Taking Aim At The Mod Squads

Cutriss writes "CNN's usually dry and uninspired reporting was interrupted today by this interesting and rather well-informed piece by Eric Hellweg from the Technical Investor section. It compares and contrasts efforts from various companies in squashing/supporting the hobbyist community. It's rather well-timed, considering recent events."

Comments

Sony is a good example

[Ryu2]

They've actually embraced the independent developer very nicely, by first offering their "Net Yaroze" for the Playstation, and now, a actual port of Linux for the Playstation 2..

Sony (and on the software side, many game software companies like id and Valve, with their mod-friendly games) seems to understand that the hobbyists/indie developers of today often are the professional game developers of tomorrow, unlike Microsoft and their efforts toward an Xbox (they've got their "incubator" program, but that is still only for actual game developers, not individuals).

It would be good to provide feedback to other companies to embrace such models like Sony has.

Not bad but it only touchesthe surface

[hillct]

There is nothing new in this article, although there is one phrase I liked vary much:

This kind of cultish devotion is every marketer's dream -- a product perceived as so cool that owners will subjugate their normal lives to embrace it.

Not because it presents a new idea or take on the issue but simply because it is well constructed and is phrased in such a way as to appeal to corporate marketoids so maybe they'll pay attention.

It is good to see this sort of thing in the main stream media although I would have liked to see more focus on how ill-concieved legislation like the DNCA, hastilly written with little or no understanding of the ramifications is coming back to bite these corporations in their collective ass. Oh well. It's a good start.

--CTH

gaming mods

[jeremyferg]

I have always found mods to games to be a good thing for consumers and also for companies making the games. The mods (assuming they are of good quality) give extra incentive to the players to continue playing the games long after they have finished the original game. The perfect example of this is Counterstrike for Half Life. I know I continued playing Half Life for about two extra years all because of Counterstrike. The plus for the software companies is the extra revenue. Valve Software has probably made a lot more money than they would have if Counterstrike did not exist.

Customer is always right?

[theBraindonor]

Most important, these modifications raise a question: In the digital age, is the customer always right?

Not only does action against modification enforce that the customer isn't always right, it enforces that the customer doesn't actual own something he purchases.

A customer purchases a product. By modifying said product, a customer has actually increased the value of a product. They have used it to do something additional. When this information is distributed to the public, it potential increases the value of the entire product base. Just how many people purchased an XBox only after they found out how to run Linux on it?

Hopefully more companies will wake up to the economic reality that they can employ a bunch of slashdotters for free!

Legal Vs. Illegal Mods

[Greyfox]

IANAL but...

If I buy an X box and stick a chip in it so I can run Linux, I'm technically violating the DMCA (MS would argue that the chip's primary purpose being to run pirated games vs. running Linux, despite the fact that all I may want to do is run Linux.)

If I buy 10,000 X boxes and super glue them together to make a giant tux sculpture, I do believe that would be legal.

As far as I'm concerned, one is no less speech than the other.

Counter-Strike Mod is a Great Example

[Anonymous Coward]

This story is a good example of how complete mod can definitely benefit the original manufacturer.

Re: If an XBox were a car

[1984]

Companies will always tell you you're doing something wrong if you're doing something that pisses them off. Then they'll tell you it's illegal, perhaps even say it loudly with plenty of money and lawyers, such that you can't afford to point out loudly enough that it *is* legal. Then everyone (alright, "joe public") will believe (alright, "have the impression") they were right because you backed off. And if you manage to point out it *is* legal, then they'll work hard to change things so it becomes illegal.

This is just how companies will tend to be, since it's what the selection pressure favours. Why are people continually surprised by this?

There are mods, and mods

[Fiveeight]

This stuff can be slightly confusing, as there are huge differences, legally speaking, between making/using hardware to modify consoles, and making software mods (additional levels, art etc) for PC games.

Mod chips are not popular with console companies. At all. The huge majority of them (based on my personal knowledge) are used for either piracy (obviously illegal) or playing import games (legal, but annoying to console companies that like to operate region coding systems. And yes, regioning sucks.) People who buy mod chips for other reasons (are there any apart from running Linux and homebrew gaming?) are not contributing much to the normal revenue stream, and might even be competing with it (producing cheap or freeware games and utilities. This becomes more of an issue when you start adding HDs and broadband connections).

Game mods, on the other hand, are great for the developers and publishers, they get lots of free (or nearly free, producing an SDK and doing a bit of patching) content and press, and guess what, everyone who plays them needs a copy of the game. Part of the reason that game mods are so good for the developers is that they have a lot of control. Read the license agreement on the SDK, they own any content you distribute for their game. Produce something offensive (or outrageously profitable), and they can take it all away from you. Obviously this would be a world of bad publicity, but they can still do it.

What would be nice for consoles is to

A)Throw away the regioning
B)Seperate the protection of copyrighted disks from the ability to read CD-Rs and unsigned code, both of which are pretty much essential for home development.
C)Produce a really cheap/free dev kit, possibly with some restrictions (ie, game can only be distributed for free or through console makers publishers). I have no idea how much they make through selling dev kits

This would get the benefits of PC game style mods and allow them to reduce piracy by drawing a clear line between enthusiasts and pirates (yes, they're often the same people, but it seperates the behaviour), making piracy less generally accepted and easier to attack legally.

Of course, when do that, people want more freedom, more customisablity etc, and pretty soon you end up with a PC (or at least an Atari/Amiga style "home computer")...