The Gaming Revolution- Nathan Hollins
From Mod Mania
Contents |
‘The Gaming Revolution- Modifying the Industry’
INTRODUCTION:
To modify is to change the appearance, function and, inevitably, the design of a product, system or environment. This defines numerous people as ‘modders’ in society, especially in the realm of computer gaming. In regards to the gaming world, modification generally refers to the alteration of the function and aesthetics of the game. However recent occurrences have come forth that modifications are now occurring outside games, whether it be the function or even the aesthetics of the console itself. These modifications enhance the desire of the gamers gaining the maximum potential from their gaming experiences. The following document will outline the various forms of modification that have occurred in the medium of computer gaming and the media in general, and the morals and ethics that surround them.
Game consoles users usually have one goal in mind when modifying; to improve their gaming experiences. ‘Mods’ are made by the general public, and can be entirely new games within themselves. With the alterations of new characters, environments, weapons and utilities, story lines and plots, and game types the games that are constantly modified have come a long way from their original state. The revolution in game modifications has just recently been given another leg-up with the producers of the highly successful first-person shooter Half Life distributing on their own website a multiplayer add-on, ‘Day of Defeat’, that wasn’t designed by the company, but the game users themselves. You see, the company has agreed to distribute a modification of their game for the purpose of gaining more users for the game. Having done so allows the gamer to freely edit the level to suit how they’d wish to play the game without being in jeopardy of breaching any copyright laws. This modification is referred to as a ‘total conversion’.
FORMS OF MODIFICATION:
The two main forms of modification can be described as either partial or total conversion . Many computer games allow their players to edit how certain functions of the game works, such as weapons, sounds, enemy behaviour and levels. Editing some of these elements while leaving the better part of the original game intact is usually referred to as a partial conversion. An example would be changing a conventional death match game to behave like a capture the flag game. This could include new levels (maps) containing two bases, new 3D models for the flag and editing of game code to understand how the flag is supposed to work. But the rest of the game world remains the same as the original game. Team Fortress, one of the most popular mods, is a partial conversion of Quake.
One thing that many gamers/developers become confused on is whether a partial conversion still counts as a mod. Well in the literal sense, any change to a game which changes it from its off-the-shelf condition is a mod. So even a new map, created by a general user, is still a mod. The confusion seems to come from maps actually being called new maps, and not counted as a mod. This is usually done simply for quirks by gamers who love to prove their abilities to others. However when large quantities of the game have been added or altered; whether it be levels, storylines, characters etc, that changes the game play significantly is described as being a total conversion. A total conversion is a mod of an existing game that (usually) replaces almost all of the artistic assets in the original game, and sometimes core aspects of game play. Many games provide players with the ability to edit the game's elements, including levels, sounds, enemies, weapons etc.
Total conversions are much less common, mainly due to the large amount of development and man-time needed to bring a whole project together. Often the goal of a group that sets out to create a total conversion is to sell their end product, which necessitates the need to replace the original content to avoid copyright infringement.
In the Unreal engine, these smaller changes are sometimes implemented as matadors which can be selected in the administrator menu. Other mutators not considered mods include those that provide anti-cheater, map voting, and lag-free (client-side hit computation) functions. Some total conversions can end up in an unexpected place, such as changing Dungeons and Dragons into a game where the player meets Japanese businessmen.
An example of a well-known total conversion is Counter-Strike, which is based on the Half-Life engine. Half-Life is a linear, single-player and multiplayer first-person shooter with some puzzle solving, where you take the place of a character named Gordon Freeman. A scientific complex developing experimental teleportation technology is under attack by aliens, and the weapons used to destroy them vary between real-world and experimental. In contrast, Counter-Strike is a round-based, multiplayer-only game, based on realistic settings between Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists. Game play is centralised around goals of disarming bombs or rescuing hostages, and all weaponry is modelled on existing arms; including design, use, and sound effects. One of the only visible similarities that Counter-Strike has in common with Half-Life, besides their shared genre, is that Counter-Strike uses the Half-Life engine.
A few total conversions have managed to become stand-alone games. Since most total conversions only share the engine in common with the original game, if the engine becomes Free Software, the total conversion can be playable without having to own the original game. A few examples of these include the Tremulous mod for Quake III Arena, or the D-Day: Normandy mod for Quake II. The majority of modern games are being designed around the idea of change in mind, allowing easy modification of the game’s elements with little difficulty. This appeals to the gamers as they’re given the power and “privilege” to display their abilities and change the function of the game to suit their desires. The motivation behind their modification is what allows the gamer to partake in the modification itself. This is what gaming companies such as Blizzard, Value Software, Electronic Arts and Activision have come to realise; that with a motivation behind them, these gamers can achieve anything, no matter what stands in their way. This includes the law.
MODIFYING AND THE LAW:
Gamers gain a great deal of enjoyment modifying their games to suit what they feel is needed the most, yet at some time the law is bound to catch up. Even in this rapid revolution in game modifications, changing the contents of the game is a form of piracy. We associate piracy with simply illegal distribution yet the definition involves more than a simple duplication. Piracy can also be defined as the following:
• THEFT
• FREE ENTERPRISE
• RESISTANCE
• CREATIVE
• FREE SPEECH
• ACCESS
Although the gaming industry may and should rightfully see these game modifications as theft, the gaming population see it as the rebirth of the game that’s rightfully theirs. They envision the games they purchase to be a colour-the-number drawing with them having a permanent marker to change the boundaries of the game to create a masterpiece they can call their own. This provides us with a moral dilemma, whether to follow the law or the minority of the gaming society. Which is the ‘lesser evil’? Most gamers get a thrill out of stretching beyond the boundaries of the game not just for suiting how they see the game should be, but also the violation of the law. Harnessing this thrill would give the gaming industry a huge advantage over their competitors, gaining not only users of the game but also a nice profit on the side.
THE FREE SOFTWARE MOVEMENT:
Free software is software that respects the user . Being able to harness that would create a milestone in the gaming industry, allowing the user to determine what they should be playing. This would prove appealing to the market as more gamers would experience the freedom that other games can’t offer, giving the company an advantage over the others. Free software includes freedom of use, free modification, free distribution and the freedom to distribute modified versions. One prime example of allowing for free software to be used on their game is Blizzards World of Warcraft. The biggest and most well known MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) on the market has an extremely huge mod community to go along with its enormous user base.
There are many types of World of Warcraft mods that have been created to help enhance the game like raid mods, combat mods and auction mods. All of them benefit the player in some way, either by giving them addition info or making a mundane task easier through macros. Two of the most popular mods include Atlas Mod which is an in-game instance map browser and Titan Panel, which creates a horizontal bar and can be customized with useful game data. Most mods need to be updated when World of Warcraft puts out a new patch, so popular mods see changes at least every couple of months. Sites such as WoW Interface and Warcraft mods carry frequently updated mods for user downloads. World of Warcraft mods usually have to be manually installed. Blizzard Entertainment, who created World of Warcraft, does not create any first-party mods for their game, but they give support and tools to third-party mod makers.
It is evident that with the harnessing of free software distribution, a company with such high credentials for their existing games can create a global phenomenon by simply giving the user what they want: freedom. It is not only games that have harnessed the utilisation of labelling elements of their company as free software. It is possible to run an entire personal computer solely on free software, from the operating system (Linux) to word processing (Free Office). The point is why should industries fight against each other when a silent yet deadly opponent in free software is in the wings, waiting for its chance to dominate?
THE DOWNFALL:
Although there is an overwhelming amount of gaming mods coming to surface, there are a great many mods that do not progress very far and are abandoned without ever having a public release. One of the most famous Vaporware mods was Star Wars Quake, which was never released despite six years of development.
Some imitations are very limited and simply include some gameplay changes or even a different loading screen, while others are total conversions and can modify content and gameplay extensively. A few mods became very popular and converted themselves into distinct games, with the rights getting bought and turning into an official modification (i.e. Counter Strike) A group of mod developers may join together to form a mod team, giving them a better chance at survival. An example is Team Reaction, one of the most prolific mod teams to date, most notably known for QPong and Jailbreak.
Where others have failed, the rest have progressed and moved outside the constraints of the computer monitor, literally, to modify other aspects of their beloved gaming console. Whether these are simple or extensive, the gamers still manage to pour their passion into what’s outside the game, the console itself.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX:
There a numerous cases in which gamers have taken their passion to a whole new level by modifying their gaming console itself: both the function and the aesthetics. PC case mods have become increasing popular with the introduction of new technologies including neon lighting, perspex and other peripherals, just for some examples. Some enthusiasts even go to the extent of designing their case around their passion, gaming.
Prime examples of these case mods can be found everywhere in the modern society. I for one have altered my case with simple adjustments to make it look more appealing to me instead of having a plain ordinary case. However, an industry has also picked up on the case modifying revolution, that being Apple, adding splashes of colour to their iMac series, reaching out from the constraints of the classic beige casing. This is what has defined Apple as the designer’s computer, quoting their slogan “Think different” That’s what modifying is all about, reaching out of the ordinary to become extraordinary to your peers, and the world.
Other modifications occur to alter the function of the console itself. One prime example is the common ‘mod chip’ allowing gamers to run burnt games on their system, which would originally not be able to be played. This allows the gamers to ‘backup’ games or, unmistakably, distributes games to their fellow companions. Either way, the existing configuration has been change to suit the user’s desires, the original driving force behind any modification.
CONCLUSION:
The gaming industry has evolved around modifications. Whether tweaking minor aspects of the game, to creating an entirely new concept using the existing engine, to simply changing the console itself, gaming modifications will be immersed in today’s society with little resistance stopping its rapid growth. With industries claiming a grip on forms of modification, it is hard to believe that they still run themselves. Yet I will leave you with this: Is this modification critical to the evolution of gaming or just simple gimmicks allowing industries to toy with what really matters to a ‘modder’, their passion?
