Anna Clemens, who has been creating Ultimate Fantasy XIV plugins for 3 years, is an outlier among the many FFXIV modders I’ve talked with. She publishes beneath the identify ‘ascclemens,’ and he or she doesn’t make any effort to cover her full identify and get in touch with data. She’s additionally the one one of many MMORPG‘s modders that I spoke with who agreed to have her identify printed on this piece.
Mods in Ultimate Fantasy XIV are off-limits; something that isn’t baked into the PC sport is technically towards the foundations. On that subject, Clemens says that “each developer is considerably apprehensive, however I’m not too apprehensive.” For a protracted whereas, mods have existed in a “don’t ask, don’t inform” state – loads of gamers use them, and so long as you’re not bragging about it, you in all probability received’t get in any hassle.
Builders occupy a barely completely different area. The seller has an even bigger goal on their again than the consumer. One of many extra widespread hubs for gameplay-altering modifications is Dalamud, a plugin infrastructure that permits gamers to obtain a curated choice of tweaks. Clemens’ plugins are accessed by way of Dalamud.
I had the prospect to talk with certainly one of Dalamud’s lead programmers (they requested anonymity, so I’ll simply name them DP). DP additionally works on the wildly widespread customized launcher XIVLauncher, which permits PC gamers to avoid wasting their login data and facilitates the usage of Dalamud plugins. They’ve a barely extra fraught relationship with mod growth. They’re a lot cagier about publicity, they usually say most modders are equally cautious of the limelight. Plugins have gotten numerous consideration with FFXIV’s current explosion in recognition, a results of the discharge of a significant growth coinciding with a worldwide pandemic.
DP says, “we principally depend on dwelling a distinct segment the place no person cares about us.” Catching the highlight is harmful; DP says they discourage streamers from utilizing plugins, not simply because gamers who’re caught modding are at risk of a ban, however as a result of it’s unsafe to go away a paper path pointing to Dalamud’s devs. They continue to be hopeful that SE will take cues from the plugins that gamers reply to, however they’re additionally conscious of the inherently tense relationship between the 2 events.
This anxiousness isn’t simply current amongst plugin builders. I spoke to a trend modder (additionally nameless; we’ll name them FM) who voiced related considerations. FM isn’t overly apprehensive about Sq. Enix, however they keep what they describe as a “wholesome quantity of paranoia.” Trend mods have been on the forefront of some controversy – FFXIV followers could bear in mind final 12 months’s notorious ‘billboard social gathering’, an in-game rave marketed on an actual billboard. The occasion attracted controversy partly for actually promoting modded outfits on the billboard. FM says they haven’t felt the fallout from that incident, however additionally they actively keep away from mentioning their work to different FFXIV gamers, they usually say there’s at all times the looming menace of “a campaign towards modders.”
Sq. Enix isn’t the one anti-modding agent on the market, both. Loads of FFXIV’s fiercest followers have their very own doubts. The perspective in the direction of third-party software program has at all times been bizarrely hostile – throughout my analysis for this piece, I got here throughout one FFXIV discussion board submit arguing that utilizing Discord for voice chat is technically dishonest – but it surely’s grow to be particularly disagreeable not too long ago. In January, a gaggle of Japanese gamers referred to as UNNAMED cleared a brand new high-difficulty raid with the help of gameplay-altering instruments, resulting in an unlimited wave of backlash towards third-party software program. Ultimate Fantasy XIV’s director, Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida, issued a press release condemning all mods and plugins, leaving mod builders in hotter water than ever.
So, if direct motion from FFXIV’s developer is a continuing fear, and there’s no cash to be made in a hobbyist’s area, why do modders maintain going? There are just a few causes, however, in fact, all of them boil down to 1 factor: modders like altering the sport.
Clemens’ first full-fledged FFXIV plugin, launched in the summertime of 2020, is known as Peeping Tom. It’s a easy mod that permits gamers to view once they’re being focused by different gamers. Clemens designed Peeping Tom for private use, just because she was interested by who was her, however she says she enjoys seeing different individuals get one thing out of her work. Clemens says her favorite plugin of hers is normally the newest one she’s labored on. Once we spoke, that was Orange Steerage Tomestone, a plugin that provides the power to create messages on the bottom, a la Darkish Souls. In Clemens’ phrases, “It undoubtedly helps that individuals truly get some pleasure out of utilizing that one.” In true Souls trend, Orange Steerage Tomestone is normally used for pointless messages.
DP, in the meantime, describes themself as a tinkerer first and a gamer second. Their early forays into mod growth occurred across the launch of FFXIV’s full-scale 2013 reboot, A Realm Reborn. This was a time when there weren’t many assets for FFXIV modders, and at a time when the sport was sorely missing in quality-of-life options. Their earlier mods have been for private use solely, and solely in single-player video games, so FFXIV posed an fascinating problem. Like Clemens, DP began off making issues for themselves, however Dalamud has grow to be a bunch for plugins that make the sport extra foundationally accessible. As DP says, “we’ve numerous customers that depend on plugins to play the sport within the first place as they’re deprived.”
FM began modding for their very own profit, too. They got here into FFXIV across the identical time as DP, they usually play principally male characters within the sport. Their preliminary motive for trend modding got here from frustration on the restricted availability of trend mods for males, in order that they set about making some. They’ve tailored different items for male characters, they’ve labored on authentic items, they usually’ve even veered into reasonably NSFW modding, a area with its personal neighborhood controversies – FM says the one time they’ve seen Sq. Enix take motion towards a consumer, it was an NSFW modder who marketed their Twitter. They inform me that “Changing into a pure NSFW modder is one thing I don’t need.”
Modding isn’t nearly altering the sport, although. It’s additionally about neighborhood. Kinship and camaraderie have been main factors of dialogue amongst all of the builders I spoke with. Each FM and DP began modding earlier than there was important mod help, they usually each appear impressed by the way in which the neighborhood has grown over the past a number of years; FM says the assets out there to new trend modders have made the interest considerably extra accessible. Clemens seemingly confirms this – she hasn’t been part of the scene for so long as the opposite two modders I spoke with, however she says that she discovered XIVLauncher and Dalamud early in her modding journey, they usually have been beneficial instruments.
The modding neighborhood appears content material to share data freely and playfully. Clemens shared a light-hearted custom amongst Dalamud plugin builders: when options from a plugin are carried out in an official FFXIV patch, or when Sq. Enix immediately addresses points that plugins have already solved, plugin builders are awarded a “Certificates of Excellence.” When Sq. Enix said that it will be too resource-intensive to point out whether or not you had already collected an merchandise in that merchandise’s tooltip, Clemens acquired a Certificates of Excellence for her plugin, Good Reminiscence, which does precisely that.
Mod builders, unsurprisingly, additionally use numerous mods. Clemens tells me that she makes use of “almost each plugin out there,” and FM says that they make use of Dalamud plugins in addition to different trend mods. Animosity and competitors are international ideas right here. In any case, everyone seems to be aiming for a similar aim: a greater FFXIV.
The neighborhood informs numerous the selections made amongst modders. DP is accountable for lots of the restrictions on what Dalamud will and won’t host. Clemens says that she trusts Dalamud’s rules, and that they’re a part of the explanation she feels so comfy about modding. Per DP, numerous these choices are made primarily based on the local weather of the broader FFXIV neighborhood. For DP, differentiating between a modification and a cheat is “a relentless wrestle,” however the line is drawn partly by “the overall temper of the neighborhood.”
DP tells me that the dividing line has modified considerably because the modding and mod-using communities have grown. “When there are 50 those that use your instruments, you don’t have a tendency to consider this,” they are saying, “however we’ve gotten much more conservative with what we enable and assist with.” As mods grow to be an even bigger a part of the sport, and as DP’s mods grow to be extra widespread, the stress to get issues proper continues to mount.
The neighborhood is a double-edged sword for FFXIV. Take, for instance, GShade, an extremely widespread beauty software designed to make the sport look higher. GShade is a fork of an analogous software referred to as ReShade (with out getting too technical in regards to the finer intricacies of GitHub repositories, you’ll be able to consider it as a mod of a mod). Notably, whereas ReShade is open supply, GShade isn’t. Just lately, a modder referred to as ‘NotNite’ began messing round with various, open-source methods to put in GShade shaders. Just a few days later, gamers utilizing NotNite’s new strategies and instruments found that GShade would forcibly restart their computer systems with out warning.
GShade developer Marot Satil later confirmed in a Discord message to NotNite that the pressured restart was a deliberate response to NotNite’s tinkering. After a quick however explosive neighborhood response to the transfer, Satil seemingly took GShade off the web totally. I can’t remark too profoundly on the thought course of behind any of those strikes – neither Marot Satil nor NotNite responded to requests for remark – but it surely actually looks as if a cut-and-dry instance of a usually comfy, nice neighborhood folding in on itself, a reminder of how unstable and petty hobbyist teams can grow to be.
On the finish of the day, although, the intention behind modding is solely to make the sport extra pleasurable. There’s no different motive to do it. The fallout that arises from battle between modders will be dramatic, but it surely’s a pure consequence of attempting to make one thing materially higher for as many individuals as doable. Is all this value it? I’m unsure. However for some of us, it actually is.
For some modders, making the sport “higher” means making it extra accessible; FM makes use of XIVCombo, a plugin that maps repetitive combos to a single button, which helps with their consideration points and makes the sport extra instantly playable. For others, it simply means altering aesthetics; one Dalamud plugin replaces the FFXIV well being bar with a mechanically an identical Kingdom Hearts well being meter. In DP’s phrases, “Typically, I believe it helps that there is no such thing as a revenue or clout incentive at play for many devs I do know/collaborate with, we actually do exactly wanna make the sport a bit higher in a passion-y form of approach.”
Ardour, so far as I can inform, is the secret for Ultimate Fantasy XIV modders. Generally, that keenness explodes, resulting in community-wide chaos. Extra typically, although, it merely waxes and wanes – DP tells me that they’re planning on stepping away from modding, which has grow to be extra tense in recent times. However there are at all times gamers round who simply desire a Ultimate Fantasy XIV that’s higher for them. DP says they’re not anxious about leaving the scene. The neighborhood’s gotten sufficiently big that they now not really feel the necessity to act as a steward. “There are numerous very succesful and sane individuals now that I belief to steer these tasks,” they are saying. So far as I can inform, FM and Clemens don’t have any intention of slowing down any time quickly.
For those who’re feeling impressed to get again into the sport, try our FFXIV lessons information, or our breakdown of the brand new Island Sanctuary, a hotly anticipated function added in patch 6.2.
