This past week has seen two influential modders in our Call of Duty community signal that they might be making a move towards the exits. Both Tally (Tally's Bot, eXtreme, AWE, AWE4) and
Bullet-worm (PAM, PAM4 and PAM:WW) have stated their dissatisfaction
with the Call of Duty modding scene and they have made it known through
community forum posts that they are thinking of moving on.
"At the end of January, I will be
leaving the Call of Duty community for good." - Tally
"I probably won't be too far behind you Tally. I can't say
we've been the best of friends (can't say I've been the best of friends to
anyone though), but I have to say I respect the massive amount of modding
knowledge that you have gathered under one skull. Your leaving is another
eerie creek in the closing coffin door of the CoD modding
community." - Bulletworm
For Tally, one of the first modders to be inducted to our CoD HoF, this
is not the first time he has threatened to give up CoD modding. He made
similar statements (on BASH) after the community event at IW a few
years ago. This time the threat seems more plausible.
Bullet-worm, another inductee in the HOF, quit temporarily last year
when he took an unannounced half-year or so break from modding due to
real-life concerns. An imminent departure would thus not be a surprise
either.
While these two old-school modders have contributed
greatly to our community and will be missed (if they do go), their
departure from the scene will not bring death to our community nor will
modding even come to a halt in CoD. Some who have suggested this on
various modding-oriented sites have their blinders set too close
together.
"I have given this a
LOT of thought, and I have decided that this franchise is going nowhere
now. I dont see any future in modding for the COD franchise any more. Its
already been said elsewhere: with a new COD title coming out every year,
there is simply no time to build any modding project community around each
individual title. As soon as a mod project gets going, its time to move on
to the next title.
Why move on? Because there is simply no point
modding or mapping for empty servers. It's because the players move on
that modders and mappers have to move on." - Tally
On his way out the door, Tally has left us with long list of
reasons why he has decided to leave. One of the reasons is that
Activision/IW/Treyarch are splitting our CoD community by issuing a new
game every year.
Both these modders have put in their fare share of
time in CoD and have more than earned the right to be disgruntled at
various things.
"In the old days of the
Quake 3 engine, we had 3 to 4 years to get into modding projects. That's
why we had all the great modding and mapping projects in the old vCOD/UO
days. Projects like Revolt, Swat, Heat of Battle, Conquest TDM, German
Front Mod. We will never see such things again with Call of Duty, as such
projects require TIME to develop.
Take COD4 as an example: as soon
as anyone got going with COD4, COD:WaW was announced and all work
ceased.
Things will only get worse now: the modders and mappers
have caught on as to what is happening, and so no one even starts a
project now" - Tally
On this topic, I have been doing some thinking myself and while I
see what Tally is saying, one point he makes I have issues with:
Activision is splitting the CoD community.
It isn't splitting. It has always been split.
Splitsville
As for Activision doing the fracturing, let's look at their strategy
first. The FPS market is finite. There can only be so many games in
that market. You can be assured that if Activision does not produce an
FPS in 2009, someone else will jump in and take the share of that
year's share of business.
The best way to prevent usurpers from taking your market-share is to erect barriers to entry.
Activision has found that a good way to do that is
to issue a game every year, shrinking the number of potential sales to
anyone else entering the FPS arena and leaving them with table scraps.
The CoD gamer angle:
...players are thus offered an opportunity every year to move to a new
game. I do not see this scenario as any different to that early in the
decade when CoD competed head-on with the Medal of Honor series. CoD
games came out a little less often and if you did not like the latest
CoD...you would just flip over to MoH and vice-versa. Many players tell
me they did exaclty that.
With the last MoH (Airborne) DOA and the series in
terrible disarray, our choice between games is now, not Activision vs
EA, but Activision vs Activision. For those of us who love the CoD
franchise, surely that is a good thing.
The modder angle:
...new games coming on the scene every year might dissuade you from
entering into a large-scale mod effort. I understand why you would
think this way. After all, you get only 3-4 months time to get your mod
out before another game comes out stealing your player pool.
But didn't that happen before, when EA or iD came out with a new
shooter - sucking away players? The only difference is that NOW the new
shooter happens to be an Activision offering.
Furthermore, a modder claiming that a new game splits the community
is like the pot calling the kettle black. Community mods are as likely
to "split" our community as a new game.
Tally, nor any other modder would ever use the term "split" of course.
They would use the term "filling a need" when talking about a mod.
If you examine our community closesly, you will see splits everywhere.
There are gametype splits, mode splits (Hardcore vs. stock) and yet
even more caused by mods themselves.:
Competitive mod splits: Promod vs. PAM vs. compmod vs. DAMN
Niche mod splits: Tactical realism vs. Zombie vs. Paintball
All purpose mod splits: X4 vs. ACE vs. AWE vs. Frontlines...etc.
Take the competitive scene as an example. It has taken a huge hit
recently because of all the competing mods fracturing that community. I
don't hear anyone launching into a tirade or public opinion campaign
over this. Modder-ego can be blamed for that situation just as much as
CoD:WW 's not being of competitive-quality.
To state the assertion that too many CoD games are hurting this community is simply misdirection.
Not as important?
The real issue here may be that (some) modders do not feel they are
contributing as much to the community as
they once were. This could be the real reason some of these modders are
leaving. After all, did any CoD4 mods improve CoD4 as much as say,
eXtreme+ or AWE did CoD2? I would say no. And that is not a reflection
of *their* talent, but the fact that the CoD games are getting a bit
better.
Interestingly, IW and Treyarch have learned from community mods (look
at the similarity between eXtreme+ and CoD4 for example) and have
finally and belatedly, given us what we wanted (or at least, some of
what we wanted).
There will always be niche sub-markets for modders to fill, but they
probably will not have the huge influence they once commanded.
"This modding community has been eroding since CoD2. Where
there used to be dozens of experienced modders there is now probably just
a dozen or so. What has changed to piss off and drive away modders?
Could it be the move towards... consoles? (and all the symptoms that came
with that). So there is my diagnosis: CoD is no longer a true PC
game." - bulletworm
Having said that, innovative mods are still being
pumped out by the CoD community: X4, Gungame, TR, Promod and of course
2008 BASHandSlash Mod of the Year, Frontlines.
Admittedly, the total conversion mods are very rare
nowadays. But they were rare back in CoD2 too. Josh (JD2020 was making
a total conversion Sci-Fi mod) and Tally (RoTR) both led total
conversion efforts back in CoD2. Both failed. Maybe the answer here is
that long-winded mods are difficult to make because modders are just
busy people.
Respectfully, contrary to the erosion described by Tally, Zombie and
Paintball mods in CoD4 are just as creative as the mods I saw in CoD2.
If Bullet-worm and Tally do depart, unlike a few years ago, they would leave behind a CoD mod scene that is still very much alive
and vibrant and will easily withstand the shock. The talented group of young, energetic modders in our midst will
do their best to live up to the high standards of scripting
excellence set by these two HoF'ers and who knows, maybe even surpass them?.
While I wish both gentlemen well and applaud their contributions to our
community, their bitterness upon departing the scene could, in fact,
demoralize those who are left behind (self fullfilling prophecy).
Seven year (Y)itch?
I would simply like to put that bitterness in context and suggest that things are not as dire as they appear.
In life, sometimes you burn out - even doing something you enjoy. When
that happens, you have to cut the strings and go do something else. Quitting and moving on
is a natural process - and not only is it cathartic it is also rejuvenating.
Future is so bright I need the Shades Perk?
In their wake, the future of CoD modding still seems bright to me and
it belongs to the likes of PST*Joker, Zeroy, Hajas, crazyankles, Marc,
PatmanSan ...and their colleagues.
Keep those mods coming everyone.
Adieu
In summary, well done Tally and Bullet-worm. Thanks for taking us this
far and good luck in the future - regardless what you eventually decide
to do.
Finally may I say to both Tally and Bullet-worm.
"Never in the field of CoD modding was so much owed by so many to so few..."
