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Motivations of people that play with mods


minime453

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Hey everyone!

 

First off, I'm not totally sure if this is the right place for this thread, but out of all the current topics, it seemed like the most relevant place to put it. I can move it if need be.

 

I'm Trey, a bachelor student at the TH Köln in Germany currently studying Digital Games and Art. I've been a part of the Fallout 4 modding community for a couple years, first as a 3d artist on Fallout Miami and now working on my own projects. I'm not super active in discussions, but I love creating mods and thinking about designing interesting experiences for players.

 

I'm currently doing a research essay for university on the motivations of those who play mods. I think it's a fascinating topic and one that is sorely under researched. This is what inspired my project and I'd like to reach out to you guys to see what your thoughts on the topic would be. I'd love to kick off a discussion about this topic.

  • Why do you play with mods?
  • How do you define the quality of a mod?
  • What have mods done for your experience of the game?

Any responses to this post will be anonymised in the essay if they are used.

 

Additionally, I also created a short survey (https://forms.gle/sR6D5m2md6kEcioX8) to try and get more data on the topic. If you have 5-10 minutes, I would be extremely grateful if you filled it out. This won't collect any personal data that could be used to connect your answers to you.

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I use mods to change gameplay to something more along the lines of what I want, not what Beth seems to think I want.

 

If a mod does what it says it does, and doesn't cause problems elsewhere, then its a "good" mod.

 

Being able to mod the game extends the playability of the game. Without mods, I likely would have stopped playing years ago.

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I play with mods (and make them) because I want to have more content in the game. Also, because I think that I can make Fallout 4 to my "perfect game with a post-apocalyptic setting", like I have already done it before with Skyrim in the fantasy setting.

 

Imo, a developer will never be able to deliver a "perfect game", because it is impossible for him to satisfy every customer wish.

 

Mods can do this, if the modding scene around the game is large enough. No matter what important is for someone - mod authors will be able to make it - sooner or later.

 

I think the mods with the heighest quality are either the ones that have really unique ideas, or are very essential for your playthrough, or you can see much effort and work of the mod author in his mod.

Edited by taryl80
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Doesn't the answer to your question transcend the particular field of digital gaming? Isn't it the same question as asking why people modify D&D board games, or make up their own variations or unique games?

 

Of course, there are a diverse set of kinds of features people are changing- Some are interested in the gameplay, others the storytelling, and still others the realism of particular types of objects.

 

For the segment of that latter most population, isn't it the same as asking why the dollhouse folks like constructing figures for doll houses, their costumes, and so on? Or in the domain of model hobbyists, why people spend incredible amounts of time and money to recreate exact replicas of obscure locomotives or sailing ships?

 

Or are you asking something particular about digital mods? Like why create a gun replica in Max as opposed to cobbling up a gun replica using molds and a lot of epoxy?

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I have a friend who does not like to play with mods. He only seems to enjoy a game if he knows it's how everyone else who plays the game experiences it.

He prefers games with very defined, strict rules. He likes tabletop games, strategy games and whatnot. Or games like Overwatch where everybody gets access to all the exact same characters, across the board. Level playing fields.

 

I can enjoy a game that way too, just fine. But I also love modding my game to the extreme. My fallout 4 game is running with over 270 active mods currently. The only other game i've played which could be modded to such an extreme is The Sims. It's been a long time since I played that - but yeah, I modded it all the way out too.

 

I love a personal experience. Don't get me wrong, I have thousands and thousands of hours in this game un-modded. But I enjoy making a game that nobody in the world but me is going to experience. Doing things that nobody else is doing in my game. I love making stories. I'm the creative sort. I'd love to make a story or game that others could experience, too. But I can't figure it out. So I guess modding my game is a fine fallback. I suppose that's what I get most out of modding my game. A creative outlet.

 

As far as what I think makes a good mod - Less is more. It's so frustrating seeing a mod add something truly nice, but it comes with so much added, unwanted stuff as well. So you just pass up on it entirely. The most common mod I seem to add is convenience mods. My friend wonders how I can enjoy the game if I make junk irrelevant, for example. But I assure you it's still quite enjoyable. More enjoyable, even. After that - build mode mods. It really helps me feel like i'm in the game world when I can make a home just how i'd like it. Pretend I have to live there. What would I want there? And after that, quest mods. I love stories. Roleplaying. I wish so much I could figure out how to make quest mods myself. There's not nearly enough tutorials out there.

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Doesn't the answer to your question transcend the particular field of digital gaming? Isn't it the same question as asking why people modify D&D board games, or make up their own variations or unique games?

 

Of course, there are a diverse set of kinds of features people are changing- Some are interested in the gameplay, others the storytelling, and still others the realism of particular types of objects.

 

For the segment of that latter most population, isn't it the same as asking why the dollhouse folks like constructing figures for doll houses, their costumes, and so on? Or in the domain of model hobbyists, why people spend incredible amounts of time and money to recreate exact replicas of obscure locomotives or sailing ships?

 

Or are you asking something particular about digital mods? Like why create a gun replica in Max as opposed to cobbling up a gun replica using molds and a lot of epoxy?

You're definitely right about this. Modding isn't something specific to digital games and it's something that I'll be addressing in my essay. I see your point with models for a doll house, and though it might technically be modding, I feel like it would be weird to call that "modding." I feel like there would be a better term for it, but I'm not sure what it would be... For modelling and replicas, that's something entirely different given that it's not modification the design of something, simply replicating it in my opinion.

 

For this, the focus is on digital mods because attempting to tackle "modding" as a whole is entirely too much for this topic. The technicalities of the word are hard to nail down, however in my opinion, the best definition you could use is to say that in general, a mod is something that modifies an original piece of content in a new way through adding new content, changing existing content, or generally moving it away from what the original author released. It's also very broad, but I also think in general, when we say "mod" we're talking about a game in some way. The term could also be used for re-edits of a film, but in that case, it would be more accurate to say "re-edit" than mod. It's a hard question to pinpoint given the broadness of the term.

Edited by minime453
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I have a friend who does not like to play with mods. He only seems to enjoy a game if he knows it's how everyone else who plays the game experiences it.

He prefers games with very defined, strict rules. He likes tabletop games, strategy games and whatnot. Or games like Overwatch where everybody gets access to all the exact same characters, across the board. Level playing fields.

 

I can enjoy a game that way too, just fine. But I also love modding my game to the extreme. My fallout 4 game is running with over 270 active mods currently. The only other game i've played which could be modded to such an extreme is The Sims. It's been a long time since I played that - but yeah, I modded it all the way out too.

 

I love a personal experience. Don't get me wrong, I have thousands and thousands of hours in this game un-modded. But I enjoy making a game that nobody in the world but me is going to experience. Doing things that nobody else is doing in my game. I love making stories. I'm the creative sort. I'd love to make a story or game that others could experience, too. But I can't figure it out. So I guess modding my game is a fine fallback. I suppose that's what I get most out of modding my game. A creative outlet.

 

As far as what I think makes a good mod - Less is more. It's so frustrating seeing a mod add something truly nice, but it comes with so much added, unwanted stuff as well. So you just pass up on it entirely. The most common mod I seem to add is convenience mods. My friend wonders how I can enjoy the game if I make junk irrelevant, for example. But I assure you it's still quite enjoyable. More enjoyable, even. After that - build mode mods. It really helps me feel like i'm in the game world when I can make a home just how i'd like it. Pretend I have to live there. What would I want there? And after that, quest mods. I love stories. Roleplaying. I wish so much I could figure out how to make quest mods myself. There's not nearly enough tutorials out there.

This is really interesting and makes me appreciate the unique position of modding communities. Even though people that just download mods and play with them aren't "game developers" or "mod developers" persay, they start to take an active role in the design process of a game. If the mods you download change the design of the game in some way, you've become a game designer. Modifying files to change difficulty, removing elements that someone may deem unnecessary, all things that a game developer would do during the development process, but one that modders for some games can do even after the game has been released. It's super interesting and I love the fact that as modders, we can all take part in the development of a game. Even if it's only developing for ourselves, we're able to create the game that we want to play. It also means that you can't really define a modding community. The vast amount of groups, people, and opinions in a large and active mod community like Fallout 4's means that there massive amounts of variations between the players. There might be some general trends (i.e. I've noticed that for Fallout mods, immersion tends to be fairly important. From what I've seen, most people prefer mods that don't break immersion with the game), but each sub-community is unique.

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Why do you play with mods?

 

Well I have different motivations with different games and largely dependent on how far the mods can go with them.

 

Like Divinity Original Sin 1/2 and Witcher 3, I was more inclined towards bugfixes and annoyance relief.

 

For S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, it was bug fixes and new lands.

 

For Fallout 3, it was prolonging my stay in the game which well couldn't last long with the available mods at that time.

 

For Oblivion and Skyrim, I wanted to experience the game with better visuals, a bit more sexiness and quests.

 

For Fallout 4, I was bored out of my mind with the base game, a first for a Bethesda game. Believe me, I have never finished it and even having Nuka World, I have never played it. Far Harbor I forced myself to play after couple of years, it was well worth my time though.

 

It doesn't help that it is inherently unstable with mods more so than previous games. But I simply fell in love with the settlement system. The city builder in me pounced on this opportunity with fervent rigor, only to fall flat on the desktop, time and time again. Only this aspect of the game has made me never delete it. The stream of ideas I have are endless. from grandly ambitious projects to oddities which can never be realized in any city builder to date.

 

How do you define the quality of a mod?

 

Well I first read at least the first page of comments on the mod and see the bugs section. I usually avoid mods with 5 or more active bugs. I also take caution in using mods more than 2-3 years old.

 

What have mods done for your experience of the game?

 

The content added for building is really so much that I haven't seen everything nor have I ever utilized them to the fullest, courtesy of the weak FO4 engine. So instead I get to use a subset at one place and another some other place. Things do not just stop at building though. From performance boosting to performance killing in favor of visual greatness and simply amazing never before seen or thought possible mechanics. Though as stated, I am not interested in shooting, killing and the more traditional aspects of fallout 4 franchise.

 

Consider that nowadays I am working on turning spectacle island into a caldera with catwalks scaling the walls to the settlement on the inner side on top of a lake in the middle. While my sanctuary currently has been turned into a water purification plant with a pipe jungle and industrial frames everywhere. I envision that it will take me over a month each for both settlements.

Edited by fpga123
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I use mods to change gameplay to something more along the lines of what I want, not what Beth seems to think I want.

 

If a mod does what it says it does, and doesn't cause problems elsewhere, then its a "good" mod.

 

Being able to mod the game extends the playability of the game. Without mods, I likely would have stopped playing years ago.

 

I just want to point out that, while you may think Bethesda is trying to make something for you specifically, that's untrue, obviously. They offer an experience, they offer a game, and in their wisdom and grace they also say, if you don't like what we offer, we also offer the tool to help you tailor your experience as well.

 

Just be sure you remember that tidbit. Bethesda is the only company that does this. Not even CDPR developed their devtools for Witcher 3, they're barebones.

 

That's why I mod by the way.

 

I mod at any chance given to me. If a game is gracious enough to allow me into the files and let me tweak, I instantly do so. I am not one of these puritans who wants or even has the time anymore to experience a game at it's own pace.

 

Once I find the games systems, loops and mechanics, I understand overall what the game will be 1 hour in and 100 hours in. So I play as much as I can, as much as I want, and drop it. Lots of games to play, lots of life to live, but at the end of the day, Fallout 4/Skyrim/Bethesda Games have always drawn me back in with the constant tinkering I can do inside of them.

 

I work in CG, and trouble shooting issues on a daily basis is a fun thing to do. Some other people work as Generalists, who just kind of shift between departments, from modeling, surfacing, animation, rigging, etc, usually bug fixing. I kind of like that work ethic, just kind of looking at a list of what needs doing, and doing what you feel like that day, modding is similar. It's satisfying when you solve a problem.

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Even though people that just download mods and play with them aren't "game developers" or "mod developers" persay, they start to take an active role in the design process of a game. If the mods you download change the design of the game in some way, you've become a game designer.

 

If you are preparing a formal or graded paper it would be best if you check the basic definitions and common terms.

 

Game designer is a high level creative role defining core concepts and mechanisms.

 

Very few mod authors redefine game platforms to those depths.

 

Modifying existing systems is not design.

 

For example I have published over 50 complex scripted mods that change Fallout 4 game mechanics and/or user experience.

 

Whilst I may design software solutions professionally, my mod authoring hobby does not make me a "game designer".

 

At best a user experience developer.

 

TL;DR research what "game designer" means and if you want to depart from common or accepted usage standby for incomprehension or challenges and less good grades.

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