Poll: What are your overall feelings on user-made content?

[putowtin]

I played the sims 3 for an age, (and still have the craving to go back to it every now and again) but the "vanilla" game is a nightmare, unplayable without the awesome mod.

It only changes small thinkgs but boy does it make a difference!

 

[Fijiman]

I generally like to see some of the things people have created. I've only been able to access user made content on the Halo games, but I've seen some of the things people have made via YouTube and the like. It's true that a large portion of the user made content is crap and can be easily ignored, but it's the ones that are really good that I love seeing. At the same time, however, those really awesome mods and whatnot also make me sad because I can't use them unless I get a more gaming oriented computer.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

I am absolutely horrible at using mod tools and map editors, but I love playing other people's content in Starcraft 2 or WC3. I'm also a big fan of the RPG modding community.

 

[AgentCooper]

The most fun I have had in Counter-Strike was due to user created maps and various content.

Loved the Wal-mart map and house of glass knife matches. I LOVE user created content, It sometimes even trumps the developer made shipped maps.

 

[370999]

Quite often I am simply not prepared to shift through the crap for the gems. So no I don't really care for it. That said I'm glad it's around, gives people a chance to mess around with games and an outlet for creativity.

 

[Artorius]

i would describe it as unrefined, there are good ones but its so rare,that its like finding needle in haystack. But Skyrim user made contents are good.

 

[Saulkar]

The Vanilla S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are awesome.
The modded S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are amazing!!!!
Nuff Said.

 

[JasonKaotic]

Depends on the game, and the content. I've modded Morrowind to a point where you can barely recognize it anymore, because modding with Morrowind works really well, Bethesda made sure Morrowind was mod-friendly. And Uvirith's Legacy. Just... just so much Uvirith's Legcy. Get it. Seriously. If you have Morrowind on PC and don't have Uvirith's Legacy you're not playing it properly. Get Building Up Uvirith's Legacy too. Extra points. But other games, like The Movies for example, I tried modding that and it just turned out awful. People tried to add in custom sets and costumes and such, but because of how the game was made all they could really do was retexture existing things, and it just didn't work at all.
So I like user-made content, but it's definitely not always good.

 

[StBishop]

Map mods for WC3 are the only thing I play on it. The actual core game is shit.

So yeah.

 

[Erttheking]

It's love hate. I've tried it in several types of games "Smash bros and Halo reach come to mind" but I can't do it to save my life. I have seen some pretty awesome things though, the Halo Reach HORSE maps come to mind.

 

[Fleetfiend]

I'm not a fan of modding games, but I love games that are built for user-made content, like -- as you said -- LittleBigPlanet and Minecraft. Being able to make cool stuff in a game is really fun to me... but changing a game so it's how YOU like it isn't really my thing. That's not really what modding does I suppose, but that's kind of the impression I get from people who use them. I don't have a problem with them, it's just not for me. I want to play games the way they are, thank you. :3

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

if it's an rpg, you bet your ass i'm going to mod it to hell and back. idk maybe mentally i'm easier on modders because i know they aren't perfect human beings, but i LOVE mods and i use in the upward range of 20-30+ mods in every game i can get my greedy little hands on that has alot of em...

examples: oblivion,skyrim,kotor 1,kotor 2, dragon age 1 and 2, witcher, neverwinter nights 1 and 2, baldurs gate 1 and 2, jade empire, fallout 3, fallout new vegas

i think that about covers most the game i mod...in all honesty, i've probably used 60% of the mods on kotor 1's mod hosting site. just love using all the different bits each runthrough of that game.

 

[Krantos]

Barring some rare examples, most UMC (user-made content) is not of the same quality as professionally done content, for obvious reasons.

Additionally, most of the stuff that exists is... er... fetishized. Ex, there are more nude mods for Dragon Age than mods to improve textures.

So, while I enjoy some mods, there are very few that actually enhance the experience of a game.

 

[Claptrap]

I like the idea, But actually trying to found good stuff is pretty hard, For every great map or mod their are 100 crappy ones.

 

[Savagezion]

I love it. There is a lot of garbage out there but there is some really good stuff out there as well. The creator of Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ 4 got hired by Stardock because of it. Most of the stuff I make myself is balance changes and hand-holding removal. If I ever get around to modding Skyrim, it would be some ideas I have to get the economy more in balance as opposed to throwing gobs of money at the player.

I have some games that I can't play without the mods because the modded content is a huge improvement. Civilization 4 is one of those games that I just can't play the unbalanced standard game anymore. I need mods to tweak performance even on the standard game. Half merely graphical, other addressing the balance of the game itself.

 

[Alssadar]

Warcraft 3 has (had) some awesome and creative custom map types, I have to say (With Sturgeon's law in effect). It definitely made the game a whole lot more versatile and allow for new gameplay modes.
I also enjoy slight content mods to other games (Project Nevada for Fallout New Vegas and STALKER Complete for Shadow of Chernobyl)

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I love it. There is a lot of garbage out there but there is some really good stuff out there as well. The creator of Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ 4 got hired by Stardock because of it. Most of the stuff I make myself is balance changes and hand-holding removal. If I ever get around to modding Skyrim, it would be some ideas I have to get the economy more in balance as opposed to throwing gobs of money at the player.

I have some games that I can't play without the mods because the modded content is a huge improvement. Civilization 4 is one of those games that I just can't play the unbalanced standard game anymore. I need mods to tweak performance even on the standard game. Half merely graphical, other addressing the balance of the game itself.

huh didn't even realize there were mods for civ IV

any links to some key websites or mods that you prefer? like the graphical/balance ones?

 

[Savagezion]

I love it. There is a lot of garbage out there but there is some really good stuff out there as well. The creator of Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ 4 got hired by Stardock because of it. Most of the stuff I make myself is balance changes and hand-holding removal. If I ever get around to modding Skyrim, it would be some ideas I have to get the economy more in balance as opposed to throwing gobs of money at the player.

I have some games that I can't play without the mods because the modded content is a huge improvement. Civilization 4 is one of those games that I just can't play the unbalanced standard game anymore. I need mods to tweak performance even on the standard game. Half merely graphical, other addressing the balance of the game itself.

huh didn't even realize there were mods for civ IV

any links to some key websites or mods that you prefer? like the graphical/balance ones?

http://www.civfanatics.com

Overhaul modpacks
Fall from Heaven 2 (Fantasy overhaul mod)
Rise from Erebus (FfH2 mod-mod - much better IMO)
Planetfall (Alpha Centauri overhaul mod)
Rhyse and Fall of Civilization (Very popular mod, worth a look, not my cup of tea.)

Rebalancer
P.I.G. (Probably Improved Gameplay)
This mod is very close to my personal mod I run by re-balancing the units/civics/etc. a bit. It nerfs praets and I think buffs jaguar warriors etc. If you check it out and like the changes, I can suggest my mod differences that I find to better balance things out a bit. I haven't played PIG myself but he has many changes I was already running when the mod released and it got popular, I noted it because of that because I found it strange many people were interested in a vague version of my personal mod files.


Unaltered gameplay/Graphics
Better BUG AI
This mod improves AI algorithms to play smarter and WILL knock you down 1 or 2 difficulty levels. Your old tactics will not always work and they will pull some "fast ones" on you that you aren't expecting upon the shift. The "BUG" acronym at this point means a a lot of stuff as it is like a mish mash of a bunch of good improvements but it stands for "Better Unaltered Gameplay". It greatly improves the interface by showing AI modifiers on the main screen, their relationship to you, as well as which ones are plotting war. I highly suggest this mod above all others.

Blue Earth
Wonderful retexturing of tiles. Based on some NASA program or something. Looks awesome though.

Can't think of many more that I would really recommend off hand though. I don't know all of them and many of them are good such as unit packs and stuff. There is a good flag pack out there though that actually changes the flags to the real flags or a good counterpart.

 

[Kvaedi]

Mount and Blade: Warband. I would have quit playing that game entirely if it weren't for the great mods: Brytenwalda, Pelopponnesian War, many others. Brytenwalda is my single favorite mod of all time, it's better in every way than the unmodded game, in my opinion.

 

[kortin]

It depends.

I really dislike poorly made mods. REALLY dislike them. If the developer for the mod is decent in instructing you on how to install their mod correctly AND makes a good mod, then yeah, I'll love it.

I also hate most minecraft mod makers. They don't know how the hell to instruct you on making their mod work. The Mod API cannot come sooner.