I'm kind of weird in that I don't use mods in games. I can't remember the last time I tried a mod, I think it was a skin pack in Minecraft when I played it with my children when they were young. Game companies are an interesting bunch. They use psychology in their stories and gameplay to influence gamers emotions and game behaviors. However, when it comes to their business model they seem totally oblivious. I'm guessing it's different sets of people that are involved with those decisions. Companies cannot make something limited in game and then offer it with cash and expect people not to feel like the company made that decision to "milk" more money out of them. They would've been better served by just charging an extra $2 for the game and people wouldn't have complained.

I think more companies need to hire a consulting psychologist or anthropologist to be involved in their marketing decisions. It seems like they are oblivious to how things will be interpreted by their communities.
 

I don't think it's that weird, I almost never use them either. I do like player made scenarios sometimes, and of course taken to their conclusion those become mods (like Fall from Heaven in Civ4 etc.) Though some games work fine with just scenarios - I played a lot of HOMM3 ones in the day.
 

I don't think this is anything to worry about. Even games with intrusive anti cheat systems can't stop cheats(mods) they only detect them. And for games that are primarily single player, like say Elden Ring, the solution to modding carefree is to simply install a mod that disables the anti cheat system.

Game modding isn't going anywhere as long as there are folks out there willing to write code for them.
 

Yeah, DD2's decision is out of norm for a single player game. But due to DD2's pawns and their gear being shared between players, they have some legitimacy about treating it as a service game, though, and trying to prevent outright cheating.

I don't think we can expect some sort of effort to stamp out modding. Especially given the major backlash. I mod all the time and have for decades. Currently playing Outward, and a single mod is making it tolerable by giving me easy access to a shared stash in every major hub town, a la Diablo. Without it I couldn't have played it without massive inventory management headaches, and quite possibly quit.
 

Great insight into the potential impact of microtransactions on the modding community. Mods have enriched gaming experiences for many, and it would be unfortunate if their accessibility was compromised for the sake of monetization.