Mods - A Dying Race?

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Welcome Ladies and Gentleblocks to another blog post. This post will be concerning something that I and I think many others have been observing over the past few months. I'm obviously well known for criticising the way the popular reel works and the submissions that it features and this is no exception I'm afraid. The mods that have been featured on the Reel are that of 'Tools' and 'Extra', so what is happening to all the good mods?

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Clearly there are mods that deserve recognition. Mods that are useful, compatible with survival and multiplayer. These are the mods that people will remember. Good examples are Mo' Creatures, Twilight Forest Mod, The Aether Mod, Backpack Mod, World-Gen Mods, etc... Those are mods that deserve recognition. They use the vast and infinite creativity of mind to produce a mod that really captivates an idea and drives players to pursue new achievements as well as utilising new resources.

A great example in my opinion is The Climbing Glove mod I reviewed a while back on my YouTube channel. This simple yet imaginative mod lets you climb the side of blocks after having right clicked a craftable glove that doesn't need two sticks to make, but rather diamonds and obsidian. Its a realistically designed mod that is completely fresh. That is a good mod. Mods like TooManyItems, Zombe, World-Gen, etc are a class of their own however. I speak of mods that add content to the game.

The most famous ones being the 'Mo' series of mods and profoundly complicated and detailed ones such as Tekkit and Buildcraft. If you want to be remembered for a mod, make it new and detailed.

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This is most likely the core of my rant. Recently I've been observing the Popular Reel getting hogged by the countless 'Tools+' and 'Extra Minecraft' mods that are merely copies and repeats of previous ones. These are good mods (most) and are well coded (most) but they lack a core thing (which I've already blogged about)... Originality.

The number of mods adding extra ores with respective tools/armour and extra this and extra this is outstanding. I see perfectly good mods go to waste underneath the rabble of 'Extra' mods. As I previously mentioned, the fact that they are well coded and well made (most) is fine but if they lack originality and creativity, then you'll never get it recognised. It'll get a short burst of popularity from the Reel and then die down.

People like Zombe or TheBoo99 haven't been remembered for making a mod that everyone else has done, they made mods that were different and new.

Obviously the flaw with the Popular Reel is that it puts submissions up there based on an algorithm (equation if you will) that uses all the statistical data (views, diamonds, etc...). Ergo, the more views/downloads a mod gets the more likely it is to get on the reel. Sadly, the good mods will just end up getting drowned out.

Nowadays, it is very rare to find new and outstandingly popular mod. Why? Some may say that there are no more ideas for mods. Well, there is. In the wise words of Steve Jobs, there's a mod for everything............ Well you know what I mean. There will always be ideas for mods.

Here's a suggestion: Demon Mod (with exorcisms and hexes). See? I have no clue whatsoever about mods yet I just thought of a mod.

There are original mods like Block Craft that add multiple ores, tools, etc but they were created almost a year ago, they have the right to be called the originals.

If we don't act soon and breed a new good generation of modders then will good mods die?

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