Emergent precariousness

The ethical dilemma of modding digital games: A literature review of the creation and distribution of mods

“…One of the main hallmarks of online modding communities is their commitment to contest and reshape the social, cultural, and political discourses that dominate games, making them more inclusive and neutral, an endeavour that seeks to bring the game closer to its community’s diversity (Wells, 2018). A study conducted by Messias (2020) focuses precisely on the political dimension surrounding digital games in Brazil, highlighting the use of mods as a tool for decoloniality. According to the author, mods are a way of countering the inequality and the precariousness that affect people from the Southern Hemisphere.…”

“…According to the author, mods are a way of countering the inequality and the precariousness that affect people from the Southern Hemisphere. Modders, stimulated by co-creation practices and mutual support, are able to provide games that otherwise would not be available in the country, either for market or infrastructure reasons (Messias, 2020). From a social perspective, Howard (2021) introduces the modding phenomenon as a means to make games more inclusive, specifically by altering how queerness is portrayed.…”

“…The contribution of mods also extends into the business sector, where certain game developers and designers view them as a form of participatory design (Small, 2018; Wells, 2018). By analysing the mods that are being developed for a certain digital game, game developers and designers can familiarise themselves with the game’s community, its design practices (Small, 2018), and what kind of features it expect to find (Curtis et al, 2021; Messias, 2020), but also can solve social concerns, such as understanding what content the queer community wants to see amended or incorporated into digital games (Howard, 2021). Furthermore, modders’ behaviour can also serve as inspiration for the development of other products, since the team is stimulated to continuously reflect upon an artifact, from which an alternative or opposite vision to the main project can emerge (Wells, 2018).…”

“…Just as the gaming experience is influenced in diverse ways, the motivations propelling modders’ actions are equally varied and multifaceted. Studies indicate that these motivations may stem from an identity need that is only fulfilled by expanding the available options in the game (Messias, 2020), from a sense of unfairness fostered by game companies (Curtis et al, 2021), from a desire to diversify or increase the game’s realism, bringing it closer to real life (Hofman-Kohlmeyer, 2021), from being a satisfying self-improvement activity (Deng and Li, 2021), or from having inadequate or inaccurate portrayals of queerness, prompting modders to rectify or reconfigure existing content (Howard, 2021). Expanding on the aforementioned motives, Tancred et al (2020) provide additional insights into the motivations of female modders, emphasising self-oriented motives – for example, leisure or self-learning – or game-oriented motives – for example, a desire to adapt the game to their preference – rather than financial or social reasons.…”

“…Issues such as AI, singularity, transhumanism, data privacy, gender representativity, social inequality based on digital access and competencies, the ‘Always-On’ Culture versus the Right to ‘Turn-off’, and excessive information tailoring resulting from algorithms, are just a fraction of a list that only tends to grow over time, spreading across social, political, scientific, and economical contexts. Modding is, for better and for worse, an exceptional playground to tackle a limited number of these concerns, particularly in enhancing the availability (Messias, 2020) and inclusiveness of digital games (Howard, 2021). It also serves, however, as an environment in which discussions surrounding digital ethics-related matters are likely to unfold, given that the unrestricted creativity within mod culture and the ambiguous legal framework continue to reside within a realm of uncertainty (Deng and Li, 2021; Kretzschmar and Stanfill, 2019; Postigo, 2008).…”