The mod industries? The industrial logic of non-market game production

Abstract

This article seeks to make the relationship between non-market game developers (modders) and the game developer company explicit through game technology. It investigates a particular type of modding, i.e. total conversion mod teams, whose organization can be said to conform to the high-risk, technologically-advanced, capital-intensive, proprietary practice of the developer company. The notion 'proprietary experience' is applied to indicate an industrial logic underlying many mod projects. In addition to a particular user-driven mode of cultural production, mods as proprietary extensions build upon proprietary technology and are not simple redesigned games, because modders tend to follow a particular marketing and industrial discourse with corresponding industrial-like practices

Role of user-created programs in online game consumer behavior

“…First, mods positively affect experiences of game players and attitudes toward online games. Previous research studying mod effects failed to provide quantitative proof that mods contribute to the success of online games (Nieborg & van der Graaf, 2008;Poor, 2014;Postigo, 2007Postigo, , 2008, but here we show that mods give players positive experiences and enhanced attitudes toward online games. The results of this study suggest to marketing managers another type of value co-creation improving positive experience and the attitude of customers.…”

“…They provide alarms that alert players when they are in danger from monsters or enemies. Despite the impact of mods on the popularity of online games, only a few studies have considered modders and mods or relations between online game players and mods (Nieborg & van der Graaf, 2008;Poor, 2014;Postigo, 2007Postigo, , 2008.…”

Surveillant Assemblages of Governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games: A Comparative Analysis

“…This is an example of how software and legal documents functions as assemblage. However software is a flexible technology and with simple tools it is possible even for non-programmers to produce modifications and modifying the game content is a common practice (Nieborg and van der Graaf 2008). In our study there were differences between the documents governing the MMOGs and in the ability and desire of the publishers/developers to enforce them.…”

Players unleashed!: modding The Sims and the culture of gaming

“…Most notably, modding has been placed within the contexts of participatory culture (e.g., Raessens 2005;Wirman 2009) and the political-economic implications of the dissolving of the boundaries between production and consumption (Kücklich 2005;Nieborg 2005;Nieborg & van der Graaf 2008;Postigo 2003;Sotamaa 2005;. Before these wide-ranging sociopolitical concerns, however, the first phase of studying modding consisted of regarding it as a form of art that would ideally open up subversive political potential for individuals (Catanese 2003;Mitchell & Clarke 2003;Poremba 2003a;Schleiner 1998;.…”

“…The practices of modding result in concrete products, mods, that can be treated individ ually, distributed, copied and eventually also traded, allowing for deeper and more diverse systems of making meaning, as well as profit. In the long run, these subtle but profound mechanisms of content creation have the potential to transform the field of digital media and the business models associated with all cultural production (Humphreys 2003;Kücklich 2005;Nieborg & van der Graaf 2008).…”