Research on XML, Modding, and CIV4

[AVM]

Hello All,
I am a PhD student in Educational technology and am currently working on a disseration regarding the importance of participatory design and modding in video game production. My focus is on the modding communities in Civilization 4, the modding process, the peer-evaluation/forum component, and internet distribution.

I would like to use this forum as a resource to gather information on the Civilization 4 modding community and as a example of the important benefits that modding brings. But in order to accomplish this, I need your help. I have been a lurker, enjoying rabbit's models and the progress on the fantasy mod, Fall From Heaven, but now I need some of you to simply talk to me about what makes you tick, motivations, innovations, etc.

I look forward to communicatiing with and getting to know you all. Please email me if you have any questions, or just post in this thread. For right now I just want to know how long you've been generating game content (maps, mods, etc), how old you are, and what's the aspect you most enjoy about modding.

Thank you for your time,
AVM
Amoshirn@ku.edu

 

[TheLopez]

AVM, or should I call you by your real name... Andrew?

Anyways, I guess I'll be the first to officially welcome you as a non-lurking member.

How long have I been generating game content? For Civ4 or in general? If it's for Civ4 then... I thing about 4 months now, in general, well... lets see, I'm 28 right now, so that would mean I have been generating game content for over 20 years. What do I enjoy about modding?
1) Providing new content that fits as seamlessly as possible in the original game
2) Giving people as many options as possible in how they can use the changes I make in the game
3) Making components and handing them out freely to be used by all
4) Providing examples of changes that can be made in the game so people can use them as examples to make even greater and better changes to the game

last and most important, the biggest reason why I enjoy modding is because of the people I get to meet. Without them there wouldn't be a reason to mod the game.

 

[seZereth]

Hi Andrew

Interesting to see that universal studies reached Civ4
I am 22 years old. I started about 10 years ago creating my own board and card games, but never finished one, cause i got destracted too easy and started the next project before the first was finished . Something that bugged me with doing boardgames is, that they are very "personal", you only reach people in your town, friends and so on and have to create them most of the time alone. So the advantage of modding a computer game is, that you have a whole community highly motivated and cooperative. For Civ4 i mod 3 months or so, and are mostly interested in graphics. (with the tools provided, you can be very very creative!) another very interesting aspect is, to see how the work evolves, every new trick we found out let to new fascinating creations.

But the best reasonn to mod is, to bring enjoyment to other people who use your work and to cooperate with all those friendly and helpfull fanatics found in this forum!

 

[LDiCesare]

Hi.

I think you probably want to unearth the score mod which got integrated in the game with a patch as it's probably the most important mod done in Civ IV, since it's a modder's job which got included in the game by Firaxis.
As for me, I've been generating map scripts sionce Civ IV got out. Before that I've been developping my own game for about 5 or 6 years and doing some small stuff here and there in CtP2, Galciv and DominionsII. I'm 34 and mod mostly in order to get a "realistic" experience and an ai that will not ruin the game by being brainless.

 

[AVM]

Thank you all for posting, I hope some of the other views of this post because replies. To Talk for a little bit about the Score mod, this is the sort of development that makes modding so exciting, as the line between professional and user-generated content blurs. I'm gonna try to track down some people on the 2K end and hopefully get some information on how they evaluated the usefulness of that particular mod.

It seems that communication/distribution is the main factor. I remember how excited I was to play on my-authored WarCraft II maps against a friend online. But that of course seems small potatoes now. So I guess an interesting way to take this is, how have the changes in distribution technology (higher bandwidth, P2P, tools for easier web design) impacted the modding community in general and you in particular?

Once again, thanks for posting in this thread.
Andrew