Today, I'm going to take a thorrough look at the state of the official for-pay mods released by Bethesda Softworks for Oblivion. So that I'd know what I would be talking about, I've bought, tried and reviewed the two mods currently available, the horse armor mod and the orrery mod. The following is an account of my experiences and my opinion on the matter. Please note that this editorial exclusively represents my own opinion on the matter, not necessarily that of other members of the Chorrol.com staff.
Aquisition.
My first task was to actually get the mods. I was curious to see how this would work, as I've heard talk of DRM (digital rights management) technology being used, and I was also curious how the actual downloading would work. The process was relatively straightforward: I selected the orrery mod, entered my address data (why they are asking for my phone number is beyond me, so I didn't enter that), and then my credit card data. I was then told I would receive an email with the link and the activation key number, and just as expected, that email arrived seconds later.
At this point, I raised an eyebrow for the first time. I had just bought something for $1.89, a menial sum to be sure, and had received an email with an activation key with a length of 30 digits! 30! Even the keys used for Microsoft Windows XP Professional are shorter than that! Now, if you have to enter such things only once, that's ok. But that's not the case here! Imagine someone who plans to buy all the mods there are in a few months, and there'd be 10-15 official mods out - that poor sod would have a hell of a lot of activating to do! But at least that poor sod would be spared the trouble of having to reenter all of his address and credit card data every time a new mod came out, because that's what you have to do every time you order one - the system doesn't remember you. Oh well. At least I didn't have the technical problems some others had with the download site, where the download wouldn't work after payment. I did hear you have to use the same browser for downloading that you used for buying, but I have no idea if that's truth or fiction.
The installation itself worked fine - the mods come with an installer program that takes care of everything - almost. You still have to enter that annoying activation key. For the activation to work, it seems you have to be connected to the internet, or you have to have a phone ready. Likely the activation key will be validated or some such thing. If you ask me, all of this combined is a major nuisance that won't stop anyone from pirating this thing - according to my research, the warez people have already found a way around this registration business and made available on the internet a version of the plugins that does not require you to enter that uberlong key. Feels great being honest, doesn't it?
Let the games begin.
Now, with all that trouble behind me, I went forth and tried the mods themselves. The mods were met with a lot of critizism, mostly for three reasons: for one people felt that the things now released as pay-for-play mods should have been in the game in the first place. I did (and do) feel that way to a certain extend too, especially in the case of the orrery. Then there's the fact the mods do not really offer a good price-value ratio. But more on that later. And finally, the mods don't really do much. They're exciting for maybe 30 minutes, and that's a stretch.
So let's look at these points of critizism a bit closer. Have these things really been taken out of the finished game to be sold separetely? We'll never know for sure, but it certainly feels that way. If you've ever visited the Arcane University, you'll have noticed a locked door (requireing a key) labelled "Orrery". That door could not be opened, and if you console'ed it open using the unlock command, you found yourself in an empty room. To me, that has a distinct smell of "sell you later, aligator". I can be a bit more lenient in my judgement of the horse armor, as that's really just an add-on that's -less face it- more than optional and that has not been referenced in the stock game in any way. That orrery door felt like an advertizement though, and that was more than annoying. All in all, a poor choice for the first few mods to be released for pay, especially considering this idea had little support within the community to begin with.
The price-entertainment factor, now that's something that is so inadequate that everyone has been complaining about it. Let's take a look at the numbers here. According to Bethesda's own Pete Hines, the entire game is "hundreds and hundreds of hours" worth of playing time. Now for the sake of this review, we'll just assume the smallest possible number - 200 hours. Let's do some math:
Stock game: 200 hours of entertainment / $44.99 = about 4.45 hours of entertainment per dollar
Orrery mod: 0.5 hours of entertainment / $1.89 = about 0.26 hours of entertainment per dollar
Notice something wrong here? Of course, the 0.5 hours of entertainment for the Orrery mod are based on my personal experience, but then the relation would be poor even for someone who took 10 times as long as I did; also remember we assumed the lowest amount of hours of enjoyment for the stock game.
According to Bethesda folks, they arrived at these prices by looking at what other items on X-Box Live went for, such as themes and items for other games. That may be so, but that doesn't change the fact the prices seem WAY too high. Me, personally, I'd value the horse armor mod at $0.25 and the orrery at about $0.30 to $0.40.
In my opinion that isn't the biggest problem though. We all know this concept of selling additional content for a game in small packages has worked for other companies, so why is there so much complaining about the addons for Oblivion? Is it just the price? Nay, I say. It's the fact there's so very little interesting in these addons. Sure, all that is there is well-designed. It just lacks any actual function as far as gameplay goes. Take the orrery. It just sits there and spins. You cannot in any way interact with it. It doesn't give you any quests except for that pittiful fedex quest to get the parts. Sure, you get moon powers, but that really isn't something to write home about, Bethesda. Yes, it's not a lot of money you're taking for it relative to other things like a cup of coffee, or a pizza. But to be honest, I derive more enjoyment from these things. These recent mods do not offer any experience that I'd care to ever repeat. They're really missing something with substance, something that really adds to my playing experience, instead of just having token RPing value.
'What now?', said Zeus
Complaining only gets one so far. What is required is an alternative concept for pay-for-play mods, ideas that will lead to mods actually worth playing (and buying).
Now, if you ask me, what Bethesda needs to do is to make bigger mods that don't just add some fancy stuff like rooms with spinning parts (no matter how good those may look) or fancy dresses for the equines, but something more substantial - and if necessary, more expensive. What I'd like to see is them adding new questlines, new campaigns, now factions. Something that keeps you going, not something that's just nice to look at while you're playing what's in the stock game. There are so many things, so many quests and campaigns they could come up with. Yes, it would take more efford than what they're doing now. Yes, it would probably have to be in the $5-$10 price range. But at least it would be enjoyable. It would have replay value. It would be worth it.
Take the (free) plugin 'Siege at Firemoth' that Bethesda made for Morrowind. I played that with every one of my characters after it was released, simply because it was so much fun shooting those dumb skeletons with my bow. It didn't keep me busy as long as I'd expect from a for-pay mod, but that's the direction they should go for. Like that, just ... bigger and more engaged!
Aquisition.
My first task was to actually get the mods. I was curious to see how this would work, as I've heard talk of DRM (digital rights management) technology being used, and I was also curious how the actual downloading would work. The process was relatively straightforward: I selected the orrery mod, entered my address data (why they are asking for my phone number is beyond me, so I didn't enter that), and then my credit card data. I was then told I would receive an email with the link and the activation key number, and just as expected, that email arrived seconds later.
At this point, I raised an eyebrow for the first time. I had just bought something for $1.89, a menial sum to be sure, and had received an email with an activation key with a length of 30 digits! 30! Even the keys used for Microsoft Windows XP Professional are shorter than that! Now, if you have to enter such things only once, that's ok. But that's not the case here! Imagine someone who plans to buy all the mods there are in a few months, and there'd be 10-15 official mods out - that poor sod would have a hell of a lot of activating to do! But at least that poor sod would be spared the trouble of having to reenter all of his address and credit card data every time a new mod came out, because that's what you have to do every time you order one - the system doesn't remember you. Oh well. At least I didn't have the technical problems some others had with the download site, where the download wouldn't work after payment. I did hear you have to use the same browser for downloading that you used for buying, but I have no idea if that's truth or fiction.
The installation itself worked fine - the mods come with an installer program that takes care of everything - almost. You still have to enter that annoying activation key. For the activation to work, it seems you have to be connected to the internet, or you have to have a phone ready. Likely the activation key will be validated or some such thing. If you ask me, all of this combined is a major nuisance that won't stop anyone from pirating this thing - according to my research, the warez people have already found a way around this registration business and made available on the internet a version of the plugins that does not require you to enter that uberlong key. Feels great being honest, doesn't it?
Let the games begin.
Now, with all that trouble behind me, I went forth and tried the mods themselves. The mods were met with a lot of critizism, mostly for three reasons: for one people felt that the things now released as pay-for-play mods should have been in the game in the first place. I did (and do) feel that way to a certain extend too, especially in the case of the orrery. Then there's the fact the mods do not really offer a good price-value ratio. But more on that later. And finally, the mods don't really do much. They're exciting for maybe 30 minutes, and that's a stretch.
So let's look at these points of critizism a bit closer. Have these things really been taken out of the finished game to be sold separetely? We'll never know for sure, but it certainly feels that way. If you've ever visited the Arcane University, you'll have noticed a locked door (requireing a key) labelled "Orrery". That door could not be opened, and if you console'ed it open using the unlock command, you found yourself in an empty room. To me, that has a distinct smell of "sell you later, aligator". I can be a bit more lenient in my judgement of the horse armor, as that's really just an add-on that's -less face it- more than optional and that has not been referenced in the stock game in any way. That orrery door felt like an advertizement though, and that was more than annoying. All in all, a poor choice for the first few mods to be released for pay, especially considering this idea had little support within the community to begin with.
The price-entertainment factor, now that's something that is so inadequate that everyone has been complaining about it. Let's take a look at the numbers here. According to Bethesda's own Pete Hines, the entire game is "hundreds and hundreds of hours" worth of playing time. Now for the sake of this review, we'll just assume the smallest possible number - 200 hours. Let's do some math:
Stock game: 200 hours of entertainment / $44.99 = about 4.45 hours of entertainment per dollar
Orrery mod: 0.5 hours of entertainment / $1.89 = about 0.26 hours of entertainment per dollar
Notice something wrong here? Of course, the 0.5 hours of entertainment for the Orrery mod are based on my personal experience, but then the relation would be poor even for someone who took 10 times as long as I did; also remember we assumed the lowest amount of hours of enjoyment for the stock game.
According to Bethesda folks, they arrived at these prices by looking at what other items on X-Box Live went for, such as themes and items for other games. That may be so, but that doesn't change the fact the prices seem WAY too high. Me, personally, I'd value the horse armor mod at $0.25 and the orrery at about $0.30 to $0.40.
In my opinion that isn't the biggest problem though. We all know this concept of selling additional content for a game in small packages has worked for other companies, so why is there so much complaining about the addons for Oblivion? Is it just the price? Nay, I say. It's the fact there's so very little interesting in these addons. Sure, all that is there is well-designed. It just lacks any actual function as far as gameplay goes. Take the orrery. It just sits there and spins. You cannot in any way interact with it. It doesn't give you any quests except for that pittiful fedex quest to get the parts. Sure, you get moon powers, but that really isn't something to write home about, Bethesda. Yes, it's not a lot of money you're taking for it relative to other things like a cup of coffee, or a pizza. But to be honest, I derive more enjoyment from these things. These recent mods do not offer any experience that I'd care to ever repeat. They're really missing something with substance, something that really adds to my playing experience, instead of just having token RPing value.
'What now?', said Zeus
Complaining only gets one so far. What is required is an alternative concept for pay-for-play mods, ideas that will lead to mods actually worth playing (and buying).
Now, if you ask me, what Bethesda needs to do is to make bigger mods that don't just add some fancy stuff like rooms with spinning parts (no matter how good those may look) or fancy dresses for the equines, but something more substantial - and if necessary, more expensive. What I'd like to see is them adding new questlines, new campaigns, now factions. Something that keeps you going, not something that's just nice to look at while you're playing what's in the stock game. There are so many things, so many quests and campaigns they could come up with. Yes, it would take more efford than what they're doing now. Yes, it would probably have to be in the $5-$10 price range. But at least it would be enjoyable. It would have replay value. It would be worth it.
Take the (free) plugin 'Siege at Firemoth' that Bethesda made for Morrowind. I played that with every one of my characters after it was released, simply because it was so much fun shooting those dumb skeletons with my bow. It didn't keep me busy as long as I'd expect from a for-pay mod, but that's the direction they should go for. Like that, just ... bigger and more engaged!