Poll: Modding is EXTREMELY important in games. Agreed?

[Lygus]

First off, modding is not "a declining thread". This is simple corporate wordy crap to fool consumers into thinking they didn't deserve any better. Modding gives you free content, usually top-notch (sometimes even better than from the original developers), from the community.

Example that quickly come in mind:

1) Arma franchise by Bohemia Interactive. Look at the recent Arma 3. Improved technology, mission editor functionality, scripting library, tools, etc. That gets curious people attention and let them unleash creativity (be it modeling, scripting, coding, design, etc). But A3 is still an alpha? That's not a factor to judge the game. Community is heavily involved in many activities that are helpful in the future. ... Not to mention Arma 2: Combined Operations mod choice: ACE2 (for extreme realism), Unsung Vietnam, WW2 Invasion 1944, Cold War Rearmed 2 (a true remake of Operation Flashpoint (2001)) and many others (huge 10x10 km maps like Isla Duala, Panthera, Celle 2 etc). It's obvious such an assortment will increase a game's lifespan at least tenfold.

2) Skyrim. Although the game was buggy at the release, community made it far better and beautiful than the devs themselves. Enhanced UI, character creations, new maps, etc. This community is ready for Bethesda's new RPG anytime - be it Fallout 4, new TES.

3) The Witcher 2 ... many other games I won't bother mention.

Modding forms loyal communities that will likely buy the next installment of any series when no drastic changes were made to core gameplay (I mean those that are perceived as negative) and the idea of a game. Pay attention - nowadays most of the series are slowly losing their identity and consumers. But there's still hope - independent developers can make a difference given their proficient understanding of game development and business culture (set up -> evolve further).

Today many corporations think community involvement isn't a big deal in terms of content. Companies love to absolute and sell the words as facts. That's stupid. They should stop being pretentious and stupid.

Looking at Battlefield 3 and how its community has downgraded within time and new releases, I invite you to explore the uncharted lands of reasoning. Why publishers are afraid to support modding?

Money money money?
Lost ability to cut content and sell it as "brand-new" DLCs?
Afraid of community to create better mods?
... other? Tell me.

Also, look at how EA are denying the existence of Battlefield 2 when presenting BF4 "new feature" Commander mode. That's some disrespectful shit and greedy culture. No wonder EA declining rapidly.

P.S.: I understand the different purpose of games. Some are story-driven. This topic is mostly dedicated to games that are combining gameplay and story or are purely gameplay / MP oriented.

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Disclaimer: This thread is obviously referring to PC gamers since console games doesn't allow or allows minimum modding capability.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Depends on the game.


Skyrim and other Bethesda games benefit hugely from their respective modding communities.


The Witcher? Eh, I can't imagine mods changing the game that much.

 

[Smooth Operator]

It's important in games that aren't made properly or have poor content, but otherwise it's a neat extra that will score the devs some bonus points in my book.

 

[redknightalex]

Modding is essential...to some games. And it's not declining, at all.

Anything from Bethesda once they release they Creation Kits, yes, absolutely, you get a different game once the really great mods come out. Even the Total War games have benefited greatly from user-create mod teams that create either different scenarios or add realism to an era of history I love so much.

Other games, like Dragon Age, had mods that only improved a few things, like graphics, bartering, and lockpicks. That was about it. Jade Empire and other BioWare games are the same: little changes made. Although there is a "happy ending" mod for ME3 I have yet to check out.

It mainly depends on how moddable the game is and how much the publisher allows it.

Also not sure why companies would ever be afraid of mods seeing as they almost always increase the re-playability of a game.

 

[lRookiel]

Mods are a good thing to have. Especially if it's a bethesda/obsidian rpg :3

 

[sextus the crazy]

Modding is only important to a section of games, mostly PC ones. Pretty much anything handheld doesn't have it.

 

[ninjaRiv]

As a console gamer, I'm an outsider on this but I like it. I love the idea of it, even though I haven't really seen it in practice. It lets the fans show how much they love the game by giving everyone a reason to play it more. Devs take forever to release new content, if they do at all, so it's good to see that the game never dies for the fans.

I think Bethesda said they fully support mods, right? And the guys who did Rage released some mod tools? So I don't think developers are really against modding for the most part.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Modding is essential...to some games. And it's not declining, at all.

Anything from Bethesda once they release they Creation Kits, yes, absolutely, you get a different game once the really great mods come out. Even the Total War games have benefited greatly from user-create mod teams that create either different scenarios or add realism to an era of history I love so much.

Other games, like Dragon Age, had mods that only improved a few things, like graphics, bartering, and lockpicks. That was about it. Jade Empire and other BioWare games are the same: little changes made. Although there is a "happy ending" mod for ME3 I have yet to check out.

It mainly depends on how moddable the game is and how much the publisher allows it.

Also not sure why companies would ever be afraid of mods seeing as they almost always increase the re-playability of a game.

just an fyi, there are some DA scenario ones, one of them was hard as piss

(fuckin 20+ bow and arrow enemies armed and ready to own the fuck out of you, not to mention the melee guys they have ready to charge you)

also, for DA, there were shit tons of items and characterization detail mods that i used, not to mention the ser gilmore mod.

the me3 happy ending mod is decent, mostly just streamed together old clips over some audio, but meh it works, better than the original endings.


OT: Mods are really important to me, if i hear a game has mods then i will for sure give it a second look if i wasn't already interested, that's how much they catch my eye most of the time.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Modding is essential...to some games. And it's not declining, at all.

Anything from Bethesda once they release they Creation Kits, yes, absolutely, you get a different game once the really great mods come out. Even the Total War games have benefited greatly from user-create mod teams that create either different scenarios or add realism to an era of history I love so much.

Other games, like Dragon Age, had mods that only improved a few things, like graphics, bartering, and lockpicks. That was about it. Jade Empire and other BioWare games are the same: little changes made. Although there is a "happy ending" mod for ME3 I have yet to check out.

It mainly depends on how moddable the game is and how much the publisher allows it.

Also not sure why companies would ever be afraid of mods seeing as they almost always increase the re-playability of a game.

Agree totally, and let's not forget the modding community of KotOR 2 that have essentially restored or added half of the content that was slashed from the final game and made it a new beast entirely.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Eh to be honest I've seen just as many bad mods as good ones. I feel like a lot of them kinda cheapen the experience the developers designed. Like all the skyrim mods that add poorly modeled master chief armor and energy swords or new choppy animations where your character flips around like its devil may cry and shit like that. Even if they were done well they wouldn't fit the tone of the game.

I will say that there are some pretty damn cool things done with mods like Gmod and DayZ. I still wouldnt really consider them important as far as the games theyre based on, but they're a plus.

 

[Pinkamena]

I feel it's important for games that are so large that the devs were unable to fix all the problems themselves or make every area of the game perfect (*cough* bethesda *cough*). It's also a lot of fun to mod. I've just installed Skyrim, and I've been spending more time modding it than actually playing.

Here's a couple of screenshots I took yesterday because I'm impressed by how better it looks compared to vanilla skyrim.

Spoiler

 

[IndomitableSam]

I've got dozens of mods for Skyrim, to the point where the world hardly resembles the original. Graphics, colour, city, environment, everything mods. Wolves and bears and horkers have babies, little birds fly around and land on the ground and fly off when you approach, adventurers wander the world and clear dungeons, dragons attack the main cities (open cities)... so and and so forth.

I try and buy most games on the PC for modding as the fans almost always create something better than the original.

 

[Ickorus]

Modding keeps older games alive and allows newbie developers get a grasp on how game development works.

This is not and will never be a bad thing and the more games that have modding support the happier I will be not only for myself but for all those people that get into the industry via modding.

It also creates a strong community and a loyal fanbase for the developer, the only people that it could be considered a bad thing for is the publishers who want to re-release the same game each year with a bit of new content but little more than that.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Since modding is a prime example of Sturgeon's Law, no I don't think it's important. Esp. since I think most modders completely miss the point of what, at least I think, the game was trying to achieve and actively seek to undo it.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not saying it shouldn't be allowed, I'm just saying it's not all that important.

 

[Guy from the 80's]

The creative Assembly almost rely on modding because their products are so shit.

 

[Yopaz]

I don't agree. Most games manage to be perfectly fine without ever seeing a mod, most don't need it.

It's a nice addition to those games that have it, it can extend the lifetime of a game, it can fix the issues a game has. There are lots of reasons why mods should be allowed and even encouraged, but it's not essential to enjoy the game, thus not EXTREMELY important.

 

[snekadid]

Modding is essential...to some games. And it's not declining, at all.

Anything from Bethesda once they release they Creation Kits, yes, absolutely, you get a different game once the really great mods come out. Even the Total War games have benefited greatly from user-create mod teams that create either different scenarios or add realism to an era of history I love so much.

Other games, like Dragon Age, had mods that only improved a few things, like graphics, bartering, and lockpicks. That was about it. Jade Empire and other BioWare games are the same: little changes made. Although there is a "happy ending" mod for ME3 I have yet to check out.

It mainly depends on how moddable the game is and how much the publisher allows it.

Also not sure why companies would ever be afraid of mods seeing as they almost always increase the re-playability of a game.

Agree totally, and let's not forget the modding community of KotOR 2 that have essentially restored or added half of the content that was slashed from the final game and made it a new beast entirely.

From what I hear Kotor 2 is actually a coherent and enjoyable experience now, thank god for community patches fixing the devs broken crap. Bitter? No, why do you ask? I guess I'm just tired of consumers being beta testers, and worse, I'm tired of being sold something that is broken and then its never fixed(say what you want, yes bethesda games have a ton of bugs, but atleast they fix most of them eventually.... looking at you obsidian).

The only one I am willing to forgive is troika with Vampire the masquerade: Blood lines since if they hadnt released it when they did it wouldn't have launched at all what with the company going under. Besides, the fan patch is amazing, I have never had the game crash or suffered any noticeable bug with it installed and puts back in alot of great content.

Modding kept me replaying skyrim for a long time and even a small mod change can give all new life to alot of games. I honestly dislike and often refrain from purchasing games where the devs actively attempt to block modding.

 

[Halfie2]

Modding really is important for certain types of games.

I can't even imagine the pain of playing a healer in WoW without healbot or other addons..

Also Project Nevada gave me a reason to upgrade to FO:NV ultimate edition(was it really named that?), the mod added so much fun especially when combined with weapon mods expanded.

I had a huge wall of text here about steam workshop and all but I'll just delete it and say...

tl:dr Mods = very good

 

[Abomination]

Medieval II: Total War is STILL going strong in the modding community because the game was made so easy to mod.

Granting players access to developer tools will do nothing but extend the life of the game and the value of the game.

The only games I think where modding would be pointless would be in games like The Walking Dead - point and click adventures. Every other type of game would benefit.

 

[MysticSlayer]

It depends on the game. Games designed for a more dedicated community that you expect to stick around years after the game's release certainly benefit from it, but games that aren't designed for a dedicated community really don't need to have mods. For instance, ArmA can certainly benefit from mods, given the fact that the only people who actually want to play it are those dedicated enough to gaming to invest dozens of hours just to get a good grip on the game, let alone get good and master it. Games like post-2142 Battlefield, however, are not really designed for these people, instead preferring to be as user-friendly as possible and appeal to communities that often invest 1-2 years at most in a game before moving on to the next one. If such a small portion of your community is actually going to benefit from the mods, then I really don't see a point in supporting them, but if your game has been designed to attract people that are willing to invest hundreds of hours spanned across many years into a game, then mods certainly aid in making it a greater experience for those people.