The Rebirth of PC Gaming - Bring on the Modders!

[Rob Williams]

The importance of modding in PC gaming shouldn't be understated, but at the moment, it's not big business. For that reason many developers shun the idea of awarding its customers with robust modding tools. What could be done to change that, and better PC gaming as a whole? Let's explore the possibilities.

Read through Jamie's look at some PC modding possibilities and discuss it here!

[Greg King]

Very nice read Jamie. I loved all the points you made.

Another game that comes to mind is Minecraft. I cannot grasp how it's so damned popular but seeing as it's very nature is open, it goes to show how much time, effort and emotion people are willing to put into a game they have control in -making-.

You mentioned Little Big Planet. I love that game so much. Part of that love comes from my wife and I both being able to enjoy. Another gratifying aspect to it is that I can create whatever I want. All it takes is some time and tweaking.

You touch upon a very good subject and wrote a very enjoyable read.

[Big Red Machine]

GREAT piece. Great points, as well.

As a bit of a related aside, my absolute favorite genre of games, racing sims, is vitally dependent on vibrant, active modding communities. Indeed, a sim like rFactor (and, soon, its sequel rFactor 2), is designed as a platform for modders to work their magic. There are hundreds, maybe even more, of modding communities and individuals worldwide who add so much replay value to what is essentially a very basic game right out of the box.

I honestly wish I had the expertise and the time to create my own mods, especially for rFactor.

These mods are precisely why I LOVE racing simulation games on the PC, and why I just laugh at all the people who believe (mistakenly, in all honesty) that "games" such as Gran Turismo and Forza are realistic. As someone who used to be an honest-to-goodness part-time test driver, console racing games are vastly inferior to what a good PC racing sim can do as far as simulating vehicle behavior and dynamics.

Thanks for the brilliant article!

[Tharic-Nar]

Thank you kindly. There are so many other games I could/should have mentioned, but I'd be here forever if I did; most of the games listed are ones that I have played. I have never played Minecraft, but I'm aware of the strong community behind it, so I should have at least mentioned it.

I really do believe though that if companies allowed modders to to charge for their work, it would provide a huge incentive. These mods are in many cases what allows games to thrive long after launch. A major concern though is what companies like Activsion will do - 70% royalties and charge $3-$15 per mod? Also, what is the cut-off point from being a mod in concept or development, to one that can be sold and fixed? Also, who gets the cut - dev, publisher, platform, all of the above? You could end up paying just a few cents to the modder in a $5 package.

Lots of questions need to be asked and answered first. I'm fairly sure lawyers can figure out a system so that the dev is not held responsible for user-created content (even if it is sold and they're taking a cut).

BF2 is another game that comes to mind; while the graphics are poor (vs present standards), the modders of this game gave new life to a game that could have been easily forgotten.
Project Reality (current downloads are still available) is still going strong; Allied Intent (version 1.0 and 2.0) not only brought more modern weapons/ aircraft to the game, but also newer maps and "screams of death" to the AI (which act more like predators than prey).