Search Hybrid (Multiple Genre) Mods and the Search Engine

[Lollia]

There needs to be a better way to find mods that can easily fit into multiple categories. In other words, hybrid mods.

If the Nexus' search engine had the ability to pull words from description pages, it could be a really big help.

Personally, I would love to not have to constantly butcher modify my mod titles in order for them to have even a remote chance at being discoverable by the search engine. I am far from the only mod author to do this, and the situation is growing ridiculous.

I was speaking about this subject the other day with another creator (Guistassi), and I think he summed it up really well:

Quote

Nexus could be more flexible with tagging and custom keywords. The search engine should really include and consider mods' descriptions as a valid element since some people remember the description but forget the mod's name.

 

Edit: I have been perusing other modding sites, and I learned that Curseforge offers not only the Main Category, but also the opportunity to select additional ones.

That is quite a boon. Couple it with the ability to take content from description pages into account while searching, and it could be even more spectacular.

Edited July 23 by Lollia
Alternative Modding Site Research

[gUISTASSI]

Most of the time I used other search engines plus Reddit and its Skyrim's subs to find MODs related to a specific theme. For example, if you write Creepy Dungeons on Nexus' Search Bar (Skyrim LE on my case) you'll find just 2 MODs but only tweak related, and these two only appears because "Creepy Dungeons" is written in their titles. I only managed to find more MODs that fall into "Creepy Dungeons" category through people's recommendations like Clockwork, Glenmoril, Vigilant and The Legend Of Slender Man.

The tagging is useful but the search does not count them and is used more for a general search. A good idea would be to implement a custom Keyword Feature or take the already existing tagging feature and implement a custom tagging/keyword box so MOD creators could specify better what their MODs are about since some does not make a full description of it and rely on the tagging only.

[FrancisN934757]

I also was forced to butcher modify my mods' names just to make sure they were searchable, not necessarily because they were hybrids. I have a BG3 mod I named "Vestments of the Faithful" which is a collection of equipment sets for followers of particular Forgotten Realms gods. A week after publishing it, I had to incorporate the gods' names into the name because it wasn't getting any downloads after it left the front page. (I also decided to classify it as Equipment, but it would be nice if I could also dual-classify it as Armor.)

One and-a-half years and 20 gods later, it is now called "Vestments of the Faithful (Bane Bhaal Myrkul Corellon Asmodeus Eilistraee Ilmater Lathander Leira Loviatar Milil Mystra Raven Queen Selune Shar Silvanus Sune Talona Umberlee Waukeen)" and I plan to add more. If only the Description was included in search results or custom Tags could be added, I wouldn't have to add to the mod name each time I update it.

And to drive my point further, I also have a mod called "Armouries of the Allegiant (Harpers - Flaming Fist - Guild - Ironhand - Flameshade - Watch - Cowled Wizards - Society of Brilliance - Gur - Order of the Gauntlet - Hellriders - Githyanki)"   

[gUISTASSI]

With Skyrim I also have seen a lot authors inserting their names on a MOD title for easy recognition, common scenario was "MODs' Resources" because some people would commonly use generic names for easy finding without saying much what those resources were.

But my greatest fear is having to reach this level of craziness -> "Vestments of the Faithful (Bane Bhaal Myrkul Corellon Asmodeus Eilistraee Ilmater Lathander Leira Loviatar Milil Mystra Raven Queen Selune Shar Silvanus Sune Talona Umberlee Waukeen)"

Most MODs I worked for Skyrim had little relevance even with all the tagging, proper classification, title and theme. Few actually managed to have a relevance because I used generic names like "Cubemap" or "Mesh Fix".