Modding induced gaming fatigue

Started by Albion, January 20, 2018, 10:17:28 PM

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Albion

Hey guys, this is mostly directed at other modders:

Ever since I picked up modding Rimworld in my spare time I noticed a decline in my gaming habits. Actually not gaming in general but just Rimworld. I clocked something like 500-600 hours ingame in my first 6 months but since I started modding about 6 months ago I only played for something like 30-50 hours and those mostly to test the features I was currently working on.
I basically stopped playing Rimworld and started to almost exclusively mod it. I still play other games, don't get me wrong but just not Rimworld anymore.
The weird thing is, is that I can't really explain why. Maybe ever since I was able to look under the hood I see the game in a different way or maybe it is just more satisfying to create something new instead of just playing with it. Maybe after 500 hours I just had my fill of it and I'm only sticking around because I like modding?
There is actually a real downside to this: I don't really experience Rimworld anymore and don't even exactly know how my mod and others affect the gaming experience and just work with my gutt, previous experience, spreadsheets and some (rarely ellaborate) feedback. Maybe I should just kind of force myself to play a colony through to the end but that would kind of make it work instead of fun.

Talking to one or two other modders gave me the impression I might not be the only one experiencing this shift in prioritizing modding over gaming. I write this now to get some other impressions on this. Am I the only one experiencing this? What are your stories and how do you deal with this?

BrokenValkyrie

I thought I'll share my experience.

I stopped playing Rimworld as game as well, and focused mostly on modding. Initially the reason was that I want to complete my mods first so that I can play with those in my game. But then the feature creep set in, and I keep adding list of features and mods I want to make. At this point I can see what its like to be a developer and why tester are essential, I barely have time to play the game and I need to work on the code. I rely mostly on comments to point out any bugs or balance issue.

I made several mistake of over committing to mod, once I spent all night all the way to 8:00am to solve a bug(Don't do this.) Its come to a point where I will dream about solving a coding problem in a surrealistic manner. Sometime a good night sleep is all that is needed to solve an issue, as the solution suddenly become clear the next morning.

I don't play Rimworld for recreation anymore and prefer other games in my library. At the moment I want to prioritize modding, it has become a hobby for me. I don't enjoy programming for other, but making my own mod and getting it to work is so satisfying.

I believe my drive for modding has replaced my want for playing rimworld. A form of obligation to the modding community may play some part in it. Giving people the mod they want has some satisfaction to it.


Jaxxa

Yeah, I am in the same boat.
Spending most of my Rimworld time modding instead of actually playing right now.
I still play other games, but with playing Rimworld I keep thinking of something else that I want to add in first.

Hopefully I will get it to the point where I am happy with it.

Teneombre

I am not a great modder. I'm probably even not a true modder (I just play with .xml files), but I already see happen. I planned to play last night and finally found myself correcting bug, making research for other mods, etc. And after the B18 was out, I didn't play until something like late december, not even launching the game to test the two update of my mods.

I can guess why I play less :
1) I use a lot of mod and scenario conditions to accelerate the game. It's nice, but a little bit unbalanced, and I have to found other goals in order to play.
2) When I found a little thing bothering me, I quit the game and try to found a mod or imagine one which can modify this tiny thing. And I am not an experienced one, so I have to go over a lot of thing.

Often, I don't feel like I want to play. But once I am in the game, it generally cautch me for hours, like he used to be.

larSyn

I would like to add to this. 

Before I started playing Rimworld, my gaming habit in general was in a rapid decline.  I just couldn't find anything that caught my interest anymore.  I bought Rimworld on a whim, and it brought me back to the gaming days of yore...when I couldn't wait to get home to play, thinking about it at work.  After a disgusting amount of hours, I decided to try my hand at modding.  It started by updating some mods I wanted before their authors did it.  Then I made some crap little mods for myself and it was all over...I caught the modding bug. Figuring out, and getting something into the game the first time was amazing.  Now, like everyone else is saying, I spend far more time modding than playing.  Hell, I just started taking a class in C# just for modding (still in a beginner phase, but I 'll get there  ;) ).  But, I miss it sometimes and start up a new colony.  My B18 colony is still in it's second year.  I peck away at it every now and then.  But then, like Jaxxa said, I think about modding when playing. 

I also agree with BrokenValkyrie.  A kind of obligation is created and I don't want to disappoint users.  It was very strange at first, but I accept it now.

I still don't play any other games, though. I still can't find something to hold my interest long enough to play through the tutorial.  I'm sure I will, but for now, all my free time goes to modding Rimworld.  I read the game's code.  I read other people's code.  I make art that may never get used.  But, I love every minute of it.

sulusdacor

maybe some additions:

- for balancing: spread sheets  ;D

made this for adv power to get a ressource/cost/power ratios and to calculate the costs i wanted. maybe not the most fun way to go about things, but it does the job and you dont just put in super high/low numbers in. for new alphas i just check if sth changed on the base items i used to calcute and then adjust a bit. its a bit of work and thats the reason i only did this for beds/medic stuff at the start and did not update like adv power, but if you don't play much it gives you some average numbers to use in the beginning.
in the end balance depends on mods used and playstyle too. as a modder you can hardly account for all. its a single player game, players can use dev mode etc. i'm usally a bit lax on that if its not super gamebreaking.

- "themed runs"

since the "not played" is quite a problem. i usally do some "themed runs" when playing. i try to get at least one run per alpha in (emphasis on try^^). this is usally ends in a "high tech" colony since i find that the most fun for me. choosing a bit of a theme i feel helps to keep me motivated to play at least a "run". it tends to run out at certain number of colonists and/or boredom, but still gives me some gametime other then testing in devmod+quickstart.
since i pick the mods after that and i end up being more willing to play the colony a bit further. it's usally some good new mods from others and includes a bunch of my mods (for testing balance/bugs). i tend to look around a bit and after the new version is out and see whats new or look at other mods i have not played with. currently stumbeled on the animal mount mod (giddy up) and the mining co spaceship landing pad one. both i simply wanted to give a try myself (curently in progress :P). in the past i did a medieval run, vanilla+only few mods i made, rainforest biome, ocean biome, caves biome, hardcore sk modpack. all usally still include me starting out initally and them restarting a bunch, because i still forgot to add "that one mod" i definitly need for this playthrough. (the star wars ones i still have not tried^^)
(or try another persons modlist, kinda how i started my medieval run)

- watch/listen to some rimworld streams/lp's

maybe not everybodies thing. but i feel it helps to get a bit of another playstyle/view. maybe you even find a streamer/letsplayer that is using your mod and you can get a bit of a feedback/testing this way? maybe someone is doing a fun themed run you want to try or stumble up on a new mod you did not know about? even if played with completly different mods from what you are working on, it gives some insight in the state/balancing of the current rimworld version. so i think this is quite usefull to have in the background form time to time if you don't want to start a colony yourself.

- take a break

at the end, take a break. no matter what you are doing.

for example i did not much in a17, just updating my mods really. i came back and found a bunch of really good new mods that i wanted to test out in b18. so just take a step back. kinda helps the "i could just fix/tweak/adds this"-urge.

cya