Editing Video game modding (section)

===Game support for modifications===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Audi Vice City.JPG|thumb|250px|An example of game modification in ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]'': a 2005 Audi A8L W12 car. Real-life makes and models are not included in the game but can be created and added by modders.]] -->
The potential for end-user change in game varies greatly, though it can have little correlation with the number and quality of mods made for a game.

In general the most modification-friendly games will define gameplay variables in text or other non proprietary format files<ref name=Sihvonen2011p37>{{cite book |last1=Sihvonen |first1=Tania |title=Players Unleashed!: Modding The Sims and the Culture of Gaming |pages=37–86 |date=2011 |publisher=[[Amsterdam University Press]] |location=Amsterdam |jstor=j.ctt46mt37.5 |chapter=Cultural and Commercial Appropriation|isbn=978-90-8964-201-1}}</ref> (for instance in the ''[[Civilization (video game)|Civilization]]'' series one could alter the movement rate along roads and many other factors), and have graphics of a standard format such as [[bitmap]]s.<ref name=Sihvonen2011p37/> Publishers can also determine mod-friendliness in the way important source files are available, such as ''Doom'' having its art assets separate from the main program, which allows them to be shared and modified.<ref name=":2" />

Games have varying support from their publishers for modifications, but often require expensive professional software to make. One such example is ''[[Homeworld 2]]'' (2003), which requires the program [[Maya (software)|Maya]] to build new in-game objects. However, there are free versions of Maya and other advanced modeling software available. There are also free and even [[open-source software|open-source]] modeling programs (such as [[Blender (software)|Blender]]) that can be used as well.

For advanced mods such as ''[[Desert Combat]]'' that are total conversions, complicated modeling and texturing software are required to make original content. Advanced mods can rival the complexity and work of making the original game content (short of the engine itself), rendering the differences in ease of modding small in comparison to the total amount of work required. Having an engine that is for example easy to import models to, is of little help when doing research, modeling, and making a photorealistic texture for a game item. As a result, other game characteristics such as its popularity and capabilities have a dominating effect on the number of mods created for the game by users.

A game that allows modding is said to be "moddable". ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' (2011) as well as its predecessors, ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|Morrowind]]'' (2002) and ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]]'' (2006), are examples of highly moddable games, with an official editor available for download from the developer. ''[[Daggerfall]]'' (1996) was much less moddable, but some people released their own modifications nevertheless. Some modifications such as ''Gunslingers Academy'' for ''[[Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy]]'' have deliberately made the game more moddable by adding in scripting support or externalizing underlying code. ''[[Supreme Commander (video game)|Supreme Commander]]'' (2007) set out to be the 'most customisable game ever' and as such included a mod manager which allowed for modular modding, having several mods on at once.

The question as to how much the game industry should embrace the players' contribution in creating new material for the game or mod-communities as part of their structure within the game is hotly contested. Some software companies openly accept and even encourage such communities, with some games even having the capacity for modifiability as a contributing factor to the games' success. Others though have chosen to enclose their games in heavily policed copyright or Intellectual Property regimes (IPR) and close down sites that they see as infringing their ownership of a game, an action which can have an equally detrimental affect on the sales of the game(s) in question.<ref>Flew, Terry and Humphreys, Sal (2005) "Games: Technology, Industry, Culture" in Terry Flew, New Media: an introduction (second edition), Oxford University Press, South Melbourne 101-114.</ref>