The Rebirth of PC Gaming? Bring On the Modders! 249
Deathspawner writes "The future of PC gaming is oft-debated, but one thing's for certain: modding has always made it better. With that, wouldn't it make sense for developers to focus more on giving the community the modding tools it needs? Further, couldn't publishers look to modding as a way to increase revenue, by allowing modders to sell their sanctioned creations? Valve already offers robust community options in its Steam platform — and already has payment processing in place. Is this the natural next step for PC gaming?"
Re:The questions developers ask (Score:5, Interesting)
So why is TF2 the most valuable game to Valve, when it allows modding, and also puts them on sale?
Re:Rebirth (Score:4, Interesting)
What do you mean rebirth?
PC gaming is in full swing..
Nor was it ever in serious decline if you look at sales data (hint, right now it's the biggest gaming platform and the fastest growing), but the meta-narrative has asserted its decline for years.
Thought PC gaming was "dying out" 10 years ago (Score:4, Interesting)
At least that's what the /. articles were saying back then. Maybe it's just FUD like the movie-makers in the 1950s who said TV would kill theaters.
Modding has pretty much always improved sales (Score:5, Interesting)
Looking back over 25 years of computer gaming modding has pretty much always improved sales. From the days of the original Civ games to Wolfenstein to Doom to NeverWinter Nights vs NeverWinter Nights 2 examples abound. Those games that support the community readily modding them have pretty much always had better sales than those that didn't.
Simple example would be NeverWinter Nights vs NeverWinter Nights 2 for an example in point. Embrace your user community and you will be rewarded in sales for years to come. Pull a Sony and you'l end up with a (what was the name of their PSP replacement again?)....
Re:The questions developers ask (Score:4, Interesting)
How about making the modding tools run on consoles? Today, consoles have:
- Hard Drives
- Internet connectivity
- Keyboard and mouse support
- Good resolution displays
- Powerful enough CPUs for editing tools
- Sufficient memory for editing tools
10 years ago this would not be possible. But today it is entirely feasible. There is a marginal cost to having to Q&A the tools, but it might be worth while because you can then sell the tools as DLC. Or release it later on for free to revitalize sales of the existing game.
Re:The questions developers ask (Score:5, Interesting)
Hi! Obese leech basement dweller (neckbeard) here!
Or I must be since I make maps and mods for video games. We are basically level and game designers (mostly amateur) who have a real passion for creating content and perhaps more importantly, creating good content. We're basically like a whole team of content designers that don't actually ask for anything in return but a handful of tools to help us do it. That's a small price to pay for the huge amount of content we can really churn out, note that the competitive maps that really made Starcraft what it is today were designed by us, not Blizzard.
Oh, and I'm skinny, live on the ground floor, and don't receive one cent from my parents.
Re:The questions developers ask (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd agree that's what they are thinking. But I think they are wrong. A good example is Neverwinter nights. I bought that game 5 years after release so I could play some of the mods people had made for it. That's money they wouldn't have had. Look at Team Fortress 2... that wouldn't even really be a game without all the player made maps. It would have faded into obscurity a few months after release. The mod community let Valve spend less time making maps and focus more on game play.
I'm not sure I totally agree with that. The maps made by valve are excellent, and you can tell that they spent a lot of time thinking about player routes and wall placement. I have over 800 hours in TF2 and I only play Badwater, Gold rush, and Turbine.
Not to say that there aren't great player-made maps too. Turbine is an excellent map, and I believe it is player-made entirely or in part. I think this map is so good because it emulates a lot of the features that Valve uses in their maps- 3 routes to every flag, enough space and obstructions that 1 sentry doesn't dominate, a way to destroy every sentry given enough skill and thought, etc. One of the reasons I think TF2 is special is because the textures are so simple and cartoonish. You don't need to spend hours and hours painting textures or figuring out stylizing. Everything fits together well aesthetically already. You can concentrate on the things that matter like player pathing and other geographic placement.
But your point that without player-made maps the game would have failed, I can't buy it.