Modders; Why Do You Do it?

[rms827]

This topic is kind of inspired by things I saw posted during the pay wall fiasco as well as the topic here asking what players get out of modding. The pay wall part was this huge misconception that I saw from users that modders are only making mods as portfolios to get hired by Bethesda to make content for upcoming games,

 

Before I go any further, BY THE NINE AND FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY, DO NOT turn this into a pay wall debate!!! This has NOTHING to do with paid mods, only about why modders make mods and an attempt to clear up a misconception I saw at that time.

 

The point here is 90% of modders MIGHT take a job if offered one, but probably only a few are actively campaigning with resumes and portfolios to get hired by game companies. I'd wager most of us are happy being independent, OR, like me, are just doing it for fun or similar reasons.

 

 

I'll even go ahead and start. I got started modding because a mod I loved on the Steam Workshop disappeared as fast as it appeared. Author pulled it due to too many demands for mod expansion and he liked to keep his mods simple. Not wanting the mod to disappear, I took it over with his permission. I kept going with the mod and expanding my skills (which are still limited compared to many modders) just for fun and as a learning and personal growth kind of thing. It feels good to accomplish something most folks are unwilling to try. At the time I was taking over and initially expanding the mod, I was also temporarily disabled from a back injury. Still being able to do something creative and productive was a needed boost to my self-esteem and self-confidence.

 

So that's MY story. No money ambitions, no job seeking, just for fun and personal fulfillment. Despite a previous thread i started encouraging people to endorse mods they like, it's not even about praise. Endorsements and positive comments are awesome, They can help encourage us modders to keep going when we want to quit and walk away, or just take a break. Most of us do it for love of the game though.

 

 

[mlee3141]

I do it mostly because I enjoy writing, and want to improve upon a game we all hold so dear. Modding provided an ideal hobby to combine these two passions.

[sLoPpYdOtBiGhOlE]

To escape reality for me.

Some drink excessively, some take drugs, some hook up with whores, some watch tv... etc to escape reality.

My fav is doing all the above to get away from reality for a bit.

I'm no longer able do the above, so I needed some way for my mind to escape that wasn't self destructive or abusing my mind and sanity.

 

Some Sk8, some surf, some skurf (wakeboard), some scuba dive, some parachute, some drive and ride fast on dirt and track ..etc to escape reality for a bit.

I can barely do 2 of the above activities now days.

So I needed some way for my mind to escape that didn't involve large amounts of money or torture my body any further.

 

Modding temporarily fills the void as a distraction from the above for me.

[Vaelka]

It's not too complicated for me. I was looking for a good city overhaul, and when I couldn't find what I was looking for, I decided to try and make my own. Publishing Dawn of Whiterun and creating the other overhauls were a bit of an afterthought really.

 

My skills are still fairly limited. Now that I'm not working on cities anymore, I just learn what I need to as I go to tweak my game here and there. (For example, I spent today scripting spells... though with varying results)

 

I've also found modding is a good gateway to learning other programs, etc.

Edited May 24, 2015 by BluePianoTwo

[gezegond]

I installed around 250 mods, but realized there were specific mods that could be exponentially improved if some features were added or tweaked. I decided to do just that before I start my second play-through. :)

[skinnytecboy]

I am/was a songwriter.. which when you get down to it, is all about story telling.

 

For me (hands up, I'm fairly new by the grand scheme of things) modding is exactly the same. It's a medium that allows one to be creative and tell stories. In my case, the stories are fairly silly... but I still want to tell them.

[Boombro]

Because I'm picky, better make my own followers and houses.

Being picky and demanding stuff is just a bad idea.

[ToppDog]

I like to create, & I like to tweak things that I think could be better. My first mod was with an older Elder Scroll game where the main character's friend Amy got killed in the beginning of the game. I didn't really like the way they wrote that, so I modded her back in as a companion. Of course, it was funny later on when a bunch of characters were all talking about how she died when she was standing right next to them, but oh well.

 

I've made NPC makeover mods for personal use, but the only mod I've actually uploaded is one that seemed to fill a void, so it seemed like a good idea to share it. Skyrim needed a boarding school mod for all those orphaned children, & now it has one. But outside of that, the only thing I might eventually work on that I haven't seen done yet is a good steel shield replacer that matches the steel armor & weapons, & a mod that makes Grelod more evil & adds in beast race chidren to the orphanage.

 

It's a hobby for me.

[thesniperdevil]

i used to work in the games industry and it was crap for me. So I got out and found a job with a decent work life balance, I enjoy gaming again and use modding as my creative outlet. I also enjoy the open source nature of the community, but if anything were to push me away from it, it would probably the immature witch hunt mentality of some of the members of it.

[Deleted31005User]

I started modding because I wanted some more statues and plants around a certain pool mod I was using, that author was so friendly to give me permission to upload it as well.

Then of course came the users who left me comments on how they wanted to see more of my work, they gave me some great ideas and I usually listen to them, but to actually learn new things I had to get in contact with other authors and most of them were always helpful in that regard as well.

 

So it basically started really small, but the community in general always supported me and kept me interested.

I love the modding on its own as a hobby, but the way everything is open and for free and how the community works with each other is just fabulous, some modders really go above and beyond to teach you new things.

 

For example the person Mrpdean taught me all I needed to know on how to use MAX3DS, he wrote me an entire tutorial in .pdf format more then a year ago and I'm still using that to this day, not to mention all those modders resources out there which allow me to do some fantastic things.

I even allow some folks to edit my mods directly if they have a good idea which I am unable to implement myself, their work is basically a contribution to my work and I truly appreciate such efforts.

Tel Nalta II for example is not just my mod at this point, about 5 people have actively helped me to make it better than it originally was.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Guest