Now on to the feedback on last week's topic in
which we asked what your stance was on modifications
for Diablo II; here's what you guys had to say:
From: Robert White
Subject: Mod Mailbag
I like mods. If it wasn't for mods, I probably would only
play a game once or twice. But for Diablo 2, I feel that
most likely these mods will not take off like some of
the ones that Half-Life has. Can we say Counter-Strike?
If someone could actually pull off completeing a mod for
Diablo, I'd be impressed [Actually,
people have created Diablo mods...just take a look
at our Hosted Sites on the main
page. It really depends on what your definition of
"mod" is].
Hooray
for pessimistic people! No, really, a Diablo modification
that provides a replay factor worthy enough to sit on
our hard drives isn't easy to pull off--especially with
the lack of *gasp* "professional aid."
From: Bren R.
Subject: Mods in Diablo 2 FEEDBACK
I have to admit that I'm not pleased with the fact that
people have found ways to mod Diablo 2. My main concerns
stem from the fact that it's predecessor the original
Diablo was a game that was greatly hacked and cheated
which took the pleasure out of playing the game and I
fear that is going to be the case with Diablo 2 now.
I think the biggest public delema which will arise now
because of modding has to do with Battle.net. People who
don't have mods now will have to deal with not only straight
out hacking but with the subtle modding which will be
very recognisable to a legit veteran or newbie trying
to play games which do not lead them into a certain character
doom.
I figured that all the time spent on Diablo 2 would have
eliminated the possibility of any severe modding like
which has been announced recently on this site. It's just
a thought and a concern.
You raise some good points, and I also agree that "modding"
can sometimes lead to cheating, but, again, the absence
of some sort of Software Development Kit can also be an
integral factor in curious programmers going astray from
producing something enjoyable and, instead, concocting
some cheating byproduct.
From: Thorn
Subject: Mod Mailbag
Hmm, I downloaded the mod you had listed on your site
on Saturday, August 26, and installed it. It made a few
changes, some of them for the better. This was with my
single player character. Then I tried going on battle
net (not open battle net), and to my surprise, the mod
was still working! This is a problem that blizzard overlooked
when making their game hack-proof. I think a whole new
breed of hacker will appear on battle net, and the common
person will not know they are hacking. To test this theory,
I had a mana leech ring with the hack off. With it on,
it turned into a +10 to dexterity ring. When I showed
it to a friend in a game on the trade screen, he said
it showed up as a mana leech ring, but for me it added
+10 to dexterity. This is a serious problem that must
be fixed before battle net is overrun by hackers as open
battle net has been.
Yet more great points. However, can we really blame the
mod creator for allowing his mod to access Battle.Net?
The short answer is "no." The long answer/remedy
happens to be the same idea I've been presenting in the
afore emails: No professional aid = No guiding pathway
for mod creators to take when creating their product.
Thus, they may inadvertently be laying the plans for a
cheat that others can exploit. Not good!
From:
Carl Batchelor
Subject: Mods in D2:
One thing that always fascinated me was the difference
between the "RPG" community and the "FPS" Community. Since
I'm one of the rare few who enjoy both of these two genres,
I have noticed that the FPS Community seems to be more
"In-Touch" with their fans. Just look at the kind of relationship
Valve has with it's fans. They have recently bought the
rights to produce a Single-player Mod created by a group
of dedicated gamers who wowed the community enough to
get Valve to take notice. How many times have you seen
an RPG company allow people to modify their game and then
ask the Mod Makers if they could buy the game from them
and market it?
Thats my point I'm trying to make. The fact that the FPS
community supports it's fans and encourages them to remain
fans, whereas RPG Companies like Blizzard and Bioware
have never acknowledged any of the Mods made for their
games, or even made it easy for the average user to create
a Mod.
Sure, there are a couple Baldur's Gate Mods (Team BG)
and a few Hellfire/diablo 1 Mods, and a few Diablo 2 Mods
on the horizon, but has Blizzard or Black Isle/Bioware
supported Mods for their games? Have they ever mentioned
them in a post on their boards or a short blurb in one
of their weekly webpage updates? Not to my knowledge.
Hopefully, this will change soon. With Bethesda's upcoming
Morrowind containing an easy-to-use Editor, we could very
well see this change finally coming to pass, and it's
about time if you ask me. Why waste so much money making
a silly Massively Multi-player Online RPG with little
or no replay value when you can make a single player game
thats fully-customizeable, comes with its own editor,
and has an entire community full of hungry Mod-Makers
with fresh new ideas?
Wow, I don't think I've ever consecutively
agreed with four emails in a row. [Tears roll down cheeks].
Anyway, your proposal is positive and allowing gamers
to dabble in the innards of the game they purchased (to
a certain degree of course) is a great way to boost the
entertainment value of a game.
Though Diablo II (as do many other RPGs) includes a rather
different make-up than First Person Shooters (FPSs) in
terms of sprite size and the overwhelming size of other
components, a basic editor would be a fine utility to
implement.
Well, that exhausts our topic-related
feedback. Time for the queries/rants!
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