This thread is ridiculous, especially here, on GOG, where so many games need mods.

I tried to play Fallout vanilla. The only way to play it at all was to install a widescreen mod. Is that taking from the original experience? Am I supposed to just play and hope I can click on the right stuff? You're like the PC Master Race Hipster.
It isn't the nude sausage mod is it?

There's one company that does this: Bethesda. Even that is debatable. Anyway, i'm not in the least convinced by your argument as it has no basis in fact. Mods have made games better or sometimes tolerable for me. They give people a chance to share their creations unhindered by a middleman - just put it online and see what happens. To me, that's a beautiful thing. Your assumption that gamers insist games must be modded to be playable is all wrong, although sometimes true. Instead, mods provide a chance for gamers to tailor a game to their taste. Mods are all about customization. why you would hate that is beyond me.

Seriously. When was the last time you actually played a mod? Let's exclude compatibility and mods/updates/fixes that are required to make a game playable and only count mods that changes gameplay, graphics, sound, objectives etc..

With my Doom example, I was adding something that alters the main gameplay itself and not something that changes the engine for the most part. With some like ZDoom or GZDoom for the fancy people, it does have alterations but you can customize it to run very closely to Vanilla Doom. Things like jumping, crouching, mouse aim, interpolated monsters, and even widescreen resolutions are entirely optional and up to the user.

The Malkavian mod for Deus Ex.... for reasons

I found a video of it. It looks rather funny to be honest, that mod is a good example that shouldn't be played for the first time in Deus Ex (or frankly, at least one playthrough of Deus Ex and Vampire TMB) but great to play afterwards.

That's what I do finish the vanilla game, then maybe mod it and do more run throughs.

Yea, I finally got all this steam out of my system. I've been on too many treads where people were bitching to me about installing a mod as soon as I started playing.

Well, OP was about Skyrim - where a pro-modding clique would be as such mobbing, as this is rather a new game (await OP to post a link).

I have for one never sought to mod a single gog game - either I works and I like it, or I don't play it.

It was on FunnyJunk.com, I posted as anon, so I'm having trouble finding the thread

I mostly agree with everything the OP said as I, too, tend to avoid mods -- other than absolutely required game-fixing mods, like the ones in, say, Silent Hill 2, Interstate '76 and Arcanum, which are virtually unplayable off the box -- and I get the same self-entitled, elitist "PC Master Race" talk from die-hard mod aficionados.

What I can't agree with, though, is hating people for choosing to mod their games, and saying modding isn't a right. People have the right to mod their games just as much as I have the right to not mod them. It's about not hating each other and respecting other people's right to choose their experience, without being imposing and forcing our personal preferences onto them. I know this can be hard a lot of times, since most gaming communities are rudely pro-mod and usually disrespect us "vanilla" players, and that makes us want to treat them as badly and disrespectfully as they did in the first place, but when everything's said and done, it should be about the experience we have with our games, and neither modders/mod users nor non-mod gamers should hate on each other for playing differently.

Like I said, I use game-fixing mods (fan-made patches, launchers, fixers) because, in some cases, those are the only ways to even be able to play the games. Do I think it's a good thing that the community "takes on this job" (usually) for free, instead of the developers themselves, who we would think were the ones that should do it? Well, yes and no, but mostly yes. I agree with the fact this attitude is likely to have the developing/publishing studios and companies become lazy when it comes to delivering a properly finished, polished video game but, then again, what were the guarantees they would work on polishing the games even if the modding communities didn't exist? Not many, I think. So, I'd rather have *someone* working on making these titles playable, yes.

As to the artistic vision... well, I think I kind of relate to the OP's sentiment, overall, but that one is a very ambiguous topic, and I'd rather not venture into those murky waters.

I somewhat agree, about the whole developers/publishers rushing a product and expecting the community to fix it. I generally play a game without mods and if it's something I really enjoy I might extend the play time by messing around with mods. I see nothing wrong with that. The only game I ended up playing first modded was Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines because it had lots of problems without the official patch.

And really it's best to ignore those people. I could be wrong but going by the OP it seems you feed a bit into the problem yourself. The same people also likely belittle/look down anyone who plays a console game as well.

Wow, this is one of the dumbest OPs I have read in quite a while. I would really like to know what the artistic vision was behind Skyrim's interface, I think we should hire a modern arts professor to discuss its meaning and we should hang it into a museum.

Seriously though, video games are toys and if the players think changing the toy around a little makes it better, why not? If a little boy pretends that his toy can can fly do you tell him that he's playing wrong? Do you tell him that he must not pretend that cars can fly because it ruins the toy maker's artistic vision? Of course not. The toy company got paid, they don't care how children play with their toys.

Video game makers should get their heads out their asses and finally admit that they are just making expensive toys, not pieces of art. If someone wants to tinker with their toys, who cares? (obviously online games are different, but only because you are playing with others)

As mod user & regular on the Bethesda boards (though I don't frequent the Skyrim section) I have never noticed anyone demand others to use mods

Also, it's advised to do the first playthrough -vanilla-

Sorry that you could be treated so wrong

Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Thank the Heavens for people who fix and enhance things for free. You can argue the value of Skyrim mods that turn characters into anime girls with no underwear but there are many games that have nothing but objectively benefited from user fixes and mods.

Fallout, Planescape Torment and Arcanum for instance are not games I would find all too enjoyable without some essential basic mods (widescreen etc).
Arcanum in particular wouldn't be the highly rated game it is nowadays without mods. I remember reviewing Arcanum for a gaming website in 2001 so fortunately I didn't have to pay for the game but I remember how painful it was to give a less than 80% rating to such an amazing game. And I was being very generous, the game upon release was nothing short of disastrous even on a high end gaming rig.