4/19/10 - Question of The Week

[MikeH]

The Question of the week for the 4/19/2010 Show is:

Does the ability to use/create user content/modifications in a game effect your purchase decision?

Reply by tonight (I'll try to get these in here earlier from now on) and we'll read your response on the show! (Remember, recording at 8pm PDT tonight! Go to http://www.polygamerous.com for more information)

[Jitterbug]

Originally Posted by MikeH

The Question of the week for the 4/19/2010 Show is:

Does the ability to use/create user content/modifications in a game effect your purchase decision?

Reply by tonight (I'll try to get these in here earlier from now on) and we'll read your response on the show! (Remember, recording at 8pm PDT tonight! Go to http://www.polygamerous.com for more information)

Give me an example of what you mean. Are you talking about things like character customization in Mass Effect, or about creating custom commands (can't remember what we called those things) in WoW - where you create a button that can do specific things that you created the commands for.

[MikeH]

Actually, pretty much anything.. Is the ability to customize a game either through the use of a map creation tool either in game or out (like LBP or Quake as being either side of that) or mods like in WoW or Dragon Age (although DA's tool is more than mods)..

You can also go as far as Neverwinter Nights (that the D&D one that was user driven right?) and stuff like Civ.. Do we think Civ would have been as popular and lasting as it has been without the user community bringing fresh content and even full-game mods? What about WoW? Was it the ability to modify your UI in an unprecedented way one of the reasons that it has done so well, or just a happy coincidence?

Character customization like being able to change what your character looks like in the game through ingame mechanics isn't exactly what I had in mind tho. unless users can REALLY customize them maybe like the cars in Forza (I think that was the one)

Really, these questions are going to be short (given that they originate from twitter), so answers can be free-form in interpretation. You could always give a : if you mean this, then... but if you mean this, then.. The forum gives a lot more freedom in answer length than twitter affords.

[Farva]

If a game has character customization (Mass Effect, MW2 multiplayer, Fallout3, etc) then I become very interested due to the replayability. If it's a game that offers map or world editing (Racing games, Little Big Planet) then it doesn't interest me at all.

[Jitterbug]

I love User Created stuff (Little Big Planet sucked tho - not because of the user created stuff, but because it was a shitty game.) Games that have little or no customizability lose my interest after a single play through - usually.

[Choopy]

I say it does make a difference. I love my UI on WOW. It makes it feel more homey. Also I think the early versions of the sims having user created items really set the game aprt and contributed to it's longetiviy

[Cam-Dog]

For a game like LBP and ModNation Racers it really matters I wouldn't have bought LBP if it was only the story mode, just like I wouldn't buy MNR if it was only stock.

[MikeH]

Thanks for the great responses! We read them in Ep 21 (which should be out in a couple of days). If you have any thoughts on questions we can ask, let me know and keep an eye out each week for a new Question of the Week!

[daCooksta]

I like being able to play user-created maps and stuff in Counter Strike and such, and I definitely enjoy being able to have Addons on WoW, but I'm not a fan of games built around user-created content (LittleBigPlanet). Most of the time, I find that user-created content pretty much sucks, but it's fun to play with regardless.