(Please note. Not all posts here are finished. Posts that are in progress are marked by "(WIP)" at the beggining of their title. Papers may also have extra sections added on AFTER they are finished, so check back often!)
(Written 9/15/2024)
Video games have been around for almost a hundred years. That, im sure your aware of at this point. However, something thats become far more well-known with video games in the modern era, is modding. Games that give the ability for fans to create change the aspects of a game, change the way it works on a fundamental level, or to even add completely new content to the game being modded. However, what some may not fully grasp is that it takes real people alot of time, effort, and thinking into the creation of these mods. Most modders mod games completely for free. This essay will explore why it might be that modders do what they do completely for free, almost never asking for money, and providing a littany of content completely for free.
To get to the bottom of why this might be, lets look at the gaming community as a whole. Minecraft is certainly a game that comes to mind with its modding scene, boasting hundreds of thousands of mods across its entire history. Curseforge reports a grand total of 182,194 mods (Mods - minecraft - curseforge) currentlly across their platform, and with many other modloaders such as Technic, this modcount is likely a fraction of what totally makes up all mods... but why does this happen? Why do groups of users spend so much time making mods such as JEI, Journeymap or much bigger mods. such as The Twilight Forest? One answer, could be hate.
Minecraft is well known for its various controversies, specifically sorrounding the mob vote. When it was announced that the mob vote was being cancelled (See this tweet) many players rejoiced, having found the practice to be useless and a cause of much divide in the community (See this tweet). In my personal opinion, I found the mob vote to be a simple marketing tactic founded off of this divide in the community, but thats besides the point.
So, what happens when a community falls in love with a game, but angry at the desicions from the developers? Well... the answer strangely isnt always modding. In fact, Minecraft has had a modding scene all the way back in the year of 2011, with the mod JourneyMap as we previously mentioned having come out on November 26th of that year. This was far before any mob vote controversies, divide in the community, or anger over Mojangs lack of sizeable / desireable updates to the game. So... if the answer isnt a distaste for the game, then what is it? People spend real life time and effort to make things such as this, for absolutely 0$ guarenteed for their work... so, thats back to our original question. Why?
To solve this, I asked a prominent modder within a game im very involved with, that being Rimworld (Side tangent: play this game. Its moddability is incredible but so is the game itself, ive spent endless hours building colonies, losing them to raids, and otherwise. Highly reccomend it.), specifically, I went and asked modder Andres Pardeike, also known as Brrainz, what motivates him to mod the game.
I asked Andres firstly about what motivates him to mod, just in general. To which he said: "The challenge. I am a senior software developer so this is basically my gym before the marathon. People like me are not that dependent on income so creating value for everyone (as in doing open source software) is what drives me.". To overcome challenges is to be fufilled, and Andres put it very succintly. Its a warmup for him, keeping his skills in check and allowing him to perform well at his job. However, the big question remains: if this is not making him money... why do it? Sure, its good practice for his job, if he cannot be guarenteed any monetary gain or fame for all this extra work, why do what he does for the Rimworld modding community? When asked this, Andres stated:
"I do hate that someone else makes money out of my work but at the same time I can boost my ego when I see people getting joy from it. The money aspect is mitigated a bit by me realising that I can only do that because someone else took the effort and risk to build a platform. Still a bad deal unless you take donations like I do and get at least some minor compensation via that." Andres puts it simply: he feels good when other people enjoy the work he puts out for free, which is a commendable reason to mod, but Andre also understands, as he puts it, that he wouldnt be able to mod lest someone else had built a platform for him to mod. If Tynan Slyvester hadnt made Rimworld, Andres wouldnt have a game to mod that he enjoys so much. This, for him, mitigates the fact he makes no money, and likely helps him abide by the fact his work may make no money (although, he does make money on the side through donations.). However, in saying this, Andres himself dosent realize that he's helping to lift other people up and create a platform for them to begin modding!
When Andres was asked "How did you start modding Rimworld?" He said: "I made modding Rimworld easy by inventing Harmony. It was the challenge to begin with as I was facing mods-co-existing problems making my first mod Achtung which was made out of curiosity and some interaction with a twitch streamers needs)." For context, Harmony is a modding library/software which assists in not only modding Rimworld, but several other games, including 7 Days to Die, Stardew Valley, and more! Andres has become a part of the platform in which others can mod games off of, with his work making it far easier to mod games for all.... but this still dosent answer our question. The modding is a byproduct of Andres practice for his job, not something he does passionately. Sure, he enjoys doing it, but he wasnt originally motivated by the joy of creation in order to begin making his mods. What about someone who might not even know all that much about programming, and taking on a far larger undertaking, such as a massive content mod that adds an entire new system to a game?
Well, thats why we asked another Rimworld modder some questions, that being Torran, the creator of the Rimworld of Magic mod, a mod that adds a complete magic system to the game, giving your colonists the ability to learn and use magic. When asked what his motivation to create a Rimworld of Magic, Torran said: "The primary motivation was a personal goal to learn to program. RimWorld being designed in a way to encourage modding, an interest in the game and sci-fi/fantasy genres, and the creative outlet it enabled are other contributing factors that motivated me to create RimWorld of Magic.". Much like Andres, Torran used the modding scene to practice programming, but not just for his job, but to learn how to program in general. His interest in the game and love of fantasy lead for him to create the mod, combining his interest to learn to program with his own passions to motivate them to create the mod. However, im sure you must wonder the same thing I did. When we asked Torran what motivated him beyond financial compensation or fame (seeing as he wasnt guarenteed it) he said:
"What's kept me motivated has been learning and improving my programming skills, in large part due to the amazing community, contributors, and suggestions that I've gotten over the years. Another important aspect is that it provides a creative outlet for me; taking an idea or concept and figuring out how to make within RimWorld has kept me adding to the mod for as long as I have.". We are beggining to see a link here. People mod games beacause they wish to learn, and improve their programming skills, which is in no way a negative thing! But, another thing pops up again: the community and joy in creation. It provided a creative outlet (as Torran puts it) for him, and the limitations of the platform kept him intrigued. But the community and their contributions to the mod furthered his motivation, keeping him creating such an expansive mod. Im sure this makes modding sound easy, with the community keeping you motivated and with the modding scene being used to teach so many fledgling programmers their craft. However, its not the case for those not knowledgeable in programming. When asked how difficult it was to make a Rimworld of Magic, Torran said:
"In some ways, more difficult than I thought because I knew next to nothing about programming and there was a steep learning curve to both learning to make a mod and programming at the same time. In other ways, easier, in large part due to the way the game is designed for modding and the examples, tutorials, and help I've gotten from the community. I could not have made the mod without the platform Tynan provided, and learning the ropes by following in the footsteps of people like Jecrell and Erdelf.". The difficulty of learning to program did not stop Torran, following modders before him in order to create something he wanted within the game, and to enjoy.
So, I think I can say with quite a certainty that their is a common link here. Modders perform this gracious free act for the main reasons of wanting to hone their skills, and for the joy of others using their work to have more fun. A simple answer, to a question that probably lingered in many peoples heads. Sometimes, things in life are just that simple, and you dont need money or fame to motivate everything. Just a willingness to learn, a passion for programming, and a game you love.
Sources used:
Mods - minecraft - curseforge. (n.d.). https://www.curseforge.com/Minecraft/mc-mods
X.com. X (formerly Twitter). (n.d.). https://x.com/Minecraft/status/1833166714634223779
X.com. X (formerly Twitter). (n.d.). https://x.com/cartoonshi/status/1833191439028613590
People Interviewed:
Andres Pardeike, AKA Brrainz. (Find Harmony here)
Torran (Creator of the mod "A Rimworld of Magic")