So as you all know there are no 3rd party modifications allowed in GZ due to the EULA. It is also banned from discussion on any social media for GZ.
My question is: Why?
Why ban mods?
We can discuss and use “visual” mods just fine, but anything else is banned. Visual mods break the EULA too.
Did the devs personally choose this, or was it someone else that just disliked them above them?
It just makes no sense. Modding is free content for a game that does not take dev time, it can solve the problem of everybody wanting something else. Just make a mod.
Plent of games live off of modding. I just see no reason (especially for a PvE game), to not have modding.
I guess the reason for this game actually is that it is a drop-in/drop-out online coop game and that its architecture doesn’t allow different versions of the game.
And mods whould only lead people to see the game as some sandbox game where you just can mod however you want, like fallout 4, there you can turn the game into another, is that what we want with GZ?
I also wanted to have a player to player discussion as well. I thank you all for making this active.
I usually do honor what I agree to, but last time I checked the rule was dumb.
Thanks for bringing these points up.
Unfortunately change cannot happen unless people bring it up. So I brought it up. Some people here just seem to dislike modding and modders for no reason other than they add stuff to the game the devs did not.
I am sorry to say some rules are just plain not smart.
Anyways please stay on topic and respond and discuss accordingly : )
You would know about staying on topic since you did agree to the CoC, didn’t you?
Mods would for sure work, I have seen it first hand.
It could be done like Payday where modders are labeled so anybody who does not want to play with them can kick them or completely barr them for joining.
I’ve left this thread up because it concerns why mods aren’t allowed due to the EULA. But it dances around a taboo subject precariously and no favors are done by calling these rules dumb.
So keep that in mind if this thread is to remain open.
Generation Zero doesn’t support mods yet. It’s possible that it never will. The reasons for that can be many, one of the most common I’ve seen is when it messes with people’s games between updates. GZ is an evolving game where new content gets added over time and that doesn’t sit well with mods.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to close and/or remove a bug report because the issues users faced were in fact due to mods. Most people never read the EULA, but essentially if you modify the game’s files in any way, you void support if your game breaks. That’s a headache we moderators & the devs can do without, but what can you do.
As to why mods aren’t allowed;
It may just be that the game is not particularily compatible with modifying it’s files. It may also be due to the devs not wanting any datamining to be done to prevent future content for being spoiled.
The latter is a perfectly valid concern of any game developer, it interferes with internal roadmaps and development processes.
No I think the discussion of 3rd party mods being banned is dumb. I can see reason for the use of them, but discussion? No.
You see it’s a bit of joking here, sarcasm maybe. See how I did not mention you were breaking the rules because of discussing mods? That is because I thought it was dumb. Maybe dumb is not the right word but I feeel it describes my feeling’s torwards it. I did not however think rules on staying somewhat on topic were dumb, that’s why I “cared”.
I do indeed actually. However, the point of this thread was to gain more information on a subject matter I knew little of.
While both are agreeing to something and than breaking said agreement, they are not the same.
If I were to mod an MP game for my advantage and completely destroy people they would be having a bad time. If I however said something against the CoC in text chat, they would rarely care. Obviously a harsh example but I think the point can be taken.
And I like playing the game but with some changes. Is that not great, with mods you can keep the game original. Or make it what you want.
You are right, my bad. I might rather say I disagree with saud rules.
This is true, they can do this. My thought being is that if you are modding, You would acknowledge that it may or may not do this to your game, and that it recommends unistalling mods before updates and such. That or add mod support/infastructure.
Yeah yeah I can already see your response snipergirl. “What is to stop them from saying the rules are dumb and not follow them”, easy, they can only complain about it. The difference here is that the moderator decied to leave this thread up because it has genuine questions.
This is also a valid point. I cannot tthink of a super robust reason to refute said point either. This is why I think modding would be a great thing to add at the end of the game’s development life. No things to spoil then.
But I am sure there are otherways that can be done, though it may be extremely difficult. That would be not adding stuff to the live build that should not be seen. It should only go to the beta build. Then adding it into the live build shortly before it goes live.
The apple rarely falls far from the tree old friend.
On the mod side though, having watched 10+ years of speed runs - mods as an argument like here has really evolved since my time of PC gaming. It was as Zessir mentioned, a very taboo subject, but I find a lot of the PC games now have this mod tag as almost a standard, to where say 10 years ago people accepted what they had.
It as if its more of need now instead of want. More of an expectation for these titles to allow players to just - do more, and with the advances on software and hardware it’s a tough argument for them not to.
I’ll take custom weapon skins, my own customised Reaper to fight, full skill tree with max levels - I’ll give it a go see how crazy it is…but all dilutes the purity of the game. I would imagine this is quite a contributing reason as to why mods are not allowed.
I agree with that, If anything modding can extent the game’s lifespan. Fallout New vegas and 4 are prime examples. Even Halo the master cheif collection now being on PC is slowly getting mod support, and people have so far been able to create awesome stuff in those games. If GZ got mod support or at least allowed to have mods, then I’d consider playing the game again. As someone who is not a fan of the current direction the game is taking, I could more or less mod the game as it was before. Making it more gritty and grounded. Because I feel a product I paid more has changed into something I didn’t like.
Or perhaps someone could create some truly wacky stuff that makes zero sense, like a model swap of a tank with Thomas the tank engine. There is endless posibilities and the game stands to profit from more sold copies. Not being able to even discuss modding due to the EULA feels strange even with presented arguments. Modding has always been a thing for singleplayer games and server browser based games. It is like Lucid said
Unless it’s for cheating and getting the advantage in a competitive manner, then I don’t see how modding can hurt Generation Zero. It let’s people be creative and passionate about GZ.
People seem to think modding will somehow ruin the experience they want or prefer from the game. This is just plain wrong. Modding allows anyone to do what they want, so just do what you want, it is not hard.
This is the entire point of modding. To improve the game in the way you see fit. So now instead of discussing about how the game is too wacky, they can make it less wacky. But at the same time someone making their game wacky ruins your experience? It is just plain nonsense.
Not every game has to be like all the others.
I modded games in the past, too. Especially Red Alert, Red Alert 2 and C&C Tiberian Sun. I did some great stuff and it was really fun.
But that’s long time ago.
Sometimes we should just let some games how they are supposed to be and in my eyes this game is some kind of art. (of course, every game is some kind of art )
I just want to say, that this game isn’t finished yet and I totally understand if the devs don’t want someone else to change it. Think of an unfinished portrait… Would you, as the painter, like to see someone else grab a brush and paint something else on your picture?
And for me, as the interested watcher of this portrait would like to see the finished picture before someone else adds his own ideas.
I think, at this point of the discussion we should leave, otherwise it’ll be endless. Endless arguments for and against mods for this game that make no sense of discussing about as they are and will be still not allowed.
Except for in this case, it is a completely different (but identical) picture that you sold to them. A picture that if painted on by them, in no way affects the one you are still painting.
Again, people say they want to see the original or intended way of this game without mods. It is indeed as easy as just not modding and not actively looking at said mods of the game. Someone modding the game in no way changes the experience of someone who does not. It’s like spoilers for the story. Being within the community you always take the risk of someone spoiling it, whether by accident or on purpose. Except for with the story being spoiled it actually affects your enjoyment in some way.
Just because something is not allowed does not make the discussion of said thing nonsense.
The point of this thread was to gather all the thoughts for and against mods. To hopefully discover the true reasons they are not allowed as well.
To be frank from what I have seen, the arguments against mods are
Ruins “purity” of the game.
Problems with compatibilty through updates
Datamining and spoiling
Only the last 2 hold any water. Seen as modding has and will continue to be done, and no “purity” has been lost.
Well my question then is why should we? Who loses in the situation where we add mods? The devs have already gotten your money from buying the game and maybe some dlc.
As long as people who have mods does not interact with other players who are not using mods (which can easily be done by adding some sort of detection if someone is using mods) then nothing bad will happen in any way. Like why should you care if someone else is using mods? How does it affect you? I’m genuinely interested in that.
Like you said:
If you bought a copy of a painting and brought it home. (It is not the only version of that painting that exists.) You merely own a exact copy of it, Which is exactly how a game works. You own a copy of a game. The original painter of the painting (which would be the devs) would really not care if that copy got destroyed or something, Because the painter has already gotten your money from buying a copy of his painting.
The painter has already gained something from the whole event, And lost nothing. Even if your copy is destroyed or changed.
But why? why whould we need mods? I have used mods on other games and yes it is fun to ad things but then it almost always makes me and others forget the story and other things the game has for us. Like what if someone makes a zombie mod? yes it maybe whould be fun but then the game isnt GZ anymore, it is a homemade zombie game set in 1989. I think of course that there whould be some cool mods that whould fit into the game but still we dont need it, if you want more vehicles then ask the devs to brings them into the game instead of modding them.
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