IceFrog was hired by Valve to work on and develop DotA 2, a standalone game based entirely on DotA’s gameplay. The same story can be told for “IceFrog”, the mysterious co-author of one of Warcraft 3’s most popular maps, DotA. ![]() DayZ has sold over 1,7 million copies at the time of writing. Its creator was hired by Bohemia Interactive after the DayZ mod gained massive popularity in order to create a full official version of the game. Take the DayZ mod for ArmA 2, by Dean Hall, which evolved into a standalone MMO (called DayZ, by Bohemia Interactive), for example. At first glance it may seem that modders have “cracked the UX code” but I think that would be a hasty conclusion. I will save you the trouble of waiting for a lengthy explanation and a conclusion: the answer to whether game devs would benefit from hiring successful modders that worked on their game is “it depends”. Which begs the question: should game devs take those mods on board? Should they make them an integral part of their official game? Should the modders be hired since they have cracked the code of what makes the playerbase happy and provide an immersive experience?ĭilemma: Should modders be hired for the game they worked on WARNING: The following example videos may contain NSFW graphic violence or nudity. Skyrim mods in the first category) or even buy the original game only in order to play a mod (e.g. I would like to focus on the first and second category: some of the mods in those categories are so well-received by the gamer community that people end up only playing using mods (e.g. Examples of such mods are Counter Strike (original: Half-life) and DotA (original: Warcraft 3). Finally, the third category are entirely new games that are based on the original game’s engine but use little of the original assets, gameplay, tools and systems to an extent that, in my opinion, makes this category “game development” using an existing SDK rather and/or assets rather than “modding”. The second category is additions that open up whole new gameplay possibilities within the original game, for example the LOTR mod for Mount & Blade: Warbands, the multiplayer mod for Just Cause 2 or the post-apocalyptic zombie mod for ArmA 2 (known as DayZ). mini-map widgets) that somehow enhance the game. ![]() Briefly, there are three categories: The first is game improvements such as sound mods, graphic mods and other improvements (e.g. I will not delve too much into the types of modders or the types of mods out there. ![]() Of course the end-product can be monetised through various platforms, but the process itself is a self-driven initiative. Whether working on their own or in a team, for fun or to build a gaming portfolio, all modders have at least one thing in common: they are not paid to do so. ![]() The modding community is made up of a plethora of individuals who create content for a game using the original game as a canvas and the development kit that was used to build it as tools. This got me thinking: since modders just build what they are passionate about and don’t really take the UX of customers into consideration, yet somehow their products can be very successful, surely game devs would be better off getting modders on board throughout the development to ensure their game has the biggest possible appeal? I have been brushing up on the challenges that game developers face when trying to map the user journey of players for their game, and I came across this really interesting peer-reviewed paper, by Hector Postigo, on the modding culture and its community. For all things Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit, Silmarillion, and more.
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