Modding and Open source

 There is no perfect game... I mean, there could be one of its genre but, there is not a single game that will satisfy every persons taste. Solution?! Give people the tools to make their own!

 In the beginning, companies didn't like  the fact moders disassembled their games to make "new" ones... But most mods need the original game to be played and as soon as they realized this, modders won their freedom.

 The Sims creators gave the public the tools to create new objects, implement them into the game and even share with other players renewing the game in part, keeping it a bit more fresh and dynamic.

 Mount and Blade, by Paradox Interactive, also gives players the chance of creating their own world map and change the playing scenarios like castles and cities, giving way to a lot of mods. Some of those which were taken by the company for further development.

Pictures below:
1. Mount and Blade mod - Mount and Musket
2. Mount and Blade Warband - Napoleonic Wars (created by the same team as the first)

 I can honestly say, and u might have figured it out already by now, that I'm a big fan of Open Source and modding. It can be a big headache, but it's mostly due to the fact there's always something left to improve or finish since most of this software are constantly being upgraded.

 Some might say: The guys that make mods and such are people stuck in their moms basement with an aged computer. But the truth is that, they are just normal people, with daily jobs, that are not happy about the software or games available on the market. So they decide to team up and make one that fit their needs and tastes... Besides that, most games, also have their own community where mods and patches are constantly being reviewed by the regular players...

 So... The secret behind open source and game mods is:

 The will and determination of a dreamer, forever perfecting its work, will always top any software released by any major company.

Besides that, despite the rough start and, sometimes, unpopularity of the early versions, when the software/game starts to pick up speed and building up, close to what it will be in the end,  communities will start to gather around that project, getting a lot of user testers who can review, criticize and advise providing further help.

But of course, like everything in life, there are exceptions! It is not everyone that is able to finish the goals they had set up leaving their work completed, just enough, so it can be functional and enjoyable...

This happens mostly because, unlike projects financially supported by companies that have a defined budget and schedule, moders don't get paid and their work can be extended indefinitely. So, since they don't get paid, they need steady jobs; the project is comparable to a hobby, and like every other hobby, the time they can spend on it is equal, or less than the free time they can spare, out of their daily lives.

In the other hand, like I said before, all this pays off when you see, released, great mods like Third Age - Total War, that uses the Medieval 2 -Total War engine to create the world of The Lord Of The Rings. It is still a work in progress, but it has been out there for at least 3 years and the last release was the version 3.2. 

I'm using this mod as an example because I've played it since the 2.0 version, where Minas Tirith (The Capital of Gondor), and other important cities, didn't even look close to what they did in the movie, until the current 3.1 version where every capital and major city actually looks like it was supposed to. I have to say that, the first version I played, with those bugs and glitches and the scenarios that were nothing like what I expected, made me feel sort of disappointed. But (and this is a HUGE "but"), when I saw the current version and tried it out I just fell in love with the game in such a way that I never played the original one ever again!

Now what I mean by all this, is that the dreams of some are the dreams of many!