A group of fans of the Game of Thrones video game have recently banded together to create a mod for the game that essentially expands what the fans deemed to be a game that wasn’t reaching its full potential. The modding group’s actions would generally come under Galloway’s 1st category of game mods: the mod involves changing the game at the design level (changing levels and incorporating new features into the game.) This blog post for Forbes.com discusses how many recent mods have had highly successful outcomes and cites Skyrim for the PC as an example of how fans’ influence on a game can elevate the game to extraordinary levels. The blog also discusses whether modding is a threat to the “art” of videogames and suggests that the act of modding is, in fact, a form of art. This can readily be put in Bogost’s terms as he states in his chapter on “Art” that art’s purpose is “to change, and to change us along with it” (Bogost 11.) Clearly, modding is a form of change and can provoke new thought in game players. Therefore, modding is most likely not the death of art, but is art!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/04/03/game-of-thrones-mount-blade-mod-coming-what-do-mods-say-about-video-games-as-art/