It's a fact of life that nearly anything a human can get his hands on will likely be taken apart at some point. Is it really any surprise we do this with games, the first truly interactive entertainment medium?
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Since the advent of computer and video games, players have been driven to improve on their favorite titles. In an age of standardized engines, widely available graphic and modeling tools, and global connectivity these improvements are shapeing the future.
Second Life's sublime kookiness stems from one source: The players generate all of the content. Dave Thomas takes us on a tour of what people would actually do if they could design the world, the society, and the people.
Rather than attempt to create a new game world or multi-player deathmatch, the titular Garry has simply encoded new tools into the complex physics framework of Half-Life 2. Jim Rossignol explores this new bastion of player-creativity.
"'Open source' helped my roleplaying game - and it isn't even software." Allen Varney discusses PARANOIA, and how player-contributions shaped its latest incarnation.
Have you ever looked at a game and thought you could do it better? Kyle thought that, about Dance Dance Revolution, and relates his experiences creating his own step file.
The first thing modders learn is how hard making a game really is, and fledgling server admins are likely to just throw up their hands and start looking for other places to play. Joe Blancato looks at the world of server emulators.
Trying to design a computer game that plays like a tabletop RPG just makes for a broken computer game. It seems obvious now, but like so many designers before me, I had to learn it for myself. Max Steele relates his Neverwinter Nights adventure.
While computer animated films are not new, the distinctive art form known as machinima has been gaining popularity over the last couple of years. JR Sutich explores the rise of this new digital art form.
