Why do you mod?

[SLTheThird]

I'm not asking why you download mods. That's obvious; it's not too hard and it can add massive amounts of content to your game. What I want to know is why you create mods. You put hours upon hours of work into them, and you don't get paid. At most, you get some people telling you "Good job!" in the comments and some endorsements. Sometimes, you won't even get that; you'll just have a bunch of trolls calling you every profanity known to man for no readily apparent reason, or a host of commenters letting you know that your mod destroyed their game when it was their own fault. Or perhaps you truly did mess something up, so back to the drawing board to rework your entire mod to prevent whatever went wrong.

 

It doesn't sound like fun. It sounds dreadful. So, I ask you; why do you mod?

[PhysicsPunk]

Because moders aren't doing what is needed/wanted, or doing it wrong, or I can do it better. Non of my mods for any game Rainbow Six/Arma/Skyrim/League of Legends have ever received negative comments or trolls. That's like 20 mods. Mostly, I just get thankful people. I feel mods that get trolls is one of three things, 1: The author is a kind of a douche and is asking for it. 2: The mod is bad/broken/useless 3: The mod is misrepresented (I.e. a non lore-friendly mod advertised as lore-friendly)

 

Honestly, I'm really happy that people liked my work. That gives me encouragement to continue. One thing I don't like, however, is, what I consider, useless mods that receive more credit than mods that actually are useful. It doesn't bother me a lot, because my first reason to modding is personal use, not recognition and most people on the internet are well.. you know. But I do try to support unknown useful mods while downvoting useless "titty statues".

Edited February 16, 2015 by LogicFoxX

[Asterra]

Main reason: The things I make are the things I want to use.

Secondary reason: I know that at least some people also would really like the mods. (But not many; my mods are niche.)

 

The mod I just finished up / am currently tweaking is one I delayed for over a year. In all that time, nobody even hinted at doing something similar. Proof that sometimes you just have to do it yourself.

[sevencardz]

Because if I don't do it, who will?

[steelfeathers]

Because I love the feeling of taking something in my mind and making it a reality. The process of creating is addicting.

[RealAntithesis]

I created my mod because I wanted things to work differently, and the existing mods didn't quite work the way I wanted them to. Also, I wanted to play the game, but without getting annoyed by certain things I knew I could fix. 1 year later, AH Hotkeys was born :). I thought I could finally get around to playing the game, but the time has instead gone into bug fixing and improvements (some my own from whatever opportunity I have to start playing again, the rest from user requests/reports).

 

But it's all worth it. It's been a great hobby to have. Expressions of thanks from users also motivates me to continue. Likewise, criticism (whether justified or not), tends to have the opposite effect.

 

At the end of the day, while my mod developing is for my own benefit and interest, me continuing to do so (and making it public) comes down to the community. Otherwise, I probably would have finished the game by now (or at least gone further in the main quest) :).

[Mattiewagg]

It's fun, it builds skills, I get to share it with the community, etc.

 

My only problem with it is when I get stressed out over it. But then I try to remember it's a hobby.

[moose109]

It's fun, it builds skills, I get to share it with the community, etc.

 

My only problem with it is when I get stressed out over it. But then I try to remember it's a hobby.

Or p*ssed off at the CK when that script that you have spend 2+ hours on won't compile, then I tend to grab my monitor and swear and throw my hands up in defeat... Only to go back an hour later, and then it compiles perfectly.

[TheSpaceShuttleChallenger]

For the pride in doing. If see something I don't like, or don't like that I don't see something, I fix it. No longer am I slave to the developer's design choices. I am strong.

 

Then if anybody downloads or supports my mod, I can masturbate to the illusion that I've helped them have a better gaming experience, even though all I've really done is made L4D2 a little bit stupider than it already is. But it is nice to be making something useful for a change. I spent about ten years of my life getting good at drawing, then I realized that the only thing I'd created was a massive stack of graphite-covered paper. I guess mods are just ones and zeros on a hard drive but at least people spend time interacting with them. Or something. I don't know, I'm an artist, I'm not supposed to be rational.

[haytur]

Honestly, I started doing game mods probably about 12 years ago. I was a head dev for a Ultima Online Shard called Teiravon. Honestly while I just started moding in skyrim I have always enjoyed fantasy based games. In Ultima some of my most notable alterations were big systems such as a Monk class, Bard Class, a lot of exotic different things. I really loved working on these things because it allowed me to Design game features and I enjoyed that others liked my work. Now today in skyrim I am working on my Never More Rogue mod because I enjoy playing a stealthy character and I felt like there was sometthings that i felt where missing. But I am doing it more for the fact that I hope others who enjoy a immersive stealth class will find some joy and amusement in the creations I have made. My only gripe is there doesnt seem to be a strong community of modders who seem to get together and talk, but that isnt surprising considering the game is three years old and I am late to the game lol