Hi guys - assuming I release mods primarily for community use, I wanted to throw up a quick poll to see if it would be worth finishing the mod(s) I have in my To Do list at the moment...

Modders should do what they want to do. If that means modding for Oblivion they should mod for Oblivion. If that means modding for Skyrim they should mod for Skyrim. If that means modding both games at the same time they should mod both games at the same time.

If a modder wants to work on their big Oblivion project after Skyrim is released they should work on their big Oblivion project after Skyrim is released.

I still play Morrowind. I'll still be playing Oblivion after Skyrim is released. I'll still be playing Skyrim after TESVI is released. I don't know about anybody else but I'm not going anywhere. And I will continue to use any mod that is released no matter whether there's a new installation in the TES series or not.

Agreed - the question is geared more towards those mods that are released for the community, rather than the ones where it's "I did this for myself and here it is take it or leave it..." I guess. Does that make sense? Basically I'm just trying to get a feel for how many people will still be playing Oblivion later this year or next summer vs now.

Personally, I probably won't be getting Skyrim until sometime next year, or December 25th at the earliest, but that's due to financial considerations. I'm also a little concerned as to whether or not my rig will play it in all its glory so I may delay for that reason as well.

Regardless of what this poll shows, I greatly appreciate everyone who responds. Thank you!

My guess is it's going to be entirely dependent on how big the projects are, how each modder feels about it, how good Skyrim turns out to be, and how easy it is to transition to the new Creation Kit.

Me personally, I have several projects still in the running for Oblivion that I'd like to finish, but time is a finite resource. They'll get done one way or the other, but how motivated I am to complete unfinished work after Skyrim all depends on how friendly Skyrim is as a system.

It all depends on what you mean with "finishing".

If it's only about adding voiceovers or implementing quest delayers or bug/ compatibility fixes, then yes, I welcome all of these. But if it's about completing unfinished content, I'm not fond of it, simply because too much work would be required, especially in regard to scripts and other insight material that the original modder knows better than someone who simply wants to pick up his work.

It does make me a bit sad that pretty soon the masses amount of work I have done will be obsolete, even though I am looking forward to moving onto Skyrim. So I am not putting masses of effort into getting everything done before SKyrim comes out. Rather I am modding soley for personal enjoyment in the present moment. Doing the things I have wanted to try for a long time, even though some might see the effort as wasted and not appreciated by the majority of downloaders.

For instance I have always wanted to make a buyable house customisable with different wall colours, so I have implemented that with five colour options. Very likely not something that most people would want and that is why I never did it before, but I just wanted to see how I could implement this idea, and many other ideas in the back of my mind. Most people are 'meh' about openable windows, but I wanted to see if it could be done, so did it.

I think right now is the time to wrap up the personal modding, and just enjoy modding, rather then trying to meet deadlines.

Things I still want to do before Skyrim.....I want to make a restaurant, see if I can make a really complex servant for my house, play with dialog and creating immersive, fully fleshed out characters, expand on interior/exterior homes.....all these things that will really add to my Skyrim modding when that comes around. I am still releasing all the work, but this is far more geared to what I want to do, not what I think is more realistic and would be more appreciated.

First, I'm not sure if a mod can ever be "finished". There's always some improvement that you can think of, but there is a point where diminishing returns sets in.

Second, there will be enough continuing play of Oblivion, just as there is of Morrowind, to justify some effort on tying up the loose ends. Having Skyrim around just changes that "diminishing returns" point a bit.

If there's a bug that needs fixing, just fix it. Give up the enhancements, maybe, but keep things working. Compatibility patches will be less of an issue if the rate of creation of new mods goes down. If anything unreleased is "good enough" for others to use, release it, even if it's not fully polished. You'll soon find out if enough others care about it enough for you to do any extra work, and that feedback will help guide your Skyrim mods.

Figure people are still making mods for Morrowind and they are still being used so why wouldn't the same be true for Oblivion after Skyrim is released --- besides there are still 6 months or more before the release date so what are you going to do in the meantime if you stop !!

Whether or not a mod is made "obsolete" by the release of Skyrim depends on the mod and the player. Mods that are designed to improve Oblivion specifically (locations, quests, NPCs, fixing Oblivion-specific game design flaws, etc.) will continue to be of use and interest to players who are currently playing Oblivion, and you can be certain there will always be people playing it, just as they continue to play Morrowind. Modders who are only interested in improving gameplay but who are indifferent to the location will probably translate their mods to Skyrim and forgo further Oblivion development. Other mods, like total conversions, will probably be moved to Skyrim assuming the platform continues to support development.

I think it is incorrect (and becoming increasingly incorrect) to consider a later game in a series as making an earlier game obsolete. If anything, extending the series will increase interest in the earlier games as more and more players are exposed to the franchise. There are modders here who played Arena when it first came out who are still heavily invested in the series. And there are others whose first introduction to the series was Oblivion who are now interested in playing the older games in the franchise. Modding is no longer (and shouldn't be) focused on extending only a single volume of the franchise, but on extending the value of the franchise as a whole. I think you will see, if anything, an increase in modding occurring for earlier games in the series as the community continues to mature and evolve. http://www.moddb.com/mods/daggerxl.

What will happen is that people will play more than one volume in the series but have a favorite that they will continue to mod for. The goal is to bring the entire franchise up to the highest possible level of quality attainable. I will make the bold prediction that you will never see mod development entirely cease for any volume in the franchise (and increase for Arena and Daggerfall).

The concept of what the "community" should do seems bizarre to me. We aren't a corporation, who funnels our investments of time and energy into the most profitable (popular?) avenue, we're a very loosely affiliation of hobbyists who are each doing what he or she wants to do. Some modders will prefer Skyrim, others won't, and that's all personal preference. Thus, the question "With the impending release of TES5, do you think the modding community should still invest time in finishing up large mods that are less than 50% complete? That is... TES4 mods that will be released well after the release of the new game?" makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

There is no doubt that there will be continued modding for all TES games, however, on the release of Skyrim the population of OBlivion modders and downloaders will dramatically decrease. As was the case with Morrowind. Modding for Morrowind was very slow after Oblivion's release, the bulk of players/modders having moved to Oblivion. Granted Morrowind modding has seen an increase in the last year, but I would imagine that it is down to the huge gap between Oblivion's release and Skyrim's release. People got bored of Oblivion and are revisiting the older TES games while they wait for Skyrim.

Yes, there are those that will stay with Oblivion on Skyrim's release, for various reasons and modding will continue, but at a much slower pace, I would imagine.

There is much time left until Skyrim's release and for all we know it may be delayed (you never know), so much time left for modding. But like my poll choice, it is up to the individual modder. I run a website that will need to be up when Skyrim is released, so I will be moving on straight away...BUT...it really depends on what modding Skyrim is going to be like, as to whether I continue my Oblivion modding on the side. But I always intended to go back to my Morrowind mods and continue with them, but it just never happened.

I'm relatively new to Oblivion still. I only got it this year. I'm one of the many players who bought Oblivion GOTY during heavy discounting around the holidays. There has been a recent sale on Steam that has brought more brand new players to Oblivion. I expect an increase in such sales when Skyrim comes out. Not all gamers have the latest top end computer. Many are students, or have older computers. Some people wait until prices come down before they buy a new game. There are many reasons people will wait on Skyrim, the biggest being not everyone will be able to run it without upgrading. Some people will try it and dislike the changes made to gameplay. Others will wait to switch games until there are a good number of mods out. It's a safe bet that there will still be a lot of Oblivion players. I hope modders will find time to complete their mods even if they don't plan to play Oblivion as much. Other than the very biggest mods, the time remaining would probably be enough time for most to complete them. I hope that rather than abandon projects they have worked so hard on, some modders may decide to give permission for others to complete and maintain them. It's up to each modder how to spend their free time. Released mods are a gift to the community and nobody has a right to tell a modder it's wrong to abandon one. I'd just hate to see so much effort wasted if a terrific mod never got released at all.

Perhaps I could have worded it differently. The only reason I ever release anything is so that others can use the mod as well. If the "community" (ie - other players) are not interested in downloading or using the resource/mod, then I want to know that so I don't spend needless effort documenting, cleaning, and doing the other additional work required for a released mod. That was all I meant by the question.