[Pocus]

The fact is that a vast majority of players like the *possibility* of modding a game. Not for them, but for the 0.01 % of players which will try to modify the game. The debate of open games versus closed ones has been raging for years, but very few people still think that he has to be proven that mods are good for a games, and for the studio behind it(just go to game sites like gamedev.net ,gamasutra.com, the newsGroups on game design, etc., nobody would dare pretends that modding is bad for a game!). Just think Half Life and Counter strike (FPS), Neverwinter night (RPG) big fan community, which led to tremendous increase in selling (more than 4000 fan modules and universes have been done, with more and more player attracted), Civilization I, II, III (I think it has not to be proven that the huge fan communities helped these games be so 'persistent' on a market which is rather transient.

Often it has nothing to do with game balancing. Thats just that you cant have a game witch cover all topics and sub genres of a given genre. Be it Middle Earth or Melnibonee, you have nation names and definitions which are not covered by the actual dominions game. The point of the modder here would be to design scenarios which are more faifthful to the world they are working one. It has nothing to do with the scheme of reaping Illwinter of their good work.

The thing most needed is perhaps the ability to modify unit stats, create new ones, and add them to a nation.
Modding of a nation too goes with that.

[ September 28, 2003, 13:40: Message edited by: Pocus ]