Suggestion: "Unlock" map-making sooner. (Ideally, as soon as possible.)
The only argument I've seen against this is that it would hurt NSD as a business.
Unlocking map-making would obviously be very beneficial to the community, I don't think anyone disagrees with that. This argument is that it would also benefit NSD.
Some part of NSD appears to think it benefits the company to keep maps locked. This is to hopefully help persuade them otherwise, for NSD's sake as well as the community. We love the game, and have much respect for those who made it -- this isn't meant as a rant or bash against the team/game itself.
Outline:
- Delaying the "unlocking" of maps hurts the modding community.
- There is little immediate cost for NSD to unlock maps.
- Does a stronger modding community help NSD monetarily?
If no, then modding is bad for NSD, so it should hurt modding.
If yes, then modding is good for NSD, so it should help modding.
- Yes, it is beneficial, and why.
Delaying map making hurts the modding community.
Preventing mapmaking has hurt the modding community and MP community for what is now 18 months. I can recall at least six instances of would-be modders asking it mapmaking was allowed and then disappearing. Of course those are just the ones who came here and ask. While I've been able to get lots of gamers to buy the game, I can't get modder friends to come here when mapmaking isn't allowed. There are modders out there, but they are being told they aren't wanted.
Meanwhile other indie games that supported their modding communities from the start are getting the free work and community that goes with it. This is the only indie company I know of that openly hurts the modding community. Every other game I've followed, the developers can only talk about how beneficial the modding community has been.
When mapmaking is unlocked, the time that has already been missed cannot be made up. Time cannot be recovered. From this community's perspective, the time modders, including me, have spent making maps/working for other games because we couldn't do it here is value lost.
There is little immediate cost for NSD to unlock maps.
The modding community does not need tools from NSD to make maps. We're not asking for the team to put a lot of effort into something here, we're asking for the built in prevention of map-modding to be removed.
Does a stronger modding community help NSD?
Is it monetarily beneficial for NSD when users create free content/tools/additions for SOWGB?
If it is not, then keeping maps locked makes sense, and I should take down GCM, for example, because it hurts NSD.
If it is beneficial, then how do you draw an arbitrary line and say that some additions such as GCM, or half-way random maps are beneficial, but better random maps, for instance, would not be?
Yes, it is beneficial, and why.
My answer is yes, it is monetarily beneficial for NSD.
Someone who creates something for the game is interested in getting people to play it, and spreads the word to others, some of whom buy it.
This modder probably has friends who are modders, and they will spread the word farther. Modders attract more modders. This is why some modding communities are enormous compared to the rest. The Total War series and the Mount & Blade series, for example, have huge modding communities. They drew in modders early on, and the number has grown exponentially. (I name these two because I have been actively involved in them, I know there are many others.)
Community growth depends on previous community growth. Hurt the community, and it loses something forever. If the community grows, it will grow even more. The more the community grows, the more people know about the game, and buy it. The bigger the community, the more people there are to buy expansions and new games.
By growing the community, NSD makes more money.
Everyone who wishes, please post your thoughts/agreement/disagreement.
