Nailing down the range of possibilities afforded by modding's creativity yawns past the comprehension of us mere mortals. Yet, for a platform housing exploding horses (opens in new tab) , rug-cutting Combine (opens in new tab) , and the nesting-doll appeal of Minecraft's game-in-a-game sandbox (opens in new tab) , the PC keeps its lot of closed environments (opens in new tab) precipitated by developers and publishers as a means for balanced gameplay or brand protection. In an interview with True PC Gaming (opens in new tab) , Black Mesa Project Lead Carlos Montero flatly stated such a hindrance for mod growth "doesn't make sense."
"When you think about it, modders are like the ultimate fans," Montero explained. "They love this game so much, they're doing real, difficult, skilled work that you usually pay people for. Not only that, but they can add so much value to your game for the rest of your audience. Yet you still see companies look at this as competition. They sue and shut down these projects and ignore or drop support for people to mod their games. It doesn't make any sense. In my opinion, it's the product of businesses (or lawyers) looking at this too analytically and short-term without understanding the long-term value it can create for their games."
Although Black Mesa earned the silent blessing of Valve during its lengthy session in the testing chamber, other ambitious projects met a not-so-friendly response (opens in new tab) from license holders legally stifling efforts. Montero's thoughts—the rest of which you can read in the interview (opens in new tab) —reflect a sentiment by modder-turned-developer Tripwire Interactive expressing confusion (opens in new tab) over why companies would stop mods on their games.
