good thing now?

I just meant that you should research a game before you spend money on it, as it seems like you really didn't like Oblivion.

The game you played with mods is NOT Oblivion.

 

[God's Clown]

I think it is mostly them wanting to make money off map packs like Call of Duty does.

I love Dragon Age and Elder Scroll games because you can mod the shit out of them. It makes the games infinitely more enjoyable, and you get more playtime out of it.

 

[bob1052]

The game you played with mods is NOT Oblivion.

You're right. It is Oblivion with mods.

Thank god for mods.

 

[Mauro Carrizales]

They are completely underestimating the skill and ability of the modding community. Its just a lame excuse for people to buy DLCS.