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[Groschen]

Hey all my fellow Baldurs Gate Fans
I am writing this because I am in the middle of writing my Master Thesis in marketing and business innovation, and I was in the lucky position of being allowed to write about computer games industry, and using Baldur's Gate as a case study. So after Kaeloree gracefully allowed me to use this forum to gather data, I am writing here.

So why do I need help from you? Well my thesis are taking on one of the big questions: Why do people make mods…? (It might be phrased just a little bit different in my paper, but that is the idea of it)
…And to answer this question, I need you to help me.

So you might be thinking, ehmm what does this require from me, will it be costly, will it be time consuming etc.? Well – First I need you to answer some questions, either as answers in this thread, or if you are a bit more shy, via a PM message to me. Then I need you to indicate, if you will be interested in helping my further by letting me contact you, with follow up questions, and maybe an interview (can be done with Skype or another preferred communication form, both in text or voice). If you do not feel like being contacted further, I will still very much like to have your answers , just answer no to the last question and then I will bother you no more – just don’t let the contacting part being the reason that that you reject answering the questions in this thread…

So what will you get for doing this:
Well, since I am a poor student, the thing you will mostly get is a very nice “feel good” feeling in your stomach, for helping another in need, and maybe you also end up learning a thing or two about you own secret and dark motives for being part of the modding community (but I can not guaranty it).
So if you are up for it please answer the following questions either in a comment in this thread, or in a PM to me, if you feel your answers will be to private for a public forum:

 

Spoiler

We start with a typical ASL, set up, so:
What is your age?
What is your gender?
What country are you from?

Then I also need some specifics about your relationship with Baldurs Gate:
What was the first Baldurs Gate game you played (BG1 (with or without ToSC),BG2 (With or without ToB) or BG:EE)?
When did you play your first BG game? (Just in general terms, like “when it came out”, “Years after it came out”, “just recently” etc.)
Which of the games and its expansions have you played, and have you finished them? (BG1, BG2, BG:EE, ToSW, ToB)
Have you played through any BG games more than once? If yes, which ones?

And now I need some information about what my thesis is actually about:
Have you ever successfully made a modification to any BG game? (Succesfully here meaning, could you still play the game after the modification was made and the modification did modify something inside your game)
If yes, what? (If you have modified many things, then just make 1-2 examples, and list the rest generally (like weapons mods, NPC mods etc.) 
- In which game(s)?
Do you consider yourself a “modder”?
- Why/Why not?

If you consider yourself a modder, please answer the following questions, if not, just skip these questions:
Why do you decide to start a new project?
Do you make mods that you do not use in your own games? If yes, why?
How do you get your ideas? (Could be other people that have requested something, or your own needs for a solution to a specific “problem”, or something completely different)
Do you enjoy modding, while you are doing it?
If you had to finish the sentence:” I would rather spend my time modding than…” what would you finish the sentence with? Please give at least three possible answers.

Okay second to last section of questions (we are almost there…) (And the people not identifying as modders can jump back on the wagon here):
Do you ever download mods for any BG game?
If yes, what mods do you typically download? (Just list them, if it is more than one)
Why do you download those mods? (If more types, just list a short explanation for each one)
Would you enjoy BG games less/more/the same if there were no mods available?
Can you identify mods that are, in your opinion, the same or better quality, as the core game? 
Okay last section, a bit about your playing habits generally:
What game genres do you play the most (Maximum 3 answers)?
When buying a game, does it influence your choice, whether the game can be modified or not?
Which games have you played recently (last 3-6 months)?

And, will you allow me to contact you for further questions or interview?

 

 

I really hope you will help me by taken just a bit of time to answer my questions ;-) 

 

Groschen

[Bartimaeus]

Location: United States of America

Age: 18

Gender: Male

 

First Baldur's Gate Game: Baldur's Gate (1), without Tales of the Sword Coast

When I First Played: When I was four or five, roughly, so...about/close to the time it came out.

Baldur's Gate Games Played: Baldur's Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate II, Throne of Bhaal, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

Baldur's Gate Games Beaten: Baldur's Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate II, Throne of Bhaal

Baldur's Gate Games Played Through Multiple Times: Baldur's Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate II, Throne of Bhaal

 

General Answer to the Modding Question:

I'm not a modder...but I am kind of a tweaker. If I feel like an item, for example, that regenerates 1 hitpoint per two rounds while equipped would be better off as 1 hitpoint per round, and such a change would not affect balance overtly, (and I would prefer it that way), then I will tweak it. If a short sword has a haste special ability that lasts for two rounds, and I feel like it should be half a turn, etc. If there's an invalid spell in my sorceress' spellbook, etc. If content from one mod was overwritten by another, I'll do my best to manually merge the best of both worlds. Stuff like that. A modder? No, I don't think so. A smalltime tweaker? Sure. Strictly speaking, I guess I fall within the category of being a modder...but I think of modding more as creating actual new content - or, alternatively, tweaking to such extremes that it can be considered new content - not making very small edits to already existing content. Applies to any and pretty much every game I play - all the Infinity Engine games, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, the Total War games, etc. My "tweaking" activity is sporadic - whenever I see or feel something [that] should be different. How much I enjoy changing it depends on the tweak in question, particularly the other things it can affect. The regeneration example I gave previously, for example, like I said, shouldn't affect balance hardly at all...but that's not always strictly true, and I find sometimes changes I made need to be reverted or toned down (or toned up, depending on what I'm doing). Testing is not one of my strong suits...and yet, it's absolutely necessary.  

 

Downloading Mods: Absolutely.

Types of Mods Downloaded: Since I'm not sure if we're doing specific mods (presumably for Baldur's Gate), or types of mods, I'll do both. The majority of the mods I download are tweaks, fixes (which sort of fall under tweaks, but it's important to distinguish between the two), and behind the scenes new content (AI, for example). More rarely, things that introduce all new content, (very rare), graphical changes, (also rare, but something I'm more open to than the previous category), and content imported from other games, (more common than the other two, but I still place "standards" of sorts on what I accept).

The Actual Mods: Of absolute importance, of which I could not really envision myself playing Baldur's Gate (2) without anymore: ToBEx, BG2 Fixpack, BG2 Tweakpack, 1PP (both the graphical changes - I actually want to wear helmets now! - and the high quality music mods), Sword Coast Stratagems, aTweaks, Level 1 NPCS, (for the proficiency table tweaks). Mods that I almost always use, or otherwise greatly appreciate: Baldur's Gate Trilogy, Infinity Animations, Item Revisions, Spell Revisions, Rogue Rebalancing. Other mods that I usually use a few or various components of: M7 Tweaks, Poison Effect Supplement, Lolfixer, Resfixer, that one container mod by Miloch, P5 Tweaks, TB Tweaks, Thrown Hammers, D0 Tweak, Wheels of Prophecy, D0 Quest Pack, GMinion, Unfinished Business, A Mod for the Orderly, a few other small BG2 mods, and a bunch of other BGT mods that I don't currently have on hand because I currently only have a BG2 (non-BGT) game installed, (forgive me, Ascension64!).

 

Game Genres: Strategy (of various sorts - Total War type games, the old Age of Empires games, etc.), singleplayer first person shooters, (S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Half-Life, etc.), and...I want to say CRPGs, but honestly, I play so few these days besides the ones I've always played that I have trouble rationalizing that answer.

Moddability Affecting Purchasing: Absolutely...though it depends on the price point and the game itself. Small, cheap indie games I don't really care too much about for modding, but I'm probably not going to buy any AAA game that doesn't have at least moderate modding ability.

Games I've Played Recently: Medieval 2: Total War, Rome: Total War, Baldur's Gate II, Planescape: Torment, Age of Empires II, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Binding of Isaac, Audiosurf, Warcraft III, online Mario Party x. I'm a bit, uh, schizophrenic in my game playing.

Why Download Mods: Because it makes the game better, IMO.

Lack of Mod Enjoyability: I probably would have given up most of the games I play long ago without modding...I think that says enough.

Greater Quality than Vanilla Mods: I am not entirely sure as to what this is asking...is it to identify mods that I think are of greater quality than vanilla content, or mods that fit in with vanilla content? In the latter's cases, I would say most of the ones I download fit in pretty well, especially given that most of them are derivative or build off of already existing content. In the former's case, I would prefer not to make judgement.

 

If you have further questions, you can ask...but I give no guarantee that I will answer them (at all or in a timely manner), and I don't really have any sort of interest in video communication. I will, however, attempt to answer any questions that seem reasonable, if any are posed. Hopefully my answers weren't completely useless.

Edited by Bartimaeus, 25 June 2013 - 07:13 AM.