Would you play an anonymous mod?

15th October 2011

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

So, after posting this week’s poll question about choosing a mod, an idea popped into my head.

A special feature, where, say once a month, I post an anonymous mod.

Let me explain. I tell you the game it’s for and the file size but you won’t know anything else about it.

You decide if you want to play it or not and if you do, then you download it.

After 3 days, I post it on the site like a normal mod. At that point readers would post their reviews.

I am curious to see if knowing nothing about a mod affects your review of it. I really believe that when readers come to the site and see a mod with all good reviews, they have a higher expectation than they would normally.

So, let me know if you like the idea or have any suggestions related to it.

Quick Poll


11 Comments

  1. Frohman11

    It will recieve more downloads since players wont be able to see if its a fullbright block full of zombies.
    Or the best thing ever since sliced bread.

  2. Lambda

    I would definitely play it… the way you are going is pretty hardcore anonymous but I think it would encourage people to try different mods

    1. Would be great if I could get some “different” mods added too. People might not try certain mods, but once they have downloaded and installed something, they might as well play it. Perhaps it could even be a mapping competiton: SurpriseUsVille, or AnonymousVille!

  3. Bolx

    Hmm! An interesting concept, but I think it would be an idea to let people post within the three day’s but not shown until the three days is up. That way people who subsequently download it know those reviews were not influenced by screen shots or other reviews. Another thing I can see is this would work best if the mod in question was a new mod and ideally an exclusive first to be released on PP. If its an older mod, people may have already played it and have opinions based on memory. Also for those who play a lot of mods the style will be apparent for some authors, if you need 5 melons to open a door you can be pretty confident it’s by Migga.

    Oh! and by the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

    1. Yes, I planned to have new maps, well, new maps for PP at least. It’s very hard to get people to release on PP first, for most mappers it’s all about download totals. Although releasing first on PP won’t make any difference to the final total, they just want lots of downloads as soon as possible.

      Actually, it might even be fun to see if we can guess the author.

      Thanks for the birthday wishes.

    2. Ville

      Is there seriously a map where you need 5 melons to open a door? 😀

  4. Ville

    I would definitely download and try anonymous maps. Usually I download mods other people have liked ( mods with lot of “personal favorite” or “play it now”…) but thinking about it, what if all those people just have different taste..? So yes, I would give mods a try!

    Out of the topic: What’s wrong with Source SDK? It updated itself and now Hammer won’t open :S

  5. I’d play an anonymous map, I’d be too curious to turn it down.

    I didn’t know it was your birthday until I Bolx’s comment, but now that I do, Happy Birthday 😀

    I have two other friends that were also born on the 15th of this month, strange.

  6. As all mods / maps here are for the half life universe I would know its a half life something mod. Normally after I read the intro story line I look at the file size. if its just a one room map, nope I don’t normally play them. if its a 400mb zipped half life one or 2 mod yup I am in. unless its a bug fest.

  7. Hec

    Yes is a cool initiative, but I only hope not to have alredy play it, but anyway I like!

  8. If it was shown on the main page then yes I definitely would if it was for Half-Life, and I might if it was for Half-Life 2, EP1 or EP2. I’m not a huge fan of HL2 mods, compared to original HL ones, but I still usually enjoy them nevertheless.

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