1: chuck out everyone in bethesda (everyone, even the janitor- moders don't need cleanliness dammit! )
2: Replace them with avid tes fan modders and Modders from other games that are also Tes fans (The lore friendly ones by the way- im going to punch someone if i find a holy gold daedric currias in a tes game)
3: pay them and give them some extra money for extra expenses
4: Three years


Can i point out that many modders are 3d artists, coders, texture guys and so on. A modder is someone who alters a game (and the alteration can be anything from a retexture to a total conversion that takes out nearly everything but the engine)

Look at Valve software- the only game that they have fully made is Half life. Counterstrike, team fortress, day of defeat, left 4 dead, portal, alien swarm, dota and any other game that they may have been associated with were originally mods!

Modders modify existing content and code (hence the name), they don't build games from the ground up.

I think a lot of large scale modding team have proven that despite that they could probably craft a better world, they cant keep to a realistic timeframe in which to do it.

Exactly!

:cookie:

they would make a nvder, glitchier, ES game that would only run on a few computers

Modders alone? No, not possible they need a game and fully built engine to mod on.

Modders & Devs? Extremely doable and would probably improve the franchise massively.

X3 - Terran Conflict was made by the developers AND modders. Egosoft employed a modder group after they created one HELUVA fantastic mod for X3 Reunion that made the game 3x bigger, badder and better. The resuts with Terran Conflict are impressive to say the least.

That.. I can see how you may want the dev's out... But everyone? So there are modders who know anything about the other aspects of running a business?

Everyone responsible for gutting magic should be fired, that much I know. Then hire the guy from Midas Magic and return Spellmaking ASAP.

Based on what? Mods and user created content utilize created assets from the game (most of the time). This isn't to say the modding community isn't brilliant and creative (at times), but modding and developing are two different animals.

Now the suggestion that was mentioned a few posts above, about Beth working with modders, that has some very real potential.

I think they should hire some of the top modders now and then, They'd surely make for great additions to Beth.

Bethesda provides those modders the tools to do the great work they do. Besides they are not the original conceptualists and they do NOT understand all of the ins and outs of the lore. Nor would I trust anything they gave me as canon. They would have a hard time creating new lore I think and any new lore would not be tes lore. It would be fans of tes lore.

So no. Modders could not make a better TES game. Maybe they could make a better game from the ground up(i doubt it), but it would no longer be the elder scrolls.

Win. /thread

I'll say one thing it would be a great PC game and not some consolized trash.

No way. Over the years most ambitious huge mods failed. It takes a lot of time and effort to make a game like this even with the engine and the editor

:D

I have my doubts that they could make a better game. I do know for sure, though, that they can make the game better.

As much praise as Bethesda gets for cultivating the modding community (though providing the Ck and a wiki is about all they do), it's actually in their best interest. Bethesda consists of what/ 150 people? That's 150 people to come up with ideas within a budget and a deadline. The modding community, though, consists of tens of thousands or more, with no budget and no deadlines. From that mass of ideas, certain ones rise to the top as being great. Bethesda can take those ideas and use them to try to make their next game better.

Obsidian did it for New Vegas and Bethesda did it with Skyrim. And they'll do it again with their next game.

Heres a crazy idea.
Next game, give well known and popular modders the game 3 months in advance.
Afterall I recognise plently of names who have been modding since morrowind and came back for oblivion and now Skyrim.
Allow them to tweak the hell out of it with the CK and allow the devs to choose the best of what goes in.
Give a job to anyone who can rival their inhouse team. Implement their work and launch it almost bug free.

Everyone wins. We get a pre-modded game with Beth's approval with most the bugs fixed for once and the truely great modders will get their step into the industry.

To answer your question. They are both needed, they couldn't do it without each other anymore. The developers are needed and so are the modders.
Beth needs to embrace the modding community more, but not for profit but to merely improve their game pre-launch, rather than waiting till months post-launch for modders to fix things.

It depends what you consider a "modder". In truth, there are some "modders" who in real life work with code, 3D animations, etc. for a living, and who actually have the professional credentials to create a game from scratch.

Isn't Nehrim something like that the OP is talking about?

It's not TES, but it's a whole other game made with Oblvion's modding tools...

Obsidian hired Jorge Oscuro, if I'm not mistaken.

Another original thinker huh? Tell me then (aside from UI, control layout, and graphics) what would be better if it was a PC exclusive. Not your opinion, what would actually be better.

no

Well, for one thing it wouldn't be limited to one dvd. They could have made it a much bigger game.

Modders add content to an already finished game. And you do realize that Bethesda probably thought of a ton of features but scrapped them or couldn't do it. Beth just didn't forget about spell making, they had their reason for removing it.

If modders could make games that are so much better, why am I not playing them instead?