I know most of the Bethesda RPGs have massive mod support, and there’s games like Minecraft that have more mods than anyone can imagine. I would consider those games pretty playable in their vanilla states. Would you say there are any games that were “saved” by modding? Or that are still kept alive by thriving modding communities? What are some of your favorite mods?
Nearly all of the biggest competitive multiplayer/esports genres of today started as mods.
Why?
Multiplayer games require other players! Mods generally come with a ‘built-in’ playerbase and a very low barrier for entry. The vast majority of innovation in the multiplayer space comes from mods, since trying something new as a commercial title has a huge risk of never establishing a big enough playerbase and just dying out before anyone tries it.
Don’t forget the Auto Battlers (Teamfight Tactics and such) that came from Dota 2, which is some crazy Mod-ception