Fallout 3 Hands-On #13

[Matt K]

Thanks for the insight guys .
...
Your pessimism completely understood, I wouldn't worry too much about the ratings angle discouraging an SDK release though.

Your welcome.

As for the ratings = no SDK. When the whole blow up happened with Oblivion, the BS made it pretty clear that they didn't really like modders. They described them using some fairly derisive terms and there was a pretty big blow up on the official boards about how little BS cared for modders. To top it off, no one from the company actually appeared on the boards to say any differently. I can't really cite it, but as a member of the community at the time (albeit one who had a fairly low opinion of the game anyhow) the feeling was that BS could care less about the modders and there was speculation then that a SDK would not be released again.

That said, BS could have done an about face but partially that is when my pessimism comes from. BS seemed to see the modders as a problem and if they didn't exist things would have been better.

 

[Jesuit]

BEHOLD THE HORRIFYING LOCKED CONTENT!

Barbie doll nudity ohh no!

Everyone knows things far tamer than that are more than capable of twisting American panties.

As for the violence thing, there is a mutilated zombie before you even finish character creation. I'm more willing to believe that the ESRB just screwed up and realized it should have been M all along and used the nudity as an excuse to cover their asses

A lot of how the ESRB works relies on good faith from publishers. There's a good chance they never even bothered playing the game. I'm not into BS bashing but if the gamespot article is to be believed their actions here are worth getting a bit angry over. Undermining the ratings process for any reason can do a lot of damage to the quality of the industry as a whole, especially if you like games geared toward adults.

 

[Anani Masu]

Alright since my previous post just saying you were full of shit was removed, here is something a little more substantial.

The BethBlog was started June 29th, 2007 and has since it's inception posted 104 articles on modding including interviews with modders and mod showcases.

EDIT:
I might as well add Bethesda's official response to the violence bit.

With regard to violence, Bethesda advised the ESRB during the ratings process that violence and blood effects were "frequent" in the game - checking the box on the form that is the maximum warning. We further advised that the game contained occasional torture, vulgar acts, and gore. We gave accurate answers and descriptions about the type and frequency of violence that appears in the game. We submitted a 60-page document listing the explicit language, acts, and scenes in the game. Oblivion packaging already contains warnings for "Violence" and "Blood and Gore."

 

[Jesuit]

Yep, sounds like a good ol' fashioned righteous american conniption over 'values'. horray.....

 

[Matt K]

Alright since my previous post just saying you were full of shit was removed, here is something a little more substantial.

The BethBlog was started June 29th, 2007 and has since it's inception posted 104 articles on modding including interviews with modders and mod showcases.

I'm not sure if you are responding to me, but if you are, the blog started about a year ago and I'm talking about an incident that occurred a little after launch (6 months tops). And like I said,

That said, BS could have done an about face but partially that is when my pessimism comes from. BS seemed to see the modders as a problem and if they didn't exist things would have been better.

 

[Anani Masu]

I asked for any evidence that "Bethesda made it pretty clear they didn't like modders" and all you have is vague recollections of a general feeling you got a while ago. Contrariwise to that are multiple sections of the BSGF dedicated to mods and modding, posts on the BethBlog dedicated to modding and modders, and every single statement I was able to find from BS on the subject. This could all be an elaborate ruse and they secretly seethe at the idea of people modding but without psychic powers I don't really see how you could tell.

Ohh and actually the main thing I took issue with at first was

devs finally came out and said that they would have never been able to release that tool and knew so from the start.

because I don't recall that at all. In fact I think their inability to work out the licensing shit (I think that was the problem) after they had promised they would release that editor is why they are so cagey on the FO3CS.