Mods and the Kids Who Make Them

The violence in electronic entertainment debate has a fresh wrinkle now that mods have come under scrutiny. As every gamer knows, mods are defined as user created additions to retail games. For example, Half-Life has spawned a number of mods since its release such as They Hunger, Fire-Arms, Action Half-Life, USS Darkstar, Hour Glass, Gunman Chronicles, and the much played Counter-Strike. For the most part developers like the mod community because it extends the shelf life of their game thereby allowing them to sell more units. Then there are examples of mods going retail. While this may not be a goal for the mod community, it must be in the back of the their minds. Make a great product and possibly make a few bucks. Or even land a job with a developer. But what if the mod maker is 14 and he’s making a mod for an "M" rated game?

A friend of mine likes to create continuations of books he reads. He’s a decent writer so reading them is quite fun. His novella of the events that happen after the conclusion of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon is very entertaining. He writes them for his own amusement but lets anyone else that’s interested have a read through. Mods are no different than what my friend does.

Mods are just different chapters of the same book. Their content and scope vary greatly and most plunge into obscurity faster than a rock dropped into a septic tank. Many mods suffer from poor design and uninspired levels. Successful mod makers understand how to use light, create tense environments, and generally bring something new to the table. Having attempted to create my own mod, with the tentative title "Blow up Daikatana," I know how tough designing a mod can be. I wrote things down, had diagrams, maps, a list of sound effects I needed, possible multiplayer options, complex scripted events, then I started using WorldCraft. I gave up on my dream of fame and glory as a "Mod God" when it took me four days to create a square room with standard textures and one light source. If a 14-year old can understand it, more power to him.

The problem people have is not with the mod maker but with the game their making the mod for. First-person shooters take the brunt of the blame for the videogame and computer industry. They’re violent to begin with so anything they inspire is usually more of the same. No one gets upset about a 12-year old creating new scenarios and tracks in Train Simulator. However, if that same 12-year old makes a horrific Solider of Fortune mod, people start scrambling. In some cases they probably should, but it presents the larger question: Where did the 12-year old get the ultraviolent game and why aren’t his parents monitoring what he’s playing?

Many parents don’t think or are flat out idiots. They’ll buy little Billy whatever game he asks for without doing a bit of research. And once they buy the game and Billy is busy "improving his hand-eye coordination" they don’t bother watching. Never mind that he’s learning how to rip out spleens, blow away bystanders, and kill cops. Since Billy is in the minority that can’t tell the difference between reality and fiction, pretty soon he’s thinking about how easy it would be to get rid of the guy at school who’s always bugging him. He gets busy with a mod to help him plan out his attack. When the horrific happens and the media digs up the mod on Billy’s website, the first thing his parents will say is, "We had no idea."

They had no idea because they didn’t bother parenting.

But does it mean that all mod makers are unbalanced? Unable to differentiate between right and wrong? No, it doesn’t. Otherwise, Neil Manke would be running around with a shovel killing chickens. Do violent games turn people into killers? In some instances a good argument can be made, but the majority of people don’t feel any urge to buy a semi-automatic and go on a killing spree after playing Unreal Tournament.

At one point in my life I was convinced I could fly. I’m not sure, but I probably got the idea from Superman. At the age of four I jumped off a second floor balcony. My injuries were limited to a skinned elbow and a sprained ankle. Never again did I attempt to fly. Once was enough to draw out the differences between fact and fiction.

I’m not going to say that my mind is better than any other but like so many other people I can understand the difference between make-believe and reality. I watch X-Files and read old issues of Weird Tales and I almost always come away thinking, "What an interesting story." Most would agree that’s all it is – a story, a bit of entertainment, fantasy, not fact, an escape. However, some come away from an episode of X-Files thinking that there actually is a convoluted alien plot in the works – a deadly intent that threatens all human life on the planet. To these people a 1-hour sci-fi drama is enough to convince them. These people have trouble grasping reality but otherwise seem like normal people.

People get swayed by cults, religions, movies, literature, video games, and the people around them. A lot of the time, these influences generate positive or neutral responses. Your religion may espouse community service, working in soup kitchens, volunteering with charitable organizations. Sure, religion has created its fair share of strife and continues to create divisions and tension, but for the most part you won’t hear a lot of hate coming from the pulpit, especially if you’re a Janist. Some people, whether through biological or environmental conditions, are just nasty and are more likely to act on violent impulses. Hopefully, they are getting professional help and have parents that care.

No doubt mods will continue to be made. But they’re no different than writing an unwritten chapter of a book – no matter the age of the writer. Besides that, how the hell do government regulators hope to control mods?

- Omni