Let me start by saying that this is NOT a flamebait thread. Please don't let this devolve into a platform war.

I am curious to know why PC players are such die-hard proponents of mods. I have always been primarily a console player. I have a decent PC that I built myself, and I feel that for some genres, such as RTS or Simulation games, the PC is clearly superior. However, I have never preferred the PC for genres such as FPS, Action/Adventure, or RPGs (MMOs being the exception,) as I feel that I am far more precise with a controller in my hand. I also prefer the feedback of triggers and buttons to mouse clicks and key presses.

From what I have gathered observing these forums, the three main selling points that PC players cite are:

1) Better Graphics
2) Preferred Control Scheme
3) Mods, Mods, Mods

My PC's video card is a couple years old now, so the graphics on my PC would probably be at or below a console's specs. I also prefer not to have to tweak settings to get my game to run smoothly, and hate worrying about framerate and the like. I have already stated my preference for the consoles' control scheme, so that leaves mods.

I have never really understood the appeal of mods. I bought Oblivion for 360 when it launched and loved it. I logged well over 250 hours on this "vanilla" version of the game. Apart from a few minor graphical glitches and quest irregularities, I never had any problems with it. I never felt that the game needed to be overhauled in any way. The game was the game, and that was the way the devs intended it; at least, that's how I saw it.

So what is it about mods that has PC players so enamored? I understand that you can fix glitches and stuff, but other than that, what's the point? Could anyone maybe give an example of a mod or two they used in Oblivion and explain how their game was better than the one that I played? Thanks!

Also, (to make this on-topic for this board,) are there any mods that you are already anticipating for Skyrim, and what's the point?

What's so great about money? I mean it pays the bills and makes sure you don't starve to death but other than that why would you want more money?

http://youtu.be/2fxVeAVl2I8

That's why ...

Seriously, what's not to love...

mods are there to greater customize the game for your individual taste. I don't care for them, but I can see why others do. I think playing on PC takes away the 'game' element and turns it more into a sandbox.

What isn't great about them?

To put it simply, it allows me to customise my game to my liking. For example, i've always felt that difficulty and balance are things that Bethesda just doesn't get right, and there are mods, usually with user tweakable settings, that allow me to adjust it to how i like it.

1 - 360 controllers can be used with PCs
2 - mods allow for a much more personally tailored experience. What's not to like? Apart from compatibility issues they're all positive influences on your game because you choose what to include.

This from a console gamer who wishes he could afford to build a gaming PC right now.

On a console skyrim will be skyrim. On a PC skyrim will be anything you want it to be.

There's so many nice things you can do with mods.
Whether it's making the game more difficult (or easy), adding additional content, tweaking gameplay mechanisms, altering the flow, or just adding that little bit of extra graphical polish the devs didn't have time to focus on.

I played Oblivion on 360 first as well, and loved it, but now I find the PC version far superior just because, well, all the little changes add up to something dramatically different, and because I choose which changes to have depending on my preferences I get the game closest to the one I want, and the one I want for that particular playthrough.

Mods allow you to customize the game to your preference so your gaming experience is unique and tailored to your way of doing things. Mods can also simply enrich and deepen the experience..

You hate level scaling? No big deal. There are dozens of mods out their which adjust change , tweak or even eliminate it entirely. You think Bravil in Oblivion didn't live up to its press. get a mod like Mud and Blood and suddenly Bravil is more like you expected. You hate vanilla vampires. Ther are dozens of vampire makeovers to choose from. Crappy selcton of hair you say? Not with hair mods. you think a monsters is too weak or too strong . Mod it diffferently yourself or find a creature mod to fix it.

Basiclly modding gives the users the abilty to cutomize the game to thier likings and add and expand on it. To me that is golden.

Mods let you customize the game to your liking. I logged in hundreds of hours too with vanilla oblivion, but eventually you get to the point where the game becomes a bit stale. Mods can turn oblivion into a completely different game! Literally. Nehrim is a total conversion mod for oblivion, and its a new game altogether.

Also you can add new quest lines, companions, new weapons and armors to find in chests and on enemies. More numbers of enemies to fight at spawn points(instead of two bandits you'd encounter 3 bandits, 2 mages, and an archer), stronger enemies/new Ai routines for battle. New houses, new areas etc etc etc. You can pretty much change anything through mods. Google fcom for oblivion. See all the possibilities.

I mainly use graphics overhauls, new weapons and armours and gameplay tweaks to tailor the game to my playstyles.

Also they allow me to change things to please my OCD side, like the current mod I am working on for New Vegas to change the heights of every single NPC in the game so everyone isn't the exact same size.

If you gave PC controls a couple months you'd see why they're easier to use. Graphics aren't a big deal but they're nice. If you have a crappy PC (at or below console specs) then I can't say I'd recommend even BUYING Skyrim for it, let alone trying to run mods on it, BUT the appeal?

Logging hundreds of hours on a game because it's awesome is fun.. logging even more because of free DLC that is at or above the quality of the game itself? Priceless... Some mods out there are lame, but a lot of them (Tamriel Rebuilt, Graphics Extenders, Quest expansions) are amazing. Like, even if I had payed for them, I would have been so impressed I would have sacrificed lambs to Bethesdas might.. BUT instead of BGS having made it, some dude (or dudette) did for free..

Free, quality DLC

What isn't to like about good free DLC?..and you know there will be at least SOME quality mods because there are SO MANY mods. Also modding itself is fun.. so.. more fun.. what's not to like?

Exactly. I'm a current 360 player, myself. After the first of the year, it will be...

PC + 360 Controller + 52" HD 3D TV = WIN

For me, I choose mods that do the following.

Increase my choice in clothing, weapons and armor. Some of the best armor is custom made.
Enhance the landscape. Ie: Unique landscapes and better citites.
New quests and locations. Some player made quests are pretty epic.
Small fixes and niggle correctors. Stuff like removing the glowing 'saran wrap' effect from magic items or delaying the start of DLCs until logical criterea are met.
Graphic enhancers. ie: Better view distances, cleaner textures and better looking bodies.
Overhauls. Stuff like OOO and MMM,

None are required and the ones I do pick are purely down to choice, changing things that I either don't like or I feel could be improved.

Sure, there are a lot of cheat mods too, but thankfully the best mods have had a lot more effort put in to them.

i like to play the game as it was intended to be played. i feel mods make people unsatisfied with anything they are given. i see PC players saying "vanilla" oblivion is unplayable and they have to use mods to enjoy it. well... ive been playing vanilla oblivion for about 4 years now and im still enjoying it immensely... the only reason i can see is that mods have made anything standard "not good enough"

well im sorry but for that reason alone, i shall never get skyrim for PC, i dont want to be an elitist thank you very much

Harvest Flora -> removes flowers/leaves/mushrooms when you pick them
various HDR/high-res texture packs -> makes the game look incredible
Natural Environment -> Turns Oblivion into the world that Skyrim will be (ie, adds the bigger lusher foliage Todd Howard said made showed off in the Skyrim Demo)
Alluring Potion Bottles -> Changes all the potion into unique fantasy-ish bottles instead of the bland universal Oblivion bottles
.....

These are some of my favorite cosmetic mods. If you can install a mod manager, you can install those mods. In short, it extends the gameplay and shelf life. If you enjoy tinkering, you'll probably make your own mods. I had my own quarters in the Arcane University within days of playing, realizing that as a powerful mage I deserve my own private chambers. Didn't take more than a day or so figuring out the CES quirks to do it, and it was fun to make. I tweaked the archery to my liking, and loads of other things I can't remember. There are combat mods if that's your thing, mods that makes the cities huge and less 'stale' (Better Cities!!!) and pretty much anything you can think of. If you played Oblivion and said, "Hey, why didn't they do this?" or "You know, they really should have added this into the game," you would enjoy mods.

It's sort of like green eggs and ham. If you try it, you will like it.

To play devil's advocate, my soon to be 70 year old father played Oblivion on the 360 and loved it (He was playing PC games before there was teh Internetz). He will be standing in line at Gamestop on midnight to get Skyrim on 11-11-11. He doesn't want to mess around with computer settings, mod configurations, or the like. It's a matter of choice, and I r-e-s-p-e-c-t that.. even if my way is better

A lot of the improvements in Skyrim were done in Oblivion via mods, from the simple things like animations for containers and flora/fauna to the more complex things like archery and better AI overall such as NPC's running away and factions being hostile towards each other in a more natural manner etc

These are pretty obvious improvements but i would say some of the best mods can help inspire Bethesda in various ways, it basically gives them the collective skill of 1000's of people and can help them improve their next game.

Lol at this video again.

Most posts have already replied above so to put it simply with a gaming anology:

Without mods = Playmobil (Play with what you have)
With mods = Lego (Play with you have, modify it or build your own objects)

They both can be fun, but only the Lego can be modded to better get what you wanna play with .

I do agree with this. I feel like mods can make the game more into a sandbox than a game, and that has always kind of turned me off to them. If you can just change ANYTHING about the game willy-nilly, then that takes away from the essence of the game in my opinion.



I do see your point though. While I don't think I could ever get used to the keyboard/mouse control scheme for a game like this, I wasn't aware that you could use a 360 controller on PC, so that's nice. I do prefer to play games on my couch rather than my desk chair, but I guess I could always move my PC to my living room any time I wanted to play, even though that would be a huge pain...

To your points though, I can see how free DLC would be a good thing. I didn't realize you could actually add quests and stuff. Maybe if I ever upgrade my computer, I'll give the PC version a try, but until then, I fully expect to enjoy the vanilla version for many, many hours...

Though I still don't really understand the people who mod the game like crazy the second it hits their desktops. I feel like you should enjoy the game for what it is for a while before you start changing everything...

People always say there are no stupid questions, but this one most definitely is.

First of all we probably won't be getting a new Elder Scrolls game after Skyrim for a looong time so mods will be there to keep the game fresh til' the next Elder Scrolls game. Second of all there are tons of mods out there so everyone should be able find something for themselves. Some mods are retexture packs, some bodymods, some new content like armors, weapons magic whatever. Bottom line is that the devs decided to give us the game's toolset so I think that they want us to expand the contents in the game so you can't really say that the vanilla game is how the devs wanted it to be now can you?

I myself will expand the world in Skyrim by building my own houses and such. Plus I will probably download all the worthwhile graphical mods, gameplay enhancers, armors, weapons and magic that will become available.

Just... amazing.

Just amazing!? Sheesh, what else do you want?

You see,no company can create perfect game,there always will be somthing some ppl dont like, also developers dont have all time in the world to develop continent,thats were mods come in. Wanna have some fun silly things? There is alots of mods for that Done like somthing? probably some ppl didint liked that to and there may be a mod that takes this thing away? want more variety? mods dont like game balance? mods.. As it was sayed mods let you customize game the way you want it to be,bethsed just dont have that much recources to let everyone cutomize game into what they want it to be.

Spoken like a true luddite.