In 2001, fan media and modding first become a significant -- albeit still relatively minor -- source of innovation in videogame culture. By 2008, fan media and modding had become linchpins of some leading franchises (e.g. player creation tools in LittleBigPlanet and, after 2009, Minecraft). By 2015, fan media and modding had become powerhouse institutions larger and more influential than most videogame studios, spawning works of art such as CD Projekt's The Witcher 3.
Today, videogame culture stands at a crossroads. The institutions of fan media and modding, whose sole motivation is fan happiness, are coming into open conflict with the corporate monopolies and digital companies whose sole motivation has always been profit. A prime case in point is Bethesda's announcement that Sony has refused to allow modding on the PS4 version of Fallout 4.
Sony's refusal is pure profiteering, of course. Microsoft's XboxOne already offers Fallout 4 mods, and there is no technical reason why the PS4 cannot offer mods as well. The real issue is that modders require access to a wide range of open source and freeware tools -- audio and video codecs and other minor pieces of software. For all of Microsoft's past and present sins, they understood the utility of allowing this software to run on their platform. Give users freedom, they will respect the commons.
Until Sony's policy changes, I personally will not be purchasing any further media content for the PS4. Nothing means nothing. No Bluray discs, no addons, no further videogame purchases. From now on, it's personal computers for me. I don't even own a game-capable machine just yet, but will have to build one.
That's fine. It's time for us digital commoners to fight back against the monopolists, the corporate greedheads, the Wall Street swindlers, and the petro-colonialists who think they own digital culture.
They do not.
It's up to us to take back the Commonwealth -- mod at a time.
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