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A mod or modification is the alteration of content from a video game in order to make it operate in a manner different from its original version. Mods can be created for any genre of game but are especially popular in first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not stand-alone software and require the user to have the original release in order to run. They can include new items, modded weapons, characters, enemies, models, textures, levels, story lines, music, money, armor, life and game modes. They can be single-player or multiplayer. Mods that add new content to the underlying game are often called partial conversions, while mods that create an entirely new game are called total conversions and mods that fix bugs only are called unofficial patches. Games running on a personal computer are often designed with change in mind, allowing modern PC games to be modified by gamers without much difficulty. These mods can add extra replay value and interest. The Internet provides an inexpensive medium to promote and distribute mods, and they have become an increasingly important factor in the commercial success of some games. Developers such as id Software, Valve Software, Mojang, Re-Logic, Bethesda Softworks, Firaxis, Crytek, The Creative Assembly and Epic Games provide extensive tools and documentation to assist mod makers, leveraging the potential success brought in by a popular mod like ''Counter-Strike''. Mods can help to continue the success of the original game, even when the original game has become dated. In that case, players might have to clarify that they are referring to the unmodified game when talking about playing a game. The term ''vanilla'' is often used to make this distinction. "Vanilla ''Battlefield 1942''", for example, refers to the original, unmodified game. For vanilla games, prefix "v" or "V" is commonly used together with the game title acronym, ''e.g.'', VQ3 stands for "vanilla ''Quake 3''". As early as the 1980s, video game mods have been used for the sole purpose of creating art, as opposed to an actual game. They can include recording in-game action as a film, as well as attempting to reproduce real-life areas inside a game with no regard for game play value. See also artistic video game modification, machinima, and demoscene. Popular websites dedicated to modding include ''NexusMods'' and ''Mod DB''. ==Types== ===Total conversion=== A ''total conversion'' is a mod of an existing game that replaces virtually all of the artistic assets in the original game, and sometimes core aspects of gameplay. Total conversions can result in a completely different genre from the original. Often developers intend to sell their total conversion as a stand-alone product, which necessitates the need to replace any remaining original assets to avoid copyright infringement. Since most total conversions only share the engine in common with the original game, if the engine becomes free software or freeware, the total conversion can be playable without having to own the original game. ''Counter-Strike'', one of the most popular online games ever made, was originally a ''Half-Life'' total conversion. It was so popular that numerous official and unofficial ''Counter-Strike'' re-releases have been developed throughout the years. Many mods for ''Half-Life'' such as ''Earth's Special Forces'' (fighting genre) or ''Football Championship'' (sports genre) are capable of changing gameplay while utilizing a modified engine. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mod (video gaming)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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