How important are Mods to you?

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

If something like a TES game or CoD game dropped mod support(which it did) I would stop buying it. I bought BO on the promise of readded lost features and I'm not bothering with another CoD game until they add mods as they can't seem to make a variety of maps any more.

So yeah any series that drops some big feature like this for asinine reasons is off my buy list.

Mods for me are mostly important in open world games but can be good in any RPG. For FPS games I mostly only use mods for maps or nice reskins like the Star Wars mod for CoD 4. That said there are some gems that change the mechanics like the Admiral Mod for CoD 2 which re added some stuff like cookable grenades.

 

[Savagezion]

Important enough to get me to buy a game I wouldn't otherwise buy due to what it, itself, offers. Not important enough to make me not buy a game that DOES interest me but doesn't support them. However, I think all games should support them.

 

[aguspal]

SAY NO TO MODS. (IMO anyways).

While I guess its okey than the fanbase tries to fix, improve and whatnot the game with mods, I rather personally would want a profesional rather than some random dude fixing/improving my games, thank you very much. As in, I avoid mods whenever possible. So far, I avoided pretty much every single one...

Except those that fix serious stuff like gamebraking glitches. If the dev dosnt fix them first, then I am going to take the mod, but other than that, nope.

It sounds like you're making a lot of assumptions about mods without giving them a fair chance. Many mod-makers are professional programmers or game designers who make the mods in their free time because they are passionate about them. Also, most mods are aimed primarily at adding content to games rather than fixing "vanilla" bugs (which should be the responsibility of the developer anyway).

I've only recently got into mods since I abandoned console gaming in favor of my PC, and I would say as long as you're careful to get well-reviewed mods (fortunately most mod sites have rating systems in place), then you're likely to only improve your gaming experience. Obviously you should read the description first so you know whether you'll even like the changes that the mod makes. Also, since most mods are free, there's absolutely no risk to trying them unless you're completely computer illiterate and can't figure out how to install/uninstall them.

The mod that really changed my mind was the Technic/Tekkit pack for Minecraft. That's so incredibly well done and well supported (i.e. the few bugs that do exist get fixed pretty quick).

90% of the mods I bothered to try:

1) Didnt worked at all. 2) Were just plain bad. 3) Couldt install at all.

Then theres 4) As already stated, gamebreaking bugs fixers. Those are ok.

I dunno... i just cant get bothered to get mods. By the time I MIGHT want to add something to the game, I figure out that what I REALLY want is another game to play, not just more of the same. So I go get that other game I want. Repeat the cycle.


I dont have anything aganist them. Mod the hell out of the games. But it just not for me.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Mods are awesome, but they don't normally affect my decision to buy a game. Pretty much the only exception is Skyrim, which I never would have bought for full price if I couldn't mod it if I wanted to (especially after Oblivion).

I will say, though, that there are some mods that people really need to play. For example, everybody needs to play the Stanley Parable, even though it's not "professional" quality (aside: this term has very little meaning when it comes to the quality of a game or mod, and if you don't play something because of it, then you are really, really missing out).

Other mods people should play (only saying ones that I've actually played myself)

Black Mesa (a must play for Half-Life fans)
Nehrim (total conversion for Oblivion that's better than Oblivion)
Tamriel Rebuilt (large expansion to Morrowind that is often better quality than vanilla Morrowind)
White Night (an excellent and scary mod for Amnesia)
Gamma Energy (it's basically more awesome and difficult test chambers for Portal)

That's all I can think of now, I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten about, though.

 

[Desaari]

Mods are pretty important. Without them, there would never have been Team Fortress, Counter-Strike, DotA, DayZ etc.
As others have stated: I wouldn't refuse to buy a game that is non-moddable, at least not based solely on that, but it is very much a preferred feature. Especially for certain genres of game such as ARPGs

The moddability of games also grants the possibility of backwards compatibility for older games; most notably (in my experience) System Shock 2 and ZDoom.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Depends entirely on the game.

For, say, the mess that is Oblivion, mods would be required for me to suck out any enjoyment from it at all. However in a game like Rome: Total War or Mount & Blade: Warband, the vanilla game can still stand up on its own, but both come with many additional "versions" of the game which are, more often than not, superior to the original, offer different things and are entirely free.

So for games like the latter, mods aren't necessarily important per say, but they sure as hell extend the life of those games and can offer a fresh experience to a game that may have become boring to you. Things like that.

 

[Pink Gregory]

not at all. in fact I'm less likely to want to play something depending on how loud the fan base is about mods, like anything Bethesda has ever made due to they seem to be using the moddability as an excuse to go half ass on they're jobs

Modders don't have the deadlines and limitations that the development team would have had; I wouldn't call the dev team slackers.

 

[thirion1850]

Super important. Why do you think I still play Warcraft 3, Crusader Kings 2, Stronghold 2, Civ 5, Minecraft and still use the source engine despite technically how outdated some of it has become? (Also, yes, I do consider custom maps as mods of sort since they provide an entirely new angle on a game.) Not only do they give me fun games within said fun games, but extend the lifespan of one thus providing me much more content for money.

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

Depends on the mod. I'd cry myself to sleep without NewClassic or sky14kemea, but there are others who I can take or leave.

...what?
Ohhhh.
Erm.

I generally don't bother with the modding, with one exception - KOTOR2's restored content mod. It's a source of rage aggravation mild annoyance vague fist-shaking that Obsidian weren't allowed to release an official patch to restore all the stuff they had to cut so they could meet LucasArts' deadline.
Vague fist-shaking, I say.

 

[Lunar Templar]

not at all. in fact I'm less likely to want to play something depending on how loud the fan base is about mods, like anything Bethesda has ever made due to they seem to be using the moddability as an excuse to go half ass on they're jobs

Modders don't have the deadlines and limitations that the development team would have had; I wouldn't call the dev team slackers.

that's no excuse, at all. every dev team has the same limitations, even the ones that allow mods.

if you can not make a good game with out it needing modders to effectively finish the job, you have no business making games

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Unable to be important. I'm a PS3 user.

Although I must say, patches have become more important as more games are sold with game-breaking bugs in them. Not an ideal situation.

 

[Deshin]

I'm re-buying Skyrim on the PC just because I'm fed up with all the flaws in the console version. Small things that can quickly become big things if you're a perfectionist (no, screw you, I lit 3 beehives on fire, stop saying I did all of them!) and with the PC's console commands and a mix of mods that do indeed fix things I like to think I'm playing a game still within the realms of what the dev team had in mind. Macho Man Dragons? Maybe only for a laugh. Fixing the Inventory and Magic menus so they don't look like utter gob-shite? Absolutely.

Having said that though I do plan on insta-pimping myself to level 50 if only to lock the NPCs I meet to level 50 so they don't get facerolled by vampires and dragons later in the game.

 

[aether-x3]

Well they were completely unimportant back when I was strictly a console gamer...until I got a gaming PC and well.......Damn I love mods... I cant get enough. Doesn't mean I will overlook games if they don't have mods. but if the option is there, damn straight will I download mods for said games. I have atleast 50+ mods running on Skyrim.

 

[D-Soul]

To me depends on the game like everybody said Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 Fallout:NV are so good for modding that its almost ridiculous of all the mods you can put on that game at once.

other games not so much like the first Borderlands the modding was great to a point but it was best to say only modding you did was to get weapons and shields that were or are broken or OP and it was hard to duel somebody if they had a gun that can do the damage cap in the game and hit you with a random element with each shot and a shield that made them unable to die at all unless they fell off-world or something(<-major offender here)

and I had Dead Rising 2 for the PC and the modding community is small but they showed their work especially making the game a little easier for players like having nearly all weapons at the safehouse so you don't have to trek around a zombie-infested mall looking for that one weapon and item and the time management mod that was a great addition since the 72 hour thing in DR2 is actually not 72 hours its more like 12 RL seconds= 1 game minute so there's that as well

all in all, it depends on the game and the modding community is dedicated to making the game WAY better than it original was or wasn't in certain games.

 

[Stainlesssteele4]

Running a TF2 server, I find them supremely important. All admin powers come from Source Mod, and all other fun little minutia do as well.
As for the overall importance of mods, most of my favorite games came from mods(and by extension, Valve).

 

[Blaster391]

I am a modder, I enjoy it as a hobby, I also think it is a great way of getting into the Video Game industry.

DayZ anyone? How about Counter strike? Team Fortress? Natural Selection 2? Your right, modding is just a load of crap...

 

[Pebkio]

Very important. Not the cheaty mods but actually the mods meant to apply a particular change in Minecraft of Civ III to keep them from getting stale. Or the ability to use the full potential of my RAM for Skyrim. Or for naked bums in Skyrim.

 

[loc978]

Depends on the game. With RTSes, they're absolutely necessary to keep me interested. Once I master one set of units and maps, I need more to explore or I'm done with the game.

Multiplayer shooters, also absolutely necessary to keep me interested. I still prefer UT'99 to any shooter on the market.

Open-world RPGs... pretty damned important. At the very least, the new Fallout games are vastly more enjoyable with some mods that make stats matter.

Any tightly-scripted single-player only game or loot-driven multiplayer game, though... meh. Unnecessary, and usually balance-breaking.