Poll: Mods: Do They Cheapen a Game?

[Treefyleaves]

I'm a fan of pc gaming, and have been for a couple of years now, and I have begun to notice that more often than not, for many players the vanilla version of their favorite game is not enough. For whatever reason, be it broken game mechanics or the burning desire to put one's mark on their favorite game, modding is a popular and almost always expected result of a game's being released.

I only really thought about it when I purchased the game Borderlands. For a long while many people I know had played the game and ranted and raved about it, so I eventually caved in and gave it a go during a sale on Steam. However, before I had even booted up the game for the first time, one of these people linked me to a site and told me to download what it provided. They explained that Borderlands, albeit a fun game, was a poorly executed console-to-pc port, and without this particular tool the game would be unplayable and--worst of all--unenjoyable. I found this a bit strange: if the game were so wonderful, why would it take my downloading a whole other device just to be able to play the game? If Borderlands were so broken on its own, were they lying when they were explaining to me just how great the game was?

Not to say Borderlands is an isolated case: the recent Bethesda titles (Oblivion and Fallout 3, in this case) were games I originally played on the console, then bought a while later through Steam. I found fairly quickly that the games, however fun they were when I had first played them on my xbox 360, were not quite so rosy in my eyes anymore. It only took a day or so worth of play with both titles to convince me to go rummaging through the internet for mods; and mod I did, with gusto. Looking at it in hindsight: I had paid to play these games in their original and unadulterated format. but I was modifying them into forms that I seriously doubt Bethesda had ever thought of or intended. With Borderlands, the mod was more of a tool than anything else, but the results are the same: a product changed in some way from its original intent.

So! My question to you, and the TL;DR version of this: Does modding cheapen the purchase of a game by in some way altering the material, or is it more of a tool for enhancing or repairing otherwise 'broken' or 'unfinished' material? Keep in mind: this is a question from the standpoint of a *purchase*, not the playing of the game.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Not unless it's a horrible mod, I'd think.

Admittedly, the only mods I've ever used were the Christian Coder mod for Wizardry 8 and Brawl Minus, so I'm somewhat inexperienced...but the former added a lot to the game, and the latter is an absolute blast.

 

[Sacman]

IMO Modding can sometimes fix broken games but for the most part is a good way to enhance the experience or add your own personal touch...

 

[Warforger]

So! My question to you, and the TL;DR version of this: Does modding cheapen the purchase of a game by in some way altering the material, or is it more of a tool for enhancing or repairing otherwise 'broken' or 'unfinished' material? Keep in mind: this is a question from the standpoint of a *purchase*, not the playing of the game.

Modding is more modifying the game to your specifications, look at Dawn of War, while there were versions that fixed game issues, most mods where adding all this awesome stuff like new races or changing gameplay mechanics entirely, mods enhance the game very much to the point that the original isn't worth playing. It extends the lifetime of a game for one.

 

[Jadak]

Some games are only good thanks to mods, and if a mod doesn't improve the game, don't use it. Modding = Good

 

[The Lunatic]

Modding is the best feature a game can offer.

 

[Commissar Sae]

I usually play vanilla for the first playthrough of some games, then I go Mod-hunting. Mount and Blade has some positively amazing mods that completely alter the game for the better, and they receive full support from the oriinal develloper. Fallout and Oblivion are also games I heavily modded after the first play through, since there are a lot of things one can do with some of those mods.

Mods allow me to revisit past purchases and have a different kind of fun with them than I had with the release version.

 

[The Eggplant]

I don't think they do, no. In some cases they're in fact necessary to ensure that the purchase you've made is a satisfactory one (read: the peerless UOP for Oblivion), and in many cases they can extend the lifetime of a game--and therefore the monetary investment said game represents--long after the vanilla content would otherwise have ceased to satisfy.

 

[lovest harding]

Modding is a selling point for me (and makes me wish I had the money for a pure gaming PC).
You pay for a game, for instance Oblivion, then you get support from the developer (patches, DLC, expansions) and then you get an almost limitless amount of support on top of that. Mods that are like patches and mods that correct grammar and spelling errors and mods that fix flaws that escape the official patches.

I don't see how anyone can view extra support through a modding community (and this is even outside of the content adding mods that extend the world, in an albeit unofficial way) as anything but wonderful. But that's my opinion. xD

 

[Firetaffer]

http://www.moddb.com/

Cmon, nearly all the mods there are awesome! Even the ones that aren't are still a different experience then the game has to offer.

How would Team Fortress, Counter-strike or Day of Defeat 'cheapen' a game? If anything it made half-life the most sold PC fps of all time!

Same goes for fantastic unreal tournament mods like bunny track, and quake mods like instagib and capture the flag.

 

[icyneesan]

Mods make pretty much any game better, and is the #1 reason I demand PC releases of games.

 

[Treefyleaves]

Wow, seriously overwhelming support for mods! Good stuff, really good stuff, especially seeing how many people factor it in when purchasing games for their pc's.

 

[Gritimo The Odd]

Depends on what the mods do for the game. Mods can extend a great deal of life to a game and show the creativity of the fans that support that game. Fallout New Vegas has a weapon upgrade system that was originally a mod for Fallout 3 developed by the community. Games with the right mod can be completely fresh and challenging experiences as fan made mods can often put in ideas that developers would never had time to put in on their own schedual. There are several Fallout 3 and Diablo 2 mods out there that i think improve the game a good deal.

that said, some mods are out there just to give players advantages or better gear earlier, those mods basically boil down to hacks and can turn a game boring in a hurry. This can be especially true for multiplayer games. I play Modern Warfare 2 online on my Pc and and I ran into a hacked server earlier today. i went from prestiege 9 lvl 45 to prestiege 10 lvl 70 with all emblems, titles, guns and attachments unlocked in a second due to that mod that host was using. and thats not the first time thats happend, ive only managed to prestiege legitimately about 4 times due to the frequency of hacked servers i run into there and now that Im lvl 70 10th, ive been cheated out of the satisfaction of fighting my way up there.

 

[WanderingFool]

My first game I ever modded was oblivion. I rented it for the 360, but found that It wasnt all that enjoyable. But I happened across a blog on another site that had the ten most important mods for fixing TES4. So when I saw Oblivion GOTY at walmart for $20, a snatched it up, installed it, and went to town. By the time I was done I had about 6Gb of mods added to the game, and It didnt even play like the original. But all those mods change the game so much, that it wasnt the same game I baught. Problem was, Oblivion wasnt that great of a game vanilla, and I felt it was necessary. The only other game I modded was FO3, but that was more minor and cosmetic changes, with the only big one being a mod that made the Power armor more epic and rarer to find.

Spoiler

if anyone happens to be interested, its called Can Opener, and can be found at fallout3nexus.com, and here is the actual address: http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11137

*Edit*

Also, I always download the unofficial bug-patch for the games, otherwise I shouldnt even bother playing them, since il be reage quiting from the constant crashes and shit...

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

ehh..i love mods and all, but sometimes ppl rage and worship games FOR their mods, please, when you are describing a game, dont call it awesome unless you are talking about the vanilla game, and if you do call it awesome, be sure to include that the mods make the game/ fix the broken parts of it. so many people forget to include those minor details..

 

[JavaJoeCoffee]

Modding is the best feature a game can offer.

Agreed. Some games are great without mods. But many only become great with them. I can't think of a single reason I wouldn't want the option of installing mods.

I do, however, like to play through once without them. (Except Oblivion which required help for the awful character development. I mean jumping continuously and letting rats chew on my greaves to get a halfway decent stat increase... for every level? Seriously? Or NVN2, I mean where would we be with out TonyK?)

 

[Treefyleaves]

ehh..i love mods and all, but sometimes ppl rage and worship games FOR their mods, please, when you are describing a game, dont call it awesome unless you are talking about the vanilla game, and if you do call it awesome, be sure to include that the mods make the game/ fix the broken parts of it. so many people forget to include those minor details..

On the same token, though...could a patch not be considered a mod as well? It is altering a vanilla game, adding, removing, or repairing elements in a way similar to a mod. It is, however, endorsed and developed by (at least I presume) the original creators of the game. I do, however, agree that some people should be more aware of what it is they are praising about the game in question, especially when they are discussing that game with possible buyers. Personally, I'd be more comfortable with a purchase if I knew what to expect out of a game, be it a solid vanilla product or a game rife with opportunities for modding.