Modding

By: Randall Hunt

In regards to Modders the article "Postigo" says "Many of them already have some technical skill and modding is a way to explore more deeply their love of gaming." I completely agree with this statement, and i am truly intrigued by the art of Modding. When looking at Modders we see may them as an elite group of individuals that do something we could never do, however the article points out the fact that we do similar practices in our everyday life. Look at facebook twitter or even wikis, we take an active role in putting our own views and thoughts into these large media corporations. So should we look at Modding as any different?

Modding is a way for people to put their thoughts and views into a game, and in most cases these thoughts and views are not just shared by them, but also by other gamers. This is the reason that we see the popularity increase in these Modded games. I can think of a bunch of different games that i would have preferred to have played in a different way. Even just a small change would have made the biggest difference in me enjoying the gameplay, this is the reason that i like the idea of modding.

Overall i enjoy reading the article and learning about Modding. Being that i enjoy playing games its funny that i had never even heard of this or even knew that it existed. Now that i have a better understanding i look forward to learning more about what Modding has to offer.

Mod as great value to both game players, and corporation

Kuon Woo Koo
MS 391

Playing a game for long time, people tend to find the game uninteresting, and try to do something different than they did in the game. When people find it boring, the game will be either out of players’ hands, or added with more flexible options, or mod, in which players can get pleasure from the game and keep playing the game. Mod is a tool kit which enables modder to create what they want it to be. In a word, mod is creative tool for players since the players can discover a new value of the game with the mod structured by modders.


I used to play FOC, and CHAOS, mods of Warcraft 3, and found them funnier than the Warcraft 3 itself. Recently, the Warcraft 3 is not being patched by Blizzard, but the mods are still being patched, and updated on demands of Warcraft 3 players by modder, which kept the players close to Blizzard. I think this is one of the main reasons why Blizzard strongly and officially supports the league of mod of warcraft 3.

Modder has provided customers with utterly different style of game in which game players can discover a new entertainment. Game corporation develops their own value of game in the way game players want it to be, and should be.

Modding

by Seung Lim

   Mods have been around since the 1980s, the time when the video games were just developed. Since the 1980s, Mods were developed for almost every games. One of the greatest example is Counter-Strike, which is Half-Life mod. An interesting fact is that Counter-Strike became more popular than Half-Life, the original game. "Day of Defeat" is also from Valve Software and is also a mod, a fan-made modification to a pre existing game.

   Mods existed in gaming industry for decades, but as the inclusion of "Day of Defeat" on Steam proves, they have really come into their own. A number of top gaming companies now heavily depend on modders to show them the way creatively and to ensure their own survival in competitive gaming market. Moreover, mods also represent the most visible success of the free software movement on the larger culture. For those who play computer games, the same ethos of volunteerism and shared ownership that characterizes free software has helped utterly transform the gaming experience and the $8 billion-plus gaming industry.

   Mods are essential part in Gaming Industry because it not only help the Gaming Companies to improve and keep develop but also allow the game users to experience some aspects that original game could not provide.

The Culture of Modding

by Jesus Gamboa

Is modding video games free labor or participatory culture? Hector Postigo raised this question in the article about the relationship between modders and the gaming industry.

On one side of the story, modding could be seen as a relevant characteristic of participatory culture in video games because consumers of the games are contributing and sharing more, or different, content to play. Avid fans strive to take a role in changing narratives and game play styles for their favorite games to have a diverse experience of the same game. Also, not all PC game companies disapprove of modding. Some developers include tool kits or host events specifically to encourage modding.

Does the game industry accept modders because they are, in essence, free labor? In comparison to the average media consumer, modders are held in a brighter light from the game industry’s perspective because they are potential sources of innovative content. However, most modders do not mod to develop skills for a particular career. Instead, they do it because they really enjoy the game they’re doing it to. It is taking an awesome game and giving it some of your very own flavor. Are modders being taken advantage of by large corporate video game companies? Most modders, from my experience, would respond that they don’t care because they’re having fun doing it.

In conclusion, modding video games can be considered both free labor and participatory culture. The fundamentals of a participatory culture coincide with the professional production process of the industry. Gamers may mod for a plethora of reasons, and I believe they should be supported, both by the gaming industry as well as the community of online players.

Modding of the New Era (Will J's Input)

From understanding the media today and watching the gaming industry grow with new technological advances, I feel that modding is an up and coming force that should be respected by game developers and avid gamers alike. Modding is very popular within pc games, primarily because of the world wide web and its availability to so much free media. The internet has forced many consumers to take for granted the amount of free media we consume, so it takes alot more to sell games and other multimedia successfully. Modding can definitely be used to help strengthen the gaming industry because most modders are the target market. Gaming Companies and developers should look at these mods as feedback from the consumers, basically telling game developers what can be added to games to make them even better.

Personally, i'm not familiar with too many pc games or popular mods, so i cant relate to playing them. Does anyone know any mods that would be nice for beginner gamers?

Modding: the basic instint of gamers (John Whang's opinion)

By John Whang

Looking at today's game industry, the key point that the game industry is focusing on is the "interactivity" between the game, users, and the producers. I believe that is why online games such as MMORPGs are having a dominant place within the game industry. Even video game consoles such as Play Station 3 and Xbox put a great importance in providing online gaming experience. I think "modding" can be looked as an outcome of the need and want of "interactivity" from users and producers. There is always a room for an improvement in anything. As a game user/player, I always wished if I can change some aspects within the game. And unlike other media forms such as films, books, or even media devices like ipod, a game is a great target/content to fulfill this element because it is a medium that doesn't have to be created from a scratch. For me, I don't have a knowledge to create a new game or even make a new mod for certain game, but I participate in similar ways. For example, on the game that I enjoy the most, Pro Evolution Soccer, I frequently use the edit mode within the game to update/fix current squad of club and national teams. This edited file can be easily shared with many other PES players. In a way, this can be looked as a participatory culture similar to "modding". I believe this desire of creating/editing the game as we want can be found in almost all game users.

I used to play a game called RPG Maker (Japan) back in 1997. It is simply a 2D RPG making tool that is really easy to use. This tells that even more than a decade ago, game users' wanting of creating their own games (even without techonology/knowledge) led to release the game that serves as a game making tool. In this sense, providing of an easy, game editing tools that enabled users to create new mods can be viewed as a marketing tool used by the game production companies.

By providing modding tools, more users can get interests in the original game and the producers can open up a participatory culture of that original game, which can be directly related to the boost of side financial income other than the game sales. According to the reading, few reasons why people participate in "modding" is because "modding acts as a bridge to online community and also provides the opportunity to produce the characters, narratives, contents that the users always dreamed of. As the quote, "participation is part of big business" suggests, by making "modders" the author of a new game, the game companies can use them as passionate free labors that can bring benefits to the company in reputation and financially.

MODs and Jinhyuk's opinion.

By Jinhyuk Bahk.
MS 391
Professor L. Nakamura

Do MODs pose threat to the gaming industry? I say no, because MODs are still a part of game at large, and thus it still would help enhancing and spreading original game. Take 'chaos', a hugely popular MODs for Warcraft III. It has been so popular that 'chaos' league has been created alongside with usual Starcraft, Warcraft III and other popular games; consequently, it not only raised  popularity of computer game in general but also gave yet another opportunity to Blizzard, who then officially supported 'chaos' league and Warcraft franchise.

Some might not agree with my point of view, but in this generation, I believe exposure to the mass public is critical to a successful sales of game, and these days game itself does not garner enough attention from media, unless we are talking about CIV 5 or Starcraft II (I am planning to purchase CIV 5, by the way). MODs that are created by user's participation are surely to increase exposures to mass-media, and as long as certain qualities are guaranteed and that the original copy must be present to play MODs, companies should encourage them to create even more MODs.