Modding in video games

Spacewar!, published in 1962 and developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA, is considered to be the first digital game. In the game, two pixelated spaceships face each other and try to hit each other with projectiles. The code of “Spacewar!” was continuously modified and expanded by students at MIT over the following years. For example, the behavior of the projectiles was changed and the starry sky in the background was made realistic. In 1983, the American students Andrew Johnson and Preston Nevins began to exchange graphics and audio data from “Castle Wolfenstein” using a specially developed tool. They replaced the hordes of Nazi soldiers with Smurfs and called their creation “Castle Smurfenstein”. Wolfenstein 3D” was then released in 1992. Hackers were able to develop a tool for this game that could be used to exchange content and create new levels. These “add-ons” were exchanged between players via the first private computer systems. The only problem was that these modifications permanently overwrote the original game file. “Doom” from 1993 circumvented this problem by allowing users to temporarily load content such as levels. One of the first computer games that was designed from the outset to be expanded is the first-person shooter “Quake” from 1996. Players were able to change the appearance of the characters in the game as they wished and developed bots and anti-cheat software for the multiplayer mode. Other examples of successful and well-known mods are “DotA” based on “Warcraft 3” and “Counter-Strike” based on Valve's “Half-Life”.

Video game publishers are increasingly deciding against “mods” for their products for economic reasons. Rockstar Games, for example, lost millions of dollars from its investors due to the so-called “Hot Coffee” modification for “GTA: San Andreas”. A small change to the code activated a scandalous sex scene that had been deleted from the game. The developers of “Battlefield 3” also fear that they will no longer be able to sell their additional content such as new maps due to free “mods”. Some console games such as “Little Big Planet” offer users the opportunity to create their own worlds using editors within the game, thus avoiding the “modding” problem. Meanwhile, “modders” also offer their services for money and create certain content. These can then be purchased on platforms such as the “Steam Workshop”.

The history of “modding” goes back to the early 1960s and is firmly linked to the emergence of hacker culture. At that time, the game code could still be freely used and expanded by anyone. Today, computer games are increasingly closed products that can hardly be manipulated. One thing is certain, however: without “modding,” games culture would be deprived of many of its most interesting facets.