What makes a game moddable?

[Endermod]

What makes the modding community want to make mods for games? For example, why does Skyrim have thousands of mods, while the Assassins Creed games have next to none?

[Matth85]

Modding tool.

bethesda releases modding tools, which allows people to mod without any problems, and gives us as much freedom as we can ask for, without actually exposing copyrighted asset or the source code. They release information and tutorials on their tools as well. that way anybody can mod it.

Modding a game that does not release a modding tool, is usuaully against their ToS and it is extremely hard to do. You'd need programmers writing fluent code to be able to get anything done.

 

Then there is the base of people. Majority of Skyrim modders modded oblivion, which most likely modded Morrowind. the biggest mods in Skyrim comes from people learning to mod during Oblivion.

You don't get that in any other game. Again, because of modding tools.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Matth85

[McclaudEagle]

For me, the biggest reason Bethesda games have so many mods is due to the ease and extent to which the games can be modded. Some games only allow people to create retextures, some allow you to edit files, and there are a few, like Skyrim, that provide users with an entire game editor kit, allowing almost unlimited modding capability. While it's fine to have a game with an editor, it's useless if only a handful of people are willing/able to learn it. The editors Bethesda provide are incredibly easy to learn in comparison to others.

[Endermod]

Thanks for the replies.