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Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann
Hi Digital Trucker,
The other day you posed a question asking why a modder would want to keep a modding tool to themselves... and seemed to feel as if keeping such a tool under guard was a selfish thing....
You asked for one reason why retaining limited access to such a tool should be viewed as acceptable.
I will answer your question with our primary reason:
We have limited manpower, and though we assist modders DIRECTLY via PM on many occasions, with the huge distribution of the GWX mod and its massive user support mechanism... We have chosen to mod for the user. We can either produce mods or teach people how to mod (and deal continuously with mass-confusion).... but we simply don't have the manpower to do both.
At any rate, we'd get roasted either way.
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Hey, I'm a tool-writer (a minor one at that). I can't conceive of a purpose for writing a tool and not sharing it. Tools are meant to be used (not just written for one's self). Perhaps that belief stems from my first career as a programmer. I never wrote a program for myself. I also realize that one does not always have time to support a tool. I believe I mentioned that tools can be released "as is" and without support. Many tools end up that way when the creator drops out of the community.
I'll continue asking you a question to answer your question:hmm:If a tool is available to help to a modding job, why should a person "reinvent the wheel", so to speak. If a person wishes to make a mod and needs to do a job and there is an existing tool to do part of that job and said person is intelligent enough to operate the tool, why would the community be served better by not allowing him to use said tool? I can answer that question very easily. The community would not be served. You never know when someone who never even tried to mod, given the right tools, might come up with an "out of the box" idea that would totally change the game. Said person may not be able to create his own tool, as some are blessed with the talent to do.
Now, I am not suggesting that a "half baked" tool be released to the public. But who, in the tool writing business, deliberately sets out to write a "half baked" tool. Personally, whether I'm using the tool for my own uses or for others, I like it to work correctly and be something that's usable for a purpose.
On the other hand, withholding a tool simply because you don't want someone else to be able to do what you are doing (or you want it to be more difficult), is a totally different matter. Don't get me wrong here, I am not accusing anyone of having done so. I agreed with that portion of the petition as it was written because I believe that is the way for this game to be all that it can be. Perhaps that's because I write tools, but I also believe an open cooperative community is the best way to get a "job" such as this done.
Does that have disadvantages? Yes it does. Sometimes it creates confusion. Sometimes there are mod conflicts. To date, those mod conflicts have been handled in a "cooperative manner" here. People who do mods by themselves take the time to accomodate those that use a mod that conflicts with their mod. Sometimes, it is something simple that a person that enjoys inegrating things (such as myself) can handle.
Does it have advantages? Inumerable (pardon the spelling, I don't care to go look it up at the moment) ones. Ideas come from the strangest sources at times and there are tons of folks out there who have ideas but no way to put them into practice.
This is where your group and SH4's current community differ in theory. We are very loosely organized and open to contributions from anyone. We don't have a support group, WE ARE THE SUPPORT GROUP. For example, I write an app to handle radio stations in-game. Fred, who is a radio station creator, will often answer questions regarding my app when I don't get to them first. Others who are familiar with it will do the same.
We attempt to help one another in any way we can. That is the attitude, I personally enoy about the SH4 community. I will admit that I am no fan of "super mods". I care to take what I like and throw away what I don't like. Simply, I like my game the way I like it.
I tend to ramble sometimes, so I probably haven't answered your question directly, but feel free to cause me to ramble some more if I haven't answered the question.
I would also like to propose a theory to you that you may not have considered. You stated that you (being GWX) make mods, not teach how to mod. I propose to you that by teaching people how to mod you create more mods than you yourself could ever dream of:hmm: That is why when I say WE, I mean the entire community, not just some small group of individuals. Helping modders by PM is a noble thing to do, however, helping modders in an open forum where more than one modder can see what is going on would probably have a more productive result.
Edit : and as stated by Carotio while I was typing, surely wouldn't do the rep any harm.