Please stop calling Official Mods - "Official Mods".

[cstwinkletoes]

Please stop calling Official Mods - "Official Mods".

I understand the importance of encouraging mods. And users to see that their mod can be part of the game. But I think calling it "Official Mods" ends up doing more harm than good.

With the game going free for a week, followed by recent sales, there has been a significant boost in new users. So mods by definition implies third party and not official. So 'official mods' gets confusing to explain. For example, playing a vanilla game (no mods) on the Center map. The Center, understood as a first party DLC map makes perfect sense for that. But when referred to as a "mod" official or not, users simply get confused. And sometimes even World War 3 erupts. Oh you're not playing vanilla because that map is a mod. Oh yes we are playing vanilla because we don't have any mods installed. Oh, but you have that whole map installed to mean you playing o it means you're not playing vanilla ARK.

If somebody actually playing on one of the third party-maps out there, it's not a big deal for it to be known as a mod. But when it comes to first party additional content, it's a whole different thing.

If possible, instead of "mods", call them "maps" or "modes". They're no longer in development. No longer third party products. They're finalized releases as part of the game. Since mod implies third party content that hasn't been officially implemented, it would be helpful to not use that term. Therefore, something like Primitive Plus as total conversion "mode". And The Center as an additional "map".

Thanks.

[jamescoolcrafter15]

I play on XBOX, and because the maps are more just a part of the game than external DLC on XBOX, I just call them official maps that were mods at one point. Like I'll say to my friend "Did you know Ragnarok was a mod at one point?".

[SapphireSam7]

Xbox player here-

We have always referred to them as the Mod Maps and Ark Maps on the cluster I play on.

It's a distinction between those that were created by Ark with notes and a subtle storyline and those that were created by mod authors. 

It works for us, but perhaps that is because we don't have access to other Mod maps to worry about the distinction between the two mod map types. 

I can see where that could be more of an issue on PC though.

[cstwinkletoes]

9 hours ago, jamescoolcrafter15 said:

I just call them official maps that were mods at one point.

Yes this makes more sense. If they just change the title to calling them add-on maps. There doesn't even need to be anything associated with the word "mod". Same with total conversion modes. It's basically another mode for the game.

[Qwertymine]

Except that's what they are, Mods made into official content in the game. This doesn't cause any issues.