modding referrers to modifying the game to do something different, its a general term that has many uses, dlc from a technical perspective falls into this category by loading new models and textures that were not in the original game and using them to affect gameplay.
hacking has long been used by the pc community since the birth of online gaming to refer to one using modifications to gain an unfair advantage (seeing through walls auto aim etc),
considering these differences to group hacks and all forms of modification seems technically inaccurate and confusing to the point of potentially having a negative impact (ie a forum post about custom maps for halo custom edition being taken down due to being referred to as modding)
I don’t like the rule either, but it’s there. I don’t think this counts or anything, but I’d be careful in the future. Also, don’t get in the habit of questioning moderator decisions. It’s not a dictatorship, it’s trying to build a clean, respectful community is all.
As to your actual argument, I agree.
> considering these differences to group hacks and all forms of modification seems technically inaccurate and confusing to the point of potentially having a negative impact
But even those differences are arbitrary. Using Halo Custom Edition as an example, I personally would use “mods” to refer to anything that’s content and “hacks” to refer to other things that I’m not sure we’re allowed to discuss here. Other people use both terms interchangeably.
> (ie a forum post about custom maps for halo custom edition being taken down due to being referred to as modding)
It’s my understanding that we do allow posts about Halo Custom Edition mods, since that game has official modding tools (the HEK). If a given user doesn’t make it clear that they’re talking about Custom Edition, however, then we can’t guarantee that we won’t moderate what they’re saying.
> > considering these differences to group hacks and all forms of modification seems technically inaccurate and confusing to the point of potentially having a negative impact
>
> But even those differences are arbitrary. Using Halo Custom Edition as an example, I personally would use “mods” to refer to anything that’s content and “hacks” to refer to other things that I’m not sure we’re allowed to discuss here. Other people use both terms interchangeably.
this is true, and it sucks that people use the words “Mods” and “Hacks” interchangeably.
Also I think what Cobb is trying to say is “hacks” are mostly like third party programs used to say like create a third person view, or a fly cam, in Halo CE, or a third party program that gives you the ability to view another person’s view in a match.
I think I’m safe saying that because #1 I’m being very general, #2 I’m limiting myself to “Hack” programs I know that exist for Halo CE, and finally #3 I didn’t say how they work, nor how to make them.
By my definition, “Mods” are something that is done inside of the game, not needing a second app to work. Mods generally rely on the game’s coding/engine to work.
“Hacks” are something that requires both the game, and a program to run at the same time to work.
For me Mods don’t mean hacking, and cheating, Mods are rarely meant to cheat, and it kills me to see people dis on mods because people feel it’s cheating, when in fact a lot of game developers these days are starting to open up to modding. Hacking on the other hand, is the exact opposite, hacking is mostly used for cheating, and is what most people on consoles mistake for mods. But like I said, hacking is the exact opposite to mods in the sense that they’re rarely good hacks. IE map code protectors, which I know some mapping groups in the Halo Custom Edition community have used to protect their maps from people ripping parts of the mods from the maps and using them in their own mod and passing them off as theirs.