What makes you go on?

[nemesis567]

What makes you move on developing custom stories and mods and so on?

You know that you won't get anything with it, nothing. So, it's an hard effort put into something for no apparent reason.

After thinking this trough I found a few possible reasons to do this, but each one only applies to a certain ammount of people. I would like you to tell me what makes you do these mods.

1- Ignorance- I'm not explaining this because if this applies to anyone it's better he doesn't know it applies to him/her.
2- Search for recognition- Maybe this is a good reason, but not in such community. Most members aren't even in the development area and won't even notice how good/bad your work is.
3- Try to prove something- Who knows?
4- Earn Experience.
5- Hobby.

So, we can fill ourselves up with these reasons unless yours is personal. I think this is important for personal reasons, but you can find this important for other motivations.

The reason why I develop for this game? Well, it's just an Hobby, that's also the reason why there are many pauses in my mod. I only work on it when I'm in the mood to. I know there are people who take this as a job, but what can I say?

[Kyle]

I'm going to have to say that it's a fun hobby for me. To watch people scare the crap out of themselves from your own custom story just makes my day a whole lot better. But the bad thing for me is that I haven't really been able to release a complete, original custom story. I don't want the people who play them to be bored out of their minds with the same crap some people make. It also makes it a little hard when you have nearly no experience when it comes to creating new, fresh, high-def models to use.

[Leu Radu]

I have quite a few reasons to do this. Main reason is that I like horror and true fear and I want to help people experience it (I love to scare people or tell horror stories around a campfire until everybody is afraid of the slightest noise coming from the forest > ). I want to express myself, to tell a terrifying tale, through Amnesia.

Another reason is that I want to give something back to this community. I've played hours of extra content for Amnesia because someone work really hard on it. Why shouldn't I do the same?

Furthermore, it's a small way of supporting the game itself. Custom stories keep the game interesting, thus raising general interest and popularity because more people keep playing, even months after finishing the original story.

I also like gaming as a medium a lot, and I find modding is a nice way of initiating myself in the world of game making. It's a possible future career, since I will be studying programing at college.

And last, but not least, I get to put my knowledge of programing to use with the scripting.

[Kurton]

I love Amnesia's modding, it is pretty much at the perfect balance of using prefab materials while still keeping the potential to work something very original into the usual formula, and this gives it a workflow that keeps me interested and motivated.

[JenniferOrange]

Ever since I was a little kid I've always loved playing the Sims 2 on my laptop and building/designing houses. When my sister showed me this 'scary game' called Amnesia her and I got hooked on playing. Sooner or later I found out about custom stories, and told myself I would make one. After countless hours of trying to get the darn thing to work, I starting map-making. It's just like the Sims, so it's easy for me to design! I can't say what it is exactly, but I just love doing it. I would be a programmer, but I don't have the much needed mathematical skills, plus I have my eyes set on pastry arts.
I'm an extremely selfless person so I love making/giving things for/to other people.
I can keep moving forward because scripting is so complicated... I'm determined to learn how to do it!

[nemesis567]

Actually you don't need mathematical skills for this. What do you use? Multiply or subtract? Nothing stops you.

[Streetboat]

Amnesia is very, very easy to make great things with. The ease of use with the engine makes it so much easier to pump out new things. The only thing I wish is if we had more control over primitive shapes. I wish we could make cubes, spheres, what have you, instead of simple planes. Also, terrain support (simple vertex editing of planes). That would basically make it the ultimate engine for horror games. The atmosphere and lighting are already perfect.

[Acies]

You sound quite cynical in your first post. Perhaps it is something based on jealousness. I'm going to ignore that though.

I do it for the sake of creativity. Some people are good at painting, some are good at making music, some might be good at acting. I feel that neither of these satisfy my needs for creativity, therefore I create stuff for Amnesia.

"You know that you won't get anything with it, nothing. So, it's an hard effort put into something for no apparent reason."

I certainly do not view modmaking in this way. I do not need a pat on the shoulder, a reward or money for expressing my creativity. My reward is the enjoyment of creating something, not the approval of others; therefore point 1-3 appears excessive. Point 4 is something which may be applicable, if it would refer to my experience in modeling (as everthing else is specific to amnesia mapmaking). I however view that as a bonus.

The closest option for something correct would be number 5. Defining it as a hobby is quite a wide term though, as the definition itself come with no apparent motivation.

The sole reason to why I'm uploading what I'm making is because of the community of the forum. It's an awesome community, which deserve added content.

[Hunter of Shadows]

Gee I dunno, maybe because some people enjoy making them?

And us others appreciate them for making them?

I personally I think the op is something out of jealously or something, sounds really butthurt...

[ZortaEnzane]

(07-02-2011 08:00 PM)nemesis567 Wrote:  2- Search for recognition- Maybe this is a good reason, but not in such community. Most members aren't even in the development area and won't even notice how good/bad your work is.

Isn't it enough that the people enjoy it?
Recognition simply means to be acknowledged/appreciated for what you did do, it has nothing to do with whether the people who appreciate you are notable themselves. If you want to share something you've made with others, and they like it, does it really matter whether they can understand every layer of effort that went into building it? Isn't the real reward the fact that they liked your work at all?

You sure make it sound like this community doesn't matter... =/