In discussion on Friday about the various mods popular in today's gaming society, one of the biggest topics that was raised was Super Mario Maker. Although the game was briefly discussed in class already, I really wanted to focus on the incredible fact that the creators of the game managed to put so much power into the hands of the players, while still maintaining control of the franchise.
Released 30 years after the original game, Super Mario Maker is a game which enables you to build your own levels, utilizing all of the elements from the franchise, as well as play other levels built by other players that they uploaded. But the levels being built most of the time aren't normal levels. Players are constantly pushing the limits as to what is possible, and challenging other players for both skill in level completion and creativity in level design. The fact that the game offers over 60 individual building blocks you can use to make levels -- from ground tiles to enemies - quantities of which are practically unlimited, unlocks an incredible amount of variety. As examples, here are clips of music levels, hard levels, and levels that mess with you.
Mods have arguably become an increasingly important factor in the commercial success of certain games, as they add a depth to the original work and I find that to be the case here.
I believe that giving so much editing power to players is a strong move by Nintendo for three key reasons.
Firstly: It enables players of all skill levels and all interests to enjoy the game. This I have already briefly mentioned, but it is incredibly powerful. For players who have difficulty completing original games, this provides simpler levels. For players who find the original game too easy, more difficult levels can be experienced. For players who want to design a world focused on one specific power-up, enemy, or song, that is possible as well. You don't even need to make levels, you can make art for those interested in art games, or messages to friends and more. In this way, encouraging modifications can be seen as an effort to widen the pool of players. Essentially, a broader range of players is more revenue.
Secondly: It builds a strong community that further propagates the franchise. Building off of this first point, Super Mario Maker enables every player to join a community. Original games (aside from exceptions such as Mario Kart or Mario Party) are very single player focused, and aside from perhaps a speed running community, players do not have much interaction with each other. In this way, modifications can be seen as a method by which connections can be built between players. Players can support others by rating or recommending levels, and reddit subthreads and eboards have been created all in discussion to this game.
Thirdly: It allows Nintendo to learn what the community particularly likes or dislikes. By amassing so much data from the thousands of levels being built. They can see which enemies players don't use (perhaps they don't like encountering), or certain elements which are popular (perhaps too many pipes is a bad thing), and from this Nintendo designers can better tune their levels in future games towards what players have shown interest or preference for.
There are certain limits, for example you cannot change the character of Mario to a piano car, like in GTA5, but by 'getting to the mods' first before another came up with the idea, Nintendo is supporting this aspect of gaming, and enabling it to be seen in a positive light.
There are some counterarguments as to why Super Mario Maker is detrimental however.
One worry one might think is if thousands of players are creating their own levels, what if people become so good they create levels that are more fun to play than what Nintendo is officially producing itself? Perhaps the community would no longer have need for Nintendo! I find this to not be particularly strong a threat, as Nintendo has the confidence that fans will always look towards the next 'authentic game package' with new elements regardless of individual levels available for play.
Is level building REALLY even a modification? I argue that yes, for the diversity of elements being able to be used in unique combinations to drastically change the style of gameplay, or appearance of the game, this 'game' is really just a modification enabler. Yet at the same time, by limiting the type of elements that can be changed JUST enough to not feel like a limitation, the franchise can make sure only elements they find desirable to be included.
Ultimately, I see many positive reasons why videogames should support modifications, and this has become a trend in many games. Especially with its commercial success, I expect many games to do so in the future if they haven't already started!
I liked your point about how modifications can actually benefit the creator of the original game. In this case, Super Mario Maker not only gives Nintendo a better idea of what its gaming community desires, but also directly creates content for the company. As the proprietary owner of the modding software, Nintendo owns the levels that are created within the game. I think that the complications caused by ownership and intellectual property is another counterargument against modding, though I would definitely agree with you that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.