Modding. What's the appeal?

[Dreakon13]

If you know me at all... (most of you probably don't, or if you do, you don't care )... you'll know that I'm currently stuck in the eternal struggle between gaming on my PC or gaming on the Playstation.  Too many multi-platform games out there, I can't buy games for both.  One needs the edge over the other at some point.

 

Whenever the topic of "why game on PC?" comes up though... one of the biggest pro's is that of modding.

 

I understand the benefits.  It gives the user the ability to "correct" things they didn't like about the developers vision of a game.  Expand it further than the developers may have had the resources to do.  Without mods... we wouldn't have genre defining games like Counter Strike, and to a lesser extent, DayZ.  Yet in my several decades of PC gaming (with the occasional several year hiatus), my participation in the modding community was almost always on the development side.  I enjoy developing.  Having a solid base to work off of is easier.  I don't like using mods.  I find those that improve graphics are often using unintended workarounds that push the games engine beyond it's limits and turns an otherwise playable game into a horribly unoptimized mess (albeit great to look at).  I find those that claim to be lore friendly are often immersion breaking, incorporating lackluster/out of place voice acting or implementing wonky third party menus/console commands.  Mods often conflict with eachother, or are just unstable in general.  Even the brilliant bug fixing mods for otherwise abandoned titles tip-toe the line of "going to far" with balance tweaks and other areas they simply believe the developers were "wrong".

 

On that note... I also consider it a bit pompous, in my experience with the modding community, when people believe the developers were "wrong" in their vision of the final product.  Some people go as far as to say vanilla Skyrim is "unplayable"... not because of bugs, just because it doesn't look pretty enough, or somehow doesn't offer enough content.  The mindset of "me, me, me, everything needs to be the way I want it" overpowering that of respecting the piece of art that many talented individuals tirelessly crafted over the course of many years.

 

At the end of the day, I do get it.  People like being able to tweak a game so they enjoy it more.  Enjoying your game more is a good thing.  Obviously, there's nothing wrong with that.

 

Not entirely sure where I'm going with this, since I've answered most of my own questions.  But what are your thoughts on modding, from a console communities perspective?  As they are largely limited in this respect?

Edited January 17, 2015 by Dreakon13

[Dr_Mayus]

Boobs...obviously

 

[amebapiko]

Personally I always want to enjoy the game, at least at first, how the developers truly intended for it to be like. I think it's really dependent on the mod though, stuff that doesn't change too many things or slightly enhances visuals, I might put on without too much thinking, on the other hand I normally stay away from mods that change significant parts of the game such as soundtrack or drastic environmental changes. In regards to my thoughts on modding as a whole, I'm happy it creates a creative outlet for some people and it can give a chance for talented people to show their skill (I do find extremely extensive and creative mods cool - mods that normally have their own story etc.) Don't forget mods can create whole new games, take DotA for an example. Mods can open up many many doors and that is kind of the beauty of PC gaming, in a sense. Although I don't care too much and I'm super happy playing the game the vanilla game on my system of choice. 

[DEMON]

 

Because this.

 

And what does it matter? Mods on PC allow players to get even better remasters of older games.. Resident Evil 4 has a true HD mod on PC, FFVII and FFVIII have both had pretty awesome mods to improve the graphics (something nearly everyone's been wanting from FFVII at least).  Personally so long as they aren't mods to make the player better at the game (as in cheats), I don't really care.

Edited January 17, 2015 by DEMON

[ZeroXOF]

Boobs...obviously

 

 

I'm going to agree with this, back in the 90's and pre 2000s modders were creating stuff that pre 2010s are copying today, now it's just about T and A.  Also the fact that it's widely celebrated is worrying, there is a site but I forgot the name which celebrates modding beast porn. 

Edited January 17, 2015 by Bear

[KitsuneChaos]

 

That is all.

[A12]

Also Poonikins....

[Saltyie]

Modding seems like a cheap gag that gets old after five minutes. Apart from the plethora of nude mods, I can fly round liberty city as Iron Man, or turn zombies into teletubbies, but all this gets old after a couple of minutes. It is fun to watch all this on youtube, but I would never go through the hassle of installing mods for the seemingly short boost of dopamine. Maybe it's because I like to get immersed in games like Skyrim, not have my first person camera obstructed by hilariously oversized breasts. 

 

The more technical mods however, like fixing game breaking bugs I can understand. I'm not a fan of graphics mods, I'd rather just play the vanilla graphics without using a poorly optimised 'Photorealistic' mod. Look at gta iv's graphic mods, they run about as well as google streetview.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Saltyie

[damon8r351]

For every 10 modders bringing big boobs and Iron Man into a game, there's groups of people taking on huge projects like rebuilding Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion into the Skyrim engine. Granted it's a pipe dream that will take forever, but it's amazing what people will get together to make and release for no monetary compensation whatsoever.

[PREDRAG-K]

From what I've seen, modding seems to keep some games and their communities alive. The most recent one is Skyrim. It seems like after the first year, everyone got bored of the game (probably realizing how repetitive it really is). But with mods, the game has stayed relevant on the PC community. Sure, most of the mods are for graphics and trying to make the game more like Morrowind, but they are keeping people on the game.

I see mods as a nice bonus for PC gaming. I know I wouldn't use them, if I played on my PC more often, but it's cool to have the tools available.

[Dreakon13]

And what does it matter?

 

I hope you don't go into every thread with this attitude, lest the forum and all discussion be shut down altogether.

[DEMON]

I hope you don't go into every thread with this attitude, lest the forum and all discussion be shut down altogether.

 

I didn't see anything wrong with my attitude in the post.. if you would read past that..

 

Overall, you either like mods or you don't, they are quite cool to have available when you see some of the things they can be (like adding a character to a fighting game who isn't available otherwise, even if it is only a skin).

Edited January 17, 2015 by DEMON

[Dreakon13]

I didn't see anything wrong with my attitude in the post.. if you would read past that..

 

Overall, you either like mods or you don't, they are quite cool to have available when you see some of the things they can be (like adding a character to a fighting game who isn't available otherwise, even if it is only a skin).

 

Just seemed like an absurd question to ask on a discussion board.  That's all.

 

And I spent a lot of time in the FFVII modding community back in the early 2000's and actually made a few mods of my own (which I still get emails about to this day).  And the whole NPC reconstruction project is a good example of what I'm getting at in the OP actually.  The mod has taken years to progress, it's difficult to install (maybe it's been made easier with the newer rereleases of the game but the original PC port was a pain to get working in general on newer PC's... no less with mods), and while it attempts to proportion (only some) characters in a less chibi-like fashion... they seem extremely out of place considering the proportions of the maps/areas weren't meant to account for characters built that way.

 

That's not to discredit the work that's gone into it, but it's kind of going back to the point of "why is modding one of the standout 'pros' of PC gaming".  Even the the biggest mods with the absolute best of intentions are still often immersion breaking, not true to the original design of the game and are best left for the half hour of novel entertainment that most people actually get out of it.  I guess that's still a half hour more then you'd get out of the vanilla release though. *shrug*

Edited January 17, 2015 by Dreakon13

[DEMON]

Just seemed like an absurd question to ask on a discussion board.  That's all.

 

And I spent a lot of time in the FFVII modding community back in the early 2000's and actually made a few mods of my own (which I still get emails about to this day).  And the whole NPC reconstruction project is a good example of what I'm getting at in the OP actually.  The mod has taken years to progress, it's difficult to install (maybe it's been made easier with the newer rereleases of the game but the original PC port was a pain to get working in general on newer PC's... no less with mods), and while it attempts to proportion characters in a less chibi-like fashion... they seem extremely out of place considering the proportions of the maps/areas weren't meant to account for characters built that way.

 

That's not to discredit the work that's gone into it, but it's kind of going back to the point of "why is modding one of the standout 'pros' of PC gaming".  Even the the biggest mods with the absolute best of intentions are still often immersion breaking, not true to the original design of the game and are best left for the half hour of novel entertainment that most people actually get out of it.  I guess that's still a half hour more then you'd get out of the vanilla release though. *shrug*

 

 

This is maybe one of the better improvement mods, when Capcom released this in HD (when it was really just up-scaled graphics, which looked blurry in areas), some fan released this mod which was way superior to the seemly HD release Capcom had made.  If I had Resi 4 on the PC I would definitely install this mod over the top of it.  Here's a picture showing the difference.

 

[Dreakon13]

I would be curious how forcing a dated engine to render true high definition textures would impact a games performance and stability.

 

I'm not saying all mods are immersion breaking trash though... but for each one that manages to legitimately improve the game without a substantial silver lining, there are literally hundreds that contribute virtually nothing.  Which again, isn't a bad thing since they're optional (unless you're talking online games that allow a bit too much freedom and divide communities ie. many old school shooters)... but modding falls squarely into the 'meh' category for me.  The luster wears off quickly.  Though at the same time many people can't live without them.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Dreakon13

[Parker]

The only games I mod are racing games. That way I can get hundreds of cars or trucks that the developers either didn't or couldn't put in the game and it only makes the game more enjoyable. That being said, I personally wouldn't consider modding a pro of PC gaming.  

 

 

Parker

[Asuka Langley]

 

That is all.

 

I cannot explain how fast my coffee ended up on my floor because of this video.

I'm sure you can figure out how it got there.

[antithesis]

Boobs are great, but I care more about my games running when I insert a disc or fire up a download than tweaking it to my liking.

That's why I play on console these days - it's hassle-free compared to PC gaming. I'd rather spend my time playing games than simply trying to get them to run.

That and trophies. It pains me to say this, but I choose trophies over boobies.

[Dreakon13]

Boobs are great

 

They sure are.

 

 

 

... And I agree.  It's not just getting games to run too, it's obsessively compulsively picking away at games that work perfectly fine until some people realize that Skyrim simply isn't playable without their slightly crisper looking water mod in Skyrim.  It's asinine.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Dreakon13

[Havok__84]

MX vs ATV: Reflex on PC has a huge modding community, skins to be pro riders, skins to turn in game bikes into OEM bikes (Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda, KTM) as well as replica tracks of all the AMA Supercross races they've ran last year and this year. If they're not using mods to hack and cheat on the game I think mods can add a lot of replay value to it that normally wouldn't be there.

[SirNikolai]

Lets say you have never beaten a old classic game let say Starcraft Brood War or Wacraft Orcs & Humans. Modding is just like cheating to satifsfy your lust. Once you take this lust towards online games like Mw3, Advance Warfare (soon to be) it's pretty pathetic. Offline is fun to dick around with mods, tho once you hit online with any mods the rankings always goes to shit & your own pride for the game. 

 

I'm remember playing FinalFantasy 6 legit until Kefka got me frustrated it was so fun until that point. I would use mods/cheats for a edge like Kefka frustration  for example. Playing zombies offline with mods was extremely fun, tho it got boring after a while. Note: some trophies are still unattainable that way I've tried trust me.

 

For any pokemon game i still play I cheat for my first 6 starting pokemon, usually switch it up I can say i never yet had a party of 6 legendaries only 2 that are consider cute i would use are(Celebi & Jirachi).

[BhekifaZ]

The only games I tend to mod are Civilization since everytime they release a new one they fuck something up that the community has to fix.

[Zz-Vanguard-zZ]

in my eyes modding has always been a gimmick sure sometimes something good like DOTA or CS comes out of it but how often that happens. it's really rare that it actually impact my experience of a game 

[DocVoltacon]

This one the reason why Pc have some advantage from the console I play Pc game like Civilization V I can make my own Console war with he Hiperdimension Neptunia character fighting Gabe Newell as Pc Civilization, those mod expand the experience and time when you play the game make the Pc superior from the console is pretty hard to say that even an console type as myself but the god thing is that Fallout 4 the console version will have mod I my opinion the next gen of console will start having mod have Pc will start that advantage I hope so cause is pretty paifull to spend money upgrade your pc.

[Zenpai]

I've never been much of a PC Gamer and haven't bought a new PC game in 11 years, but sometimes, mods would really come in handy:

 

   -  No matter how much I like their games, Atlus always makes this unreasonable decision of making all their games dub-only, even though tons of anime games come with both original and dubbed voice acting, and I've never seen this have any kind of negative repercussion for the companies involved. And yet, Atlus keeps on enforcing this move year after year for no good reason, even though it's 2015 and most Japanese games are dual-audio these days. If I could mod their games, I could make the game dual-audio. It's not in any way disrespecting the original vision of the game, in fact, I'm trying to bring it back to its original version, just with translated in-game text.

 

   -  Dragon Ball: Xenoverse had one of the worst uses of RNG I've ever seen. It's just RNG on top of RNG on top of RNG. I can't possibly see how this artificial padding could be ever perceived as fun. If I could mod the game, I would just get rid of this awful system and have a lot more fun with the game instead of spending more time playing it, but spending that extra time being frustrated.

 

 

The original poster considered that it would be a bit pompous to try to change the creators' original vision of their games. While I do agree, to an extent, the creators are still human and make mistakes. Isn't their intent (besides obviously making money) for people to have fun with their creations? If they've taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way, is it so wrong to correct it?