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Comment by Toutouxc | Hacker News Reader

Some people don't mod games. I, for example, want to play (and enjoy and judge) exactly what the dev team intended, and if I don't like it, I drop the game. I played vanilla Skyrim, vanilla Minecraft, vanilla Stalker and many more games that are famous for their mod community.

But I'm also an Apple user and I mostly game on PlayStation, so it's probably just part of my personality somehow.

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Nah, I'm a die-hard Linux user that's been running heavily customized Arch for as long as it's been around, and I have the same attitude towards games. Spent countless hours in Minecraft¹, zero desire to mod it.

¹: with a good internet connection that's been used to download podcasts to go along with it

I think this is an interesting take to have beneath a comment about Factorio, considering the new DLC of Factorio (Space Age) is basically a more polished version of a popular mod (Space Exploration) to the extent that Wube hired the mod creator to help them build their first DLC.

That feels compatible with my approach. The mod obviously fits the devs' vision, which makes it canon to me. Especially when it fits so much that they hired the modder.

...interestingly, I have basically the same attitude as you, except with game guides instead of mods. Using a guide means playing a game contrary to what the developer intended. Outside of exceptional circumstances, if a game isn't fun without a guide, I drop the game†.

—except, Minecraft totally breaks that! You can't really play Minecraft without a guide, how would you even make a crafting table? Maybe you could figure it out after hours of hitting your head against the wall, but it wouldn't be a good experience.

But what is the intended way to play Minecraft? Should the Minecraft Wiki be considered part of the game?

(Note: I haven't played Minecraft in years, so I'm referring to Minecraft 1.0 more-or-less.)

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† However, asking friends in real life is allowed, because sharing knowledge and discoveries within a group is a fun social experience. Except, what if someone else previously referenced a guide? Have they poisoned the well? I think about these things far too often and still don't have good answers.

This is the personality equivalent of wonderbread.

Hard agree, modding is what makes games fun. What is the point of playing a game that I can't change the rules, the "board" and everything else? What the devs made I see it more as a canvas, a framework, a suggestion.

Exactly. I do this with boardgames too, beyond just "house rules".

For me, Stratego, my favorite chess-esque battle simulator, is a wonderful canvas.

The game becomes infinitely better when players roll for the number of turns each player gets. This simulates the moving "tempo" of war, speeds up the game dramatically depending on the turn multiplier used, and dramatically opens up the types of play available. I've experimented with far more, including custom maps, allowing joint attacks with multiple turns (pooling attack scores), and other mods.

I don't care if this is autism or it turns off normies. The thinkpad user ricing out modded dwarf fortress has a more rewarding time with their videogames compared to macbook pro user playing vanilla skyrim in 2025.

> personality equivalent of wonderbread

> thinkpad user ricing out modded dwarf fortress has a more rewarding time with their videogames compared to macbook pro user

Ok, now I feel a little bit offended by the bread thing, and also: how can you just assume how rewarding my experience is playing vanilla games? We’ve already established, that you can’t relate to me.

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