How to Mod a Game Without Programming
Recently, I posted a sarcastic remark on Twitter regarding the term “Vanilla Mod”.
It’s an ironic term that someone in the Concept Community coined simply for marketing their own mechanic as “game altering”. And it caught on like wildfire. However, a friend and fellow map maker, known by the moniker Moesh, called me out, defending the term “mod” in general as seemingly any alteration to how traditional Minecraft is meant to played. Shortly after, he posted a video asking the community to decide.
Source: http://moesh.ca/mods-and-command-blocks/
Command Blocks vs Mods... I think there is a sense of pride in saying "I did this within the limitations of what the development team gave me." When advanced command block mechanics are confused with “mods”, somehow the project seems less valuable. There aren’t any limits to mods. There’s definitely a sense of achievement when a gamer can take Minecraft, bend the rules as far as possible without breaking them, sit back and say "Wow! Look what I can do!"
I believe this one of the biggest factors for why many map makers want to split command blocks and mods as two different classifications, and is why the phrase "No mods required" is a such a statement of pride.
Regarding default mechanics, Moesh wants to know "where do you stop?"
I think the source of the discussion lies in what you believe default Minecraft is. By default, this shouldn’t be considered traditional gameplay, but rather programmed content. Traditional gameplay revolves around mining and crafting in a Survival World. Content, on the other hand, is the coding that is contained within the game when you buy it. With command blocks, the content hasn’t been altered. Command block "programming" is very powerful, but it hasn’t modified what the game devs have intentionally inputted into the game itself.
In any example of any game, modifying is based upon changing game code. You literally need to know how to program java, in order to modify Minecraft.
Game vs Game Engine... The last issue remaining is whether or not Minecraft is "just a game" or can be considered a game engine. While, yes, you can create "games" of some form inside Minecraft, the end product always requires a player to use Minecraft to run it. This is why we refer to them as "maps". No actual game engine (Unity, Unreal, etc.) requires the use of the game engine itself, to play the finished game it was made on. If one day, we can produce content inside Minecraft, and allow gamers to play it without Minecraft, then we can consider Minecraft a "game engine". But until then, it’s just another game.