What would happen if every single PC game offered an official toolset?

[DeeJayTee]

Just as BioWare and Bethesda have done.

I guess only a specific brand of video game might properly benefit from fanmade additions, but it seems to me that being able to adjust the gameplay settings to perfectly match your precise tastes is a laudable selling point.

I wonder if most developers even consider it, or perhaps there's some very obvious reasons to disallow easy modification that I'm missing?

 

[Plurralbles]

I'd stop buying games and just tinker with the ones I've bought.

 

[Plurralbles]

I would be a very happy Furbie, is what.

I sometimes spend more time with the toolset then I do with the actual game. I think that every game should have at least one form of mod tools, and that games that disallow them entirely, like MW2, are a cancer that must be scourged.

Hell, even console games should have them! Must I remind you all again of the mighty Timesplitters? I think companies should do them, yes. It may be extra work, but mod communities can keep games going so long that it's beneficial in the long run. Hell, they're still making Operation Flashpoint mods.

That secon to the last line is VERY accurate. Just look at the Total war communities, people are still buying Shogun, let alone Rome.

Due to the Mod, "Rome Medieval 3" I haven't really had a reason to upgrade to MTW2.

 

[manythings]

I would be curious to find out what percentage of purchasers of a game would even care about using the toolset. I loved several games that offered the toolset (Neverwinter 1+2, torchlight) but never really cared about making use of the toolset option.

 

[Shanannara]

I still play the Baldur's Gate games because of all the mods available so I think it's great when companies support the modding communities. I love being able to tinker with a game and having my "what if I could do X instead of Y" come to sort of life.I was devestated when I discovered Dragon Age wouldn't work on my computer because I'd be missing out on so much great extras. Instead I get stuck with the inferior console version. Stupid Bioware.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

Just as BioWare, Blizzard and Bethesda have done.

I guess only a specific brand of video game might properly benefit from fanmade additions, but it seems to me that being able to adjust the gameplay settings to perfectly match your precise tastes is a laudable selling point.

I wonder if most developers even consider it, or perhaps there's some very obvious reasons to disallow easy modification that I'm missing?

Fixed the first part for ya.

Or as I call them, the holy trinity of awesome B. (Ok, I don't call them that)

But, yeah, it's one way to get huge replay-ability out of single player games.
Even if you don't know how to use the toolkit yourself, there will be a lot more mods produced because other people will have an easier time figuring modding out and thus there will be a lot more variety. It will also give the game longevity because texture packs will be easier to make and distribute once the original graphics are getting obsolete (see Morrowind for a good example).

Frankly, I don't know why every PC game maker doesn't provide a toolkit. It can't be that hard. Imagine if the GTA games came with a toolkit. The biggest missed opportunity, I think, was the Mass Effect series. That was a no-brainer since the different star systems you travel to are perfect units for adding new content in. Why, Bioware, why?

 

[captvimes]

Just as Valve, BioWare, Blizzard and Bethesda have done.

I guess only a specific brand of video game might properly benefit from fanmade additions, but it seems to me that being able to adjust the gameplay settings to perfectly match your precise tastes is a laudable selling point.

I wonder if most developers even consider it, or perhaps there's some very obvious reasons to disallow easy modification that I'm missing?

Fixed the first part for ya.
There are some reasons, first some toolsets being hugely user unfriendly or downright difficult and complicated to use. Almost noone would be able to and/or want to even get started with the mess some game developers use.

Umm, and developers want people buying some of their other games too, I guess?

Double fixed.

Most do nowadays do they not?

 

[Weaver]

If they did this, then most games would be patched and bugs rectified faster than the developers could or even WOULD do it.

 

[Skinny Razor]

Does official or unofficial make a difference? I just follow the search results, and never really look where the stuff comes from.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

OOh I can has pokemon toolset?

That would be awesome.

 

[Rombor]

People would buy less new games, as well as demand less of what the developers have already made in the game. Overall, I think it would be negative. But then again I'm not really much of a modder, except for when it comes to Bethesda's games.

 

[Wolfram23]

Toolsets are great! I had tons of fun making stuff in Myth (Fear and Loathing editors) and of course many older RTS games had map editors and I spent plenty of time in the Starcraft one. I remember making my own version of the popular "Smash TV" level, I had hundreds of trigger events. I also made some other decent custom games like one of those "paintball" games. I wasn't terribly creative I guess mostly copying what I'd seen just to see if I could do it. In Timesplitters I made a few fun levels...

And then in BF: 1942 the game got a second life with the dessert combat pack, made the game modern combat. Super fun.