Editor's note: I'm not as optimistic as Jon -- the current downloadable content model gives the industry a business incentive to not provide a space where players can trade user-generated content for free, much like PC gamers have done for decades. You guys voted with your wallets; most recently, 3.5 million of you, in fact. -Rob
For many, the declining emphasis placed on the PC platform isn't much of an issue. The party moved on to consoles a while ago, which left PC developers to face some very difficult decisions about which platforms their future titles would grace with their presence.
In many cases, not much is lost in the transition. Studios now design games played with a controller to feel as natural as those made with the keyboard-and-mouse combination in mind. And thanks to the mind-boggling resourcefulness of these developers, the smallest graphics gap between PCs and consoles exists. One part of PC gaming, though, will likely never make it over to consoles, and that's the mod.
Mods (short for modifications) are programs or files that change either a portion of a game or create an entirely new experience based upon the initial groundwork laid by the developer. A small mod might be an additional multiplayer map or a new gun, whilst a total conversion would be something like Counter-Strike, which started out as a mod of the original Half-Life.
Mechwarrior: Living Legends is a total-conversion mod of Crysis
Mods are an incredibly important part of the industry. Not only are they a blast to play around with for the end gamer -- adding literally months of fun to a title in the form of what we would today call “free DLC” -- but they also provide a very important means for amateurs to release games by simplifying the process of making something in your spare time.
Whenever someone asks any industry veteran how to get into making games, the answer is almost always to become involved with a mod team. That experience of putting together levels and creating art assets for a community project is invaluable when a person strives to be a professional, and it's the kind of experience you can't really get anywhere else.
I'm not saying the mod scene is ever going to die out. But by shunning the PC platform, publishers drive people towards consoles and reduce the potential market for amateur releases. This is unquestionably a bad thing to my mind when consumer feedback is really the only thing these modders have going for them because they're not getting paid to put something out.
The solution I'd advocate is to make mods far more accessible to consoles, and hence, the PC averse.
Epic Games had this same idea with the PlayStation 3 version of Unreal Tournament 3. Their method, though, was less than ideal. Soon after the game's release, they issued a tool that allowed you to “cook” your PC mod and turn it into something that could be played on your console.
Play as Samus Aran in Unreal Tournament 3 through mods
The problem was that getting mods onto the system was simply far too convoluted for your average console gamer, who had no means of browsing them on his PS3. The only options were to either get seriously invested in the PC-mod community or to wait for knowledgeable journalists to point you in the direction of something worth trying. Without any form of marketplace for the mods, the average consumer had no way to find something to suit his tastes.
Titles like LittleBigPlanet have proved that if you make downloading other people's creations easy enough, gamers will also have the incentive to produce the best content possible.
Give console gamers the engine and some substantial tools, and they'll produce more than you ever thought possible. They'll fill consumers’ machines with hours of the most creative entertainment ever made, and they'll become the great designers of the future with the experience they'll gain.
But of course, the piracy issue is always going to be a problem that bogs progress down....
So, what about you? Would you be more tempted to try out a mod if you could play it from your couch, or are you already getting your fix on the PC side? Do you think we'll ever see mod tools make it into console games, or is there just not enough of an incentive for developers?
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