There were
probably times when you played your favourite game and was disappointed due to
the lack of certain things or how things worked. I can tell you that there
might be a way to help you. The answer is modding.
What is a mod?
Mod is a modification of the game usually made by user community. Mods can be
used to change the look of the game and mechanics or to add new content such as
additional levels, missions or characters and items. For example, you can find
a mod which allows you to play as a banana in RPG game called Skyrim.
Mods come
in different shapes and for different purposes. They can be made for fun, as the
one above, or they can add new things to the game, expanding it and probably
making it more challenging.
Although
modding sounds great, there are some problems with it. For example, not every
mod works well with each other. Mods are mostly made by users who don’t always
communicate with each other and aren’t made with the thought of another
modification. Another problem is that even though there are sometimes so many
different mods, you can’t sometimes find what you really want. Modding isn’t a
simple task, and is created mostly by fans who’d like to see their vision of
the game.
Can we think about it as a future of gaming?
Actually
yes. Dota2, Counter Strike or even tower defense games. These are the games
which were first created as modifications to existing games, and which were
later on made, as standalone games. Even now, Valve has created a workshop in
which players can put their modifications into different games. It has also
created a few tools which make modifying their games easier. Comparing to 1990s
more games are made with thought of easier modification.
What do companies get from this?
First of all, after they launch a game they don’t have to worry about its content so much, players will do it themselves. Also when making another part of the game series, they can use existing ideas brought with mods to make their next game closer to what players would like to see.
- What do you think about modding?
- Have you ever used any mod? What does it make?
Comments
On the other hand it’s a good thing that you can easily access game code and make some changes. Players are creating new storylines, new characters, add new items, weapons etc. sometimes they make game way better than the original product. But that only proves that developers did a really poor job on creating that particular game.
That makes my just angry. If I buy a game I expect it to be fully playable product, not some base that I have to install several mods to enjoy it.
Of course mods changing game graphics or sounds are a different story. Everybody has his own taste and it’s impossible to create interface that will satisfy everyone. I use such mods on “World of Tanks” and I really enjoy them.
2. Yes, on the “larger scale”, I have used many mods in The Elders Scrolls Skyrim. Mainly it consist to add new clothes and armors, better textures and new character movements. This game I have nothing to fault, but when I passed, I stated to try some of this mods, which variety my gameplay.
To your example I can add GTA V and newest Batman.
Supprisingly this tendency started not too long ago and I can't understand why is this happening. I see your point about testing phase limited to minimum, but seriously. Why?
I won't talk about destruction of awesome game mechanics or permission for players to abuse some mechanics to make game easier and thus uninteresting. I have much bigger problem which is my main characters class. Every class has this one unique mechanic that defines it amoung other classes. In my case (Ranger) we have a pet which follows us and combines with our abilities and other mechanics. To be more precise, everything we have is made in such a way that we need a pet for them to work correctly. The problem is. From the beginning of beta tests up till now, they are not working correctly. AI is stupid and doesn't work properly, and we can't force them to do what we want, because we only have a little control over them. Even though game moderators still didn't do anything about that and even forced us to use the pets more, by balancing strengh of our abilities in such a way that pet does roughly 40% of all our outcoming damage. It is fine as long we are playing PVE but in my case (PVP) its a horror.
I think nowadays game editors are just thinking that they can do anything and we will still play it
I used some tower defense mods and of course famous Counter Strike mod :)