Jump to content

Bethesda's use of modders' ideas


ThomasCovenant

Recommended Posts

Every single modder is making use of Bethesda's ideas, and most likely the tools Bethesda provided, in order to make their mod. Even if they build "from the ground up" with alternate creation tools, they are making use of Bethesda's conceptions of the TES world. I find this line of discussion ridiculous. No one posts threads about how this or that mod is stealing from Bethesda---although they may complain it's not "lore-friendly" enough, which is essentially saying using more of Bethesda's conceptions of Tamriel.

 

Personally I am very grateful to Bethsda for allowing modding, which they certainly are not required to do. If they see a mod which encourages them to make a better DLC or in any other way improves their product, that is fantastic. For everyone. It's a small price to pay. All of that work we put into our mods is really a gift from Bethesda.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not going to really say anything that hasn't already been covered, but I wanted to add my voice anyway. Bethesda are my favourite production house because of the generosity they display towards their customer base. Could you see the likes of EA being so eager to share their toybox? No chance! And it's not as if the modders are losing out financially, in fact if I created a mod that Bethesda chose to refine and release as DLC, I think I'd be quite honoured that they thought highly enough of it to do so. All the assets belong to Bethesda. End of!

 

I really do despair when I see people complaining about the game being buggy (how on Earth can a game with the size, complexity and capacity for choice as Skyrim ever hope to be fully de-bugged for release? To play through every possible situation and permeation would take about three times longer than the game took to develop!) or quests being 'broken' (yet to happen to me. I had an issue with the Companions quest, sent Bethesda an email to which they replied with a number of suggestions. Problem solved). Maybe I just feel spoilt as I grew up with games on cassette where there was a chance that it might just load without having to use a screwdriver on the tape head!

 

Bethesda are continuing to release DLC. They are still thinking about and supporting Skyrim and those who love it nearly a year after its release. How can this NOT be a good thing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really do despair when I see people complaining about the game being buggy ...

 

Really? You never complain about other products you buy when they're defective? How else are companies going to learn to stop making defective products?

 

I think the problem is, SOME people make it out like the entire game simply fails to function altogether. Others expect the open world of Skyrim to be as glitch free as, say, the absolutely linear Halo or Gears of War, despite the fact that Skyrim has thousands of additional varriables.

 

Skyrim isn't even remotely 'defective'. A lot of people (myself included) have made it through hundreds of hours without a single broken quest. In comparison, look at Dead Island, which had Quests that, still, simply do not work, have been acknoleged by the company and failed to be addressed.

 

Skyrim isn't really that bad, expecially compared to other 'open world' games. Of course, people tend to rage over the slightest inconvienance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Skyrim isn't even remotely 'defective'. A lot of people (myself included) have made it through hundreds of hours without a single broken quest.

 

So, Skyrim isn't just defective, it also creates a lot of friction in its customer base. The customers who don't have the fortunate experience of flawless play are subjected to the incredulity and ridicule of those who do. Brilliant. You know, if there's a better way to create resentment and animosity over your product, I can't think of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, Skyrim isn't just defective, it also creates a lot of friction in its customer base. The customers who don't have the fortunate experience of flawless play are subjected to the incredulity and ridicule of those who do. Brilliant. You know, if there's a better way to create resentment and animosity over your product, I can't think of it.

 

Yes, because it's those who have a reliable gaming experince who are creating the friciton, not the ones who, at every turn, bemoan their bad luck and make their experiences out to be the absolute truth. Skyrim doesn't create friction in the customer base, its bitter and resentful players who have been inconvienienced by the laws of probibility. Take it up with whatever god you beleive in, because theres no other legitimate blame to place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, Skyrim isn't just defective, it also creates a lot of friction in its customer base. The customers who don't have the fortunate experience of flawless play are subjected to the incredulity and ridicule of those who do. Brilliant. You know, if there's a better way to create resentment and animosity over your product, I can't think of it.

 

Yes, because it's those who have a reliable gaming experince who are creating the friciton, not the ones who, at every turn, bemoan their bad luck and make their experiences out to be the absolute truth. Skyrim doesn't create friction in the customer base, its bitter and resentful players who have been inconvienienced by the laws of probibility. Take it up with whatever god you beleive in, because theres no other legitimate blame to place.

 

Developers have a tough job in the gaming industry. Long hours, often-times the benefits aren't as great as other development jobs, sometimes certain people don't get the recognition they deserve for projects they spent years on...

 

That said, there's a difference between legitimate criticism of a software product and groundless bashing. I think criticising bugs in a game is fair if someone perceives particular bugs as taking away from the game experience. Very few people expect an absolutely perfect game, but that doesn't mean we should pretend a game is perfect when it's not.

 

I admire the tremendous effort that goes into producing massive open world games, but that doesn't stop me from looking at areas where things maybe came up a bit short.

 

It's a similar situation with a game like Mass Effect 3. Many people criticise specific story and plot elements in that game, and many believe that type of criticism is unfair. If you don't enjoy a particular design decision or bugs interrupt your gameplay experience, I think voicing those opinions is part of the feedback providing developers and possibly management a welcome opportunity to improve or shift the focus for their next product. Rather than looking at it as negative, I view some of the criticism as positive for the industry.

 

There will always be a small number of people who have groundless pro or con viewpoints for any product, but there's also useful criticism and quite a few insightful critics out there as well. A wise development team is usually one which listens to all the feedback and prioritises prominent insightful criticism as something to take into consideration.

Edited by xaliqen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

EDIT: I am sorry, it was way off topic... my two cents over the bugs and defective game discussion below.

 

 

as far as the bugs go and resentful customer base for a defective game... Im leaning towards that its not defective or broken, at least as far as PC goes.... problem is, it IS broken, it IS defective.. but only ever so slightly. Enough that it's problems come up constantly, and especially for certain people.

Example,.. my girlfriend plays Skyrim, and screams I HATE THIS GAME! ITS BUGGY TO HIGH HELL!... i pop on her computer and play a bit,.. then ask her what her problem it, the game is fine.... turns out she didnt understand the games mechanics correctly and thought something perfectly normal was buggy >.>

Now thats a pretty piss poor example, but guess what? thats the EXACT CASE for many(not all) of the people complaining, they are stupid and play in a way that either breaks the game, or lack understanding of the games mechanics. They tend to make the most noise and drown out others. And that leads people like me to piss poor responses >.> what else would you expect?

 

Now theres the groups that actually run into these REAL bugs and problems. Many of them have no right to be complaining either unless the problem isn't related to their own inablility to comprehend that "gee, maybe there is something wrong on MY end or my settings or my loaded mods?!".

The first thing people are usually told is to post their system specs and their mods and load order, and for a good REASON.... in a way, bethesda IS at fault for providing tools for people that really shouldnt be using them... ever. That applies to said girlfriend of mine,.. keep her the heck away from the creation kit, she'll ruin her game, again... lol(actually fourth time I think? she didnt learn even tho i told her not to touch the damn thing)

 

Now theres the people that run into these problems and bugs that not only have covered their side but STILL have issues... the issues they run into are generally next to none(but not quite) and certainly better than what Beth gets credit for. There is only a handful of people that can really claim Beth screwed up their game and didn't fix it >.>

(flying backwards dragon anyone?) These things get fixed,.. other things are outside their capabaility,... to expect them to get everything right on the first shot, or even the second, is not very reasonable... every program gets released with new versions because of this inability. Everything they ARE responsible for that they havent/wont fix, is relatively minor to laughable and I am surprised said people influenced by those problems wouldn't simply avoid them.

But thats not to say these things arnt frustrating, to a high degree... some of us just believe that frustration is wrongly directed.

as far as the ps3 issues... im not quite sure why they even thought ps3 should get a release... it's obviously not a wise choice due to the issues it presents and I think they are borderline on having to make a mass recall on that >.> I would.

 

 

As to Bethesda being fair for stealing ideas... Naw... but I like it. :) In fact I love that they do it. It's one of those things that yes its downright rude but its for the better.

Edited by El`derina
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hearthfire is being created mostly for xbox and PS3 gamers and most likely be under $19 for PC or maybe even free as a gift for releasing a bugged DLC dawnguard

 

bethesda, free? in the same sentence..... nah..... we dont need it anyway. console would benefit though...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...