Modding is defined as the "modification or transformation of a computer game by players" according to the reading. Various types of modifications can be considered as mods such as the changing of skins, changing of character's appearance, changing of game world scenes, and more problematic mods could be modifying how the game works, and even creating cheats for the game such that rules become useless and game play becomes meaningless.
After reading the supplied readings, I feel that only the part on cheat codes apply to AuditionSEA as I can't find any information on other kinds of moddings for the game. Therefore in this entry, I will specifically talk about how hackers create cheats to hack the game as well as the impacts of cheats.
Cheats used in AuditionSEA
This kind of cheats however is an unorthodox shortcut to higher levels and more dens. Players at level 1 could gain level very quickly with the cheat codes on hand and this might affect the overall game play experience which will be discuss below.
Next, this is an example of bots used by hackers in AuditionSEA. Notice the spacebar column stopped totally. This gives more time for players to key the strokes. Also, I believe that the bot actually controlled the keying of strokes as well since all strokes are perfect. Haha. And as we can see in the comments area, many people actually asked for the hack and the hacker is willing to give it to them at no costs. This will be further discussed later on as well.
Mods and its impacts
1. Distorted game play experience
The whole idea of AuditionSEA is to allow dance battles between players all over the world to play and socialize together on a platform. With the introduction of cheats (at no costs somemore), the experience will no longer be the same. The excitement value is not there anymore when people use the cheats in their games. One no longer feels excited when he/she misses a stroke, there is no longer losses in the game and players just simply enter the game world and wait for his/her avatar to reach the highest level with the most amount of dens. That's it. Thus, I believe cheats can have effects on the experience one gets when playing by himself/herself or by the cheat codes.
Furthermore, cheats are everywhere. As long as you Google for it, you can find it. And better still, most of them are FREE. :D The availability of free cheats in the Internet might encourage even more people to cheat and attain higher levels with the actual skills actually not improving. And this links back to the point whereby it distorts the overall game experience in players.
2. Hackers can earn REAL money
For instance, hackers sell cheats on the Internet for real money. I am not very sure if people actually do buy it (since I haven't seen any buyers online), but I believe that there will definitely be some Audition addicts who purchase it using real money. As mentioned in the readings, hackers then have commercial benefits through the hack created.
3. Game developers have free problem-sniffers
Hackers constantly look for loopholes in the game and create codes to break off from the restrictions of the rules set by game developers. Once cheats and hacks are developed, game developers will then realize where their loopholes were and make necessary improvements to block the hacks and to bring the game to higher level in terms of game experience.
Game "modders" are like hackers in, for example, online banking, sniffing out the potential problems, alerting the bank about the problems in order for them to develop solutions for the better of their systems. It may work the same way in games as well if the "modders" have no ill intentions of spoiling the game or to earn some hard cash out of it.
My reflection
I think that somehow, modding plays a part in the further enhancement and development of games since it picks out weaknesses in the coding of a game for the developers. On the other hand, I agree to some extent that the modders parasite on the developers when they proceed to make money from the cheats they created or destroy the game so badly that developers have to pay them to get the game fixed (is it even possible?). Game play is no longer as simplistic as the offline hopscotch or catching that we play in the past. It has become so much more sophisticated with technology and the widespread of such technology worldwide.
My question
Is modding ever unavoidable in online games?
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