The whole premise of a mod must have been a nightmare for the executives and lawyers to get their heads
around.
GAME DESIGNER: "Hi Chip. I want to offer a tool that will let people make their own levels."
SUIT: "Their own levels of what?"
GAME DESIGNER: "The game."
SUIT: "But that's what you do."
GAME DESIGNER: "I want to give the customer a chance to do it, too."
SUIT: "You mean hire them and bring them on staff?"
GAME DESIGNER: "No, I want to include the tool with the game CD."
SUIT: "So they can make their own levels of the game we just sold them?"
GAME DESIGNER: "Yeah. Plus, they can make their own weapons. Cool idea huh?"
SUIT: "If you're a commie, sure. How much would we charge them for the tool? 10,000?"
GAME DESIGNER: "It's free."
SUIT: "Security? Can you come in here a sec?"
Mods make gaming the best entertainment medium on the planet. Does television let you change the script? Do movies let you fix that special effect that just didn?t work? Send in your new ending for The Da Vinci Code to the publishers and see what kind of feedback you get. If you screw with these mediums you get sued. If you screw with the game that you spent your hard-earned cash on, you get praise ? and money if you screw with it right.
2004 was an incremental improvement over 2003 in the modding community; but it was notable for one reason. The Make
Something Unreal Contest. The contest, put on by Nvidia, Atari and Epic, has been offering talented modders money and
prizes in a multi-tiered competition. The result is a mind-numbing rush of talent. Phases 1-4 are done and the cream of
the crop has risen for some serious sipping. Solid mods like Red Orchestra, Alien Swarm and Air Bucaneers make both the
gamer and the developer love Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 even more. The ultimate winner will get 50,000 bucks and
the game?s source.
Modding works for everyone. The community gets the tools to tamper with the game, the game gets better and its
shelf-life expands, careers are made, and the term ?value for your money? gets redefined. So mod away you fools. Make
brilliance and the game?s fans, along with contests like MSUC, will make you a player in the real world.
Here?s hoping 2005 brings us Half-Life 2 mods, Far Cry mods, Doom 3 mods and even more Unreal Tournament 2004 mods. Perhaps we can see a Make Something Unreal With a Half-Life But a Far Cry From Doomed Contest?
