I have a few unfinished blog entries; Security part 2, Wookies VS Bigfoot, Dianogas' Vegetarian resto-compactor investor prospectus,... Ok so some of those are not true but I am seriously thinking about them now! So keeping those unfinished blog entries hidden for now, I have decided to write about something else that has been on my mind for a few years now. Lucky you...

I really wanted to write about my vision regarding the future of modding. I am hoping that some people will read it, maybe disagree and call me an idiot in the comment section. I don't moderate the comment section. Go nuts However now that I think of it, since I have written comments and threads over the years I think my thesis would benefit from another history to compare it to. Basically I believe that the future of modding will parallel history of community forums and internet poker. How'bout dem apples?

In order to glimpse into the future, you have to understand the past and know where you are in the present. Some people don't believe in the past or the future but only the present repeating itself over and over again now.

So lets look at how it all started The modern forum originated from bulletin boards, and so-called computer conferencing systems, and are a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system.

• Bulletin board system; is a computer server running custom software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users through email, public message boards, and sometimes via direct chatting. The introduction of inexpensive dial-up internet service and the Mosaic web browser offered ease-of use and global access that BBS and online systems did not provide, and led to a rapid crash in the market starting in 1994. Online bulletin boards are sometimes referred to as message boards. Since 1994 and the introduction of inexpensive dial-up internet service and the Mosaic web browser many of the leading BBS software providers went bankrupt and tens of thousands of BBSs disappeared. Today, BBSing survives largely as a nostalgic hobby in most parts of the world, but it is still an extremely popular form of communication for Taiwanese youth and in China.
  

If you click on the link above and scroll down to the bottom, there is a section called, "Shareware and freeware."

• Shareware and Freeware; Much of the shareware movement was started via user distribution of software through Bulletin board systems. The 1993 classic video game DOOM was distributed as shareware.
  

When I think of the early days of the internet I also think of the wild west. It was a wide open space and everything was up for grabs. The early bulletin board forums were not only giving away freeware and shareware but they were also a place to speak to people about and share mods. From a technological standpoint, forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content. They always has been and they always will continue to be. The earliest mods were shared the same way as they are today , except for the actual distribution which back then was through the mail. Just like the early days of Apple computers, people ordered parts from a black and white leaflet mail order catalogue. And you got the catalogue by sharing your address on a bulletin board. That is all the internet was back then. And if you made friends with the right person they would send you a floppy disk with a mod on it. That mod could be anything. It could be a that added new pictures of naked women or add new levels to text based computer games from the 1970's.

In 2003 an unknown with the perfect marketing named Chris Moneymaker went and played a game of poker on an internet poker gaming website and won his paid entry into the 2003 World Series of Poker. Up until then, unless you were a degenerate gambler no one even knew that the WSOP even existed. He went on to win the main event, causing shock in the poker world, and beginning the poker boom.

Within 10 years of that fateful day, young women and men from around the world now make their living playing poker. Once only a few could go to Vegas and play poker for hundreds of thousands of dollars and the best of the best would play for millions. Today it is happening all over the world. Kids are turning away from MIT and other university degrees and playing poker and there is even a World Poker Tour that these people play in. It is like a golf and tennis tour. It has become a legitimate profession.

Who would of thought in 1980 that people would be able to make a living playing poker? Yet today it is as normal as any other sport or hobby.

Six years ago I posted a theory in a gaming forum where I stated that some time in the future modders would soon be paid for their mods. I was rudely laughed at and made fun of. Now I am not some sort of futurist like Ray Kurzweil, I was already surfing the Asian forums for Neverwinter Nights mods while I was waiting for Team Gizka to finish their KOTOR II mod I was already a witness to what was and is going to be the future of modding. Private modding communities were selling mods. And it really exploded with The Sims and Oblivion. Oh they were already doing it for other popular Asian games but these two games were popular cross culturally and forums such as the Nexus and Loverslab were showcasing some of the mods that people purchased at these forums.

Back then you didn't have to pay but earn points. You could purchase points and earn points. The modders at these Asian forums would make new hairs models, clothing, armours and even new races to play. Mostly different looking human females and other kemonomimi type races. That is humanoids with animal earls, like bunny ears, raccoons, cats...

Today there are many small communities popping up where you join and if you want a certain mod then you have to sponsor the author who created. Sponsorships are I guess determined by the mod author. You are basically buying their work. I am proposing that some day in the future young women and men will be able to make a living creating mods.

Just like the poker boom, where young people are today able to make a living play a game, like before them young people playing a sport, tomorrow young people will make money creating mods. And just like sports, poker not everyone will make it. Not everybody will be financially successfully. Right now there are teenagers making a six figure salary playing video games. They are like rock stars to nerds and geeks around the globe where kids sit and pay for tickets to watch them play a video game.

This is just the beginning. I don't claim to know how exactly all this will turn out but it is a sure bet that your children will be buying mods like they buy music/songs from iTunes. Six years ago my vision was that large gaming communities like STEAM, VALVE, Moddb, Nexus would each have their own modding communities and the website itself would sponsor the popular and talented mod authors. They would get paid a small percentage for each download and maybe a percentage of the advertising on their member page. That was just my own idea of how it could be organized. To me it still makes sense that a large community forum like Steam could offer advertising space on a top mod authors member page and share the revenue with them. These are just the details, who cares really but the idea is there.

Proof... here is one community where you have to sponsor authors to get access to hidden mods. The people who sponser them are called "patrons." They do offer public mods too but their good stuff are for their paying fans, here is another forum community for Fallout where you can only get the good mods if you earn enough points. These are just a couple of examples. It hasn't caught on here yet like out east but give it time, it will.

I grew up learning about computers by watching my older brother and sister play with them. I have two older brother, one older sister and one younger sister. My eldest brother is 15 years older than me. My parents were married very young My older brother and I work together and we are very close. He has seen it all. He was an Apple geek when he was a kid and now spends his free time messing around with various Linux OS builds including some that I will write about in my Security blog entries. Few people could have predicted how the internet would change the world but some did. Who really knows the future of gaming but some do and there is no question in my mind that modding will play an important role in the future viability of the gaming industry. It may not play out exactly like I have written. These things rarely unfold so neatly, yet I can see the children of tomorrow spending there time creating a mod and making some extra spending money from it. Most of them will make a few bucks. Hey not everybody becomes a world champion sports player. Only the best of the best even make it to the big leagues. The same holds true for poker players today and video game professionals today. Sounds funny eh? Video game professionals LoL Like this forum asked for people members to buy a membership to help offset the cost of running the community, it only makes sense to me that ten years from now the costs will be much, much greater and people will have to purchase some sort of membership even just to enter the forum. people will be able to browse the forum freely by if they want to try old the gold plated TSLRCM 2.3.1 Directors Cut version they will have to buy a membership or possibly even purchase the mod itself in some way, shape or form.

Who wudda thunk it eh?

PS. This entry has not been edited yet and may never be. Any complaints regarding spelling and grammar should be sent to the