Creating a game mod is similar to going into an art gallery, pulling a painting off the wall, and putting a painting inside of the painting. The easiest way to think about how game mods fit into the copyright scene is to think about an art gallery.

As a game modder, you own some limited copyrights in what you created but what you created is likely copyright infringement. Copyright lawsĪt their core, game mods are derivative works. A modification needs to run on the original work in order for the mod itself to work. The original version of a game that’s unmodified is usually referred to as the vanilla version. Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) is one of the most notable examples of a total conversion as it took the real-time strategy game, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and turned it into a MOBA (an entirely new genre). Mods can add specific features to a game, artistic effects, offer continued support to maintain a game and even alter core parts of a game. There are a lot of different types of mods – total conversions, overhauls, add-ons, unofficial patches, art and support mods.

What is a game mod?Ī game modification, or game mod, alters how a video game may look or behave. Mods are intended to extend and expand gameplay and modders are the individuals or communities that provide these enhancements. Modding, the act of creating extensions within games and other platforms, is popular in the video game scene.

Easiest games to mod