Suggestion - Official mods from SE

I think a lot of people here know, that the mod community has grown very big meanwhile. And that plugins like Mare (to see each other modded ) get more and more active players.
In my opinion it's time to do something. But in a good way without attacking the modders.

I had the idea that SE could implement something similar like this Mare into the game in general, for all players. (with an on/off option) Maybe as some kind of addon for everyone on console.

Modders can do all the stuff because they don't have to care that it fits somehow with everything else existing in the game. And SE could make a little modding team, that offers content, that is similar to the mods now.
Items/hair/skinpaints/character customization/and so on, that are special, but do not fit with everything in the game. So they could offer all the players much much more. Less people would choose illegal mods, if there would be legal ones.
And console players would be included.

These items could have a small(!) price or maybe they could make another subscription-version 1-2€ more, and all mod-items included for free.

I don't know if this is possible, but I thought it could be a good idea. :)

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

I think a lot of people here know, that the mod community has grown very big meanwhile. And that plugins like Mare (to see each other modded ) get more and more active players.
In my opinion it's time to do something. But in a good way without attacking the modders.

I had the idea that SE could implement something similar like this Mare into the game in general, for all players. (with an on/off option) Maybe as some kind of addon for everyone on console.

Modders can do all the stuff because they don't have to care that it fits somehow with everything else existing in the game. And SE could make a little modding team, that offers content, that is similar to the mods now.
Items/hair/skinpaints/and so on, that are special, but do not fit with everything in the game. So they could offer all the players much much more. Less people would choose illegal mods, if there would be legal ones.
And console players would be included.

These items could have a small(!) price or maybe they could make another subscription-version 1-2€ more, and all mod-items included for free.

I don't know if this is possible, but I thought it could be a good idea. :)

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This makes no sense. If SE does mods they aren't mods, they are original content. mods are third party content, SE cannot be a third party of itself.

Perhaps you are asking SE to make their game open source and commit to that. But I doubt thats the kind of thing they would do.

Why can't a company offer mods (mod=modification)? There is no rule that mods 'have to be' 3rd party.
The point is, that actual 3rd party modcontent has not the same quality (fits not with everything else) like original content and SE could offer stuff in modding quality and a simliar way like mods work now.
So they could offer much much more and console players would be included.
And maybe less players would use 3rd party stuff.

A company will shy away from developing and maintaining mods, because they will then have to make sure every single addition / updates to the game will also have to consider all of the mods.
As long as the responsibility to maintain these mods are with users, companies like Square-Enix don't have to maintain their own cadre of programmers / project managers, etc to maintain all of those.

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

Why can't a company offer mods (mod=modification)? There is no rule that mods 'have to be' 3rd party.
The point is, that actual 3rd party modcontent has not the same quality (fits not with everything else) like original content and SE could offer stuff in modding quality and a simliar way like mods work now.
So they could offer much much more and console players would be included.
And maybe less players would use 3rd party stuff.

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No, they already get enough money and this wouldnt come out free.

Mods are third-party modification; Modifications made a game's dev team is just a feature. (๑❛ꇳ❛๑)

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Originally Posted by Ghost_of_Ebina

A company will shy away from developing and maintaining mods, because they will then have to make sure every single addition / updates to the game will also have to consider all of the mods.
As long as the responsibility to maintain these mods are with users, companies like Square-Enix don't have to maintain their own cadre of programmers / project managers, etc to maintain all of those.

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Mmh yes, I did not thought about that. :/

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Originally Posted by RosaliaDLB

No, they already get enough money and this wouldnt come out free.

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Of course not for free. I also talked about ways how it could be funded. :)

So, we go from Pay for Cosmetics and Pay for Convenience... to Pay for an Effective UI?

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

So, we go from Pay for Cosmetics and Pay for Convenience... to Pay for an Effective UI?

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When they would make a new team and hire people especially for this, so this people must get paid, too.

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

When they would make a new team and hire people especially for this, so this people must get paid, too.

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yeah nah, they get enough money already

next

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

When they would make a new team and hire people especially for this, so this people must get paid, too.

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Oooooor...they just continue on the grey road path of least resistance, doing nothing about the current modding scene whatsoever and only stepping in when people abuse other ToS.

Minimal risk on their part and, because of the sub, they rake in money for other people's products (mods). If I were a business head at SE I'd stay the course too.

I think a good way could be to offer what the players demand so much. Sfw of course!
As I've said, I don't know if something like this is possible.
But I think it could be an idea to make an official feature that allows players to modify stuff with 'original content-mods' from SE itself.
I hope that someone from the SE team maybe is going to see this suggestion. :)

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

When they would make a new team and hire people especially for this, so this people must get paid, too.

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Pay for a likely inferior version of otherwise free stuff... that is itself likely based directly on those prior versions? I'll pass, thanks.

Let's not pretend that XIV's profit margins are anywhere near so slim that they'd have to short content just to provide UI/functionality improvements that had been requested since ARR.

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

I think a good way could be to offer what the players demand so much.

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That's already what they're doing without creating "Official Mods". They look at things like SimpleTweaks, grab a couple out of the few dozen easy wins, and use that to at least give players a sense of hope that improvements will continue to be rolled out, even if in tiny amounts that were unnecessarily long-delayed.

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

Less people would choose illegal mods, if there would be legal ones.

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Your post doesn't make any sense. A "legal mod" would just be a standard change or addition to the game, which they're already doing.

Unless you're saying that they should officially add the mods people use to turn their characters into Second Life ERP abominations, in which case I'd have to strongly disagree. Keep them to their containment zone.

But Shurri they can't add these simple qol because uh...

Ps3?
Servers are made of tissue paper?
People playing on 32 bit systems?
Out of memory?
We'd need ps5 for that?
That's simply impossible?
Servers are made of toothpicks held together by glue?

I spoke about 1-2€ in a another subscription version. That are 12-24€ in a whole year!
That's not a lot for a single person, but a lot for them if they would use it to hire people to create new stuff (some kind of original modding), that then is included in this subscription version.

What is the real goal behind this suggestion? Destigmatization of mods through officiation? Elimination of third party mods through first party solutions?

Its not just money that is SE's issue, it's manpower. More to the point, hiring qualified developers is difficult in Japan for a lot of reasons, between declining birthrate and "not invented here" mentality. Ask the FGC about NIH and how long it took for rollback netcodd to hit JP. And foreign workers are difficult to hire because of the language barrier. There are so many cross sections to getting people even though they're at the point they're begging people to apply.

This manpower issue is also solved by voluntary modders putting in work on this game, by the way. Just another reason to keep staying the course as far as mods are concerned, because again, minimal risk with ridiculous rewards.

There is more than just the almighty dollar standing between SE and anything like first party mods.

To find a way that more people will be happy with the original game, more cool stuff, even if this stuff does not fit with everything, modyfied itemversions, more inclusion for console players, when it comes to modifications.
I also believe that people would prefer legal versions over suspicious 3rd party stuff. :)

Manpower could be a big problem, yes. :/

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

To find a way that more people will be happy with the original game, more cool stuff, even if this stuff does not fit with everything, more inclusion for console players, when it comes to modifications.

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None of those things requires these features to be "Mods"...

That's... literally just staying the course of benefiting from unpaid labor (those of modders who receive the rare donation at most, except in the Glamour market which is its own weird thing), and occasionally coming up with an original idea as to how to meet decade-old requests (though likely worse than how third-party mods already did it, if XIV's history in technical solutions/feature-building is anything to guess by).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Heavenchild

I think a good way could be to offer what the players demand so much. Sfw of course!
As I've said, I don't know if something like this is possible.
But I think it could be an idea to make an official feature that allows players to modify stuff with 'original content-mods' from SE itself.
I hope that someone from the SE team maybe is going to see this suggestion. :)

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Like? (●´ω｀●)ゞ ~?

Won't happen due to lack of mod support in general for the console base and they'd have to go through Sony and Microsoft first for it, which I assume would be extra money they'd have to shell out for it to happen. Microsoft would be easier but Sony is extremely strict when it comes to their rules on modding. As far as I know of Bethesda is the only company that's managed to get mods on PS/Xboxand there's probably a reason for it.

If they provide "mod access" to the PC base only, they're going to get a ton of backlash, more than they get now. There's also the obvious risk of someone being able to get into the system they create and advertising NSFW mods in public spaces which would put Square in a lot of hot water as well since it's not just 3rd party anymore at that point.

It's fine the way it is in my opinion. Anything further comes with a lot of risks and chances for those with ill intent to take advantage of it.

Also, no, I'd rather not pay $12-24 a year to customize my character when there are several free options existing already. Game doesn't need more money from me when I already pay a sub + extra for retainers every month and they make disgusting amounts of money from the Mogstation.

Reddit thread for more info on console modding: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comm...consoles_cant/