#theres a lot more i could say like obviously your mileage varies here based on the quality of the mods in question

[merethicera]

I'm thinking about this again and I think I have a more definitive answer for why I think these mods are so cool so here's my Extremely Niche Essay That I Did Not Write To Avoid My Philosophy Homework Earlier

(under the cut as always bc i hate to make people scroll)

So to start from like, a basic point, obviously one of the primary draws of TES as an rpg series (and more specifically as an open world rpg series) is the ability to create a character and kind of craft your own narrative for that character, be it through gameplay experiences, using the world as a starting point for writing, etc. And people get like, really attached to these characters they make and the stories that they write surrounding them (although I don't think that really bears repeating either) and it manifests in like, yknow, art and fanfiction and all kinds of cool stuff. I think they're all equally fascinating mediums and I enjoy looking through all of them (I just like seeing people's ocs, man.) but there's something that just really compels me a lot about people modding their ocs directly into the game.

I think the primary factor is just, like, the meta aspect to it- you're placing the character you made for that specific world into said world in an interactable format- looping around from appreciating a game as a player to contributing something to that same game that other players can then appreciate. And since you're doing that, you end up with a situation where people can learn about your oc gradually through gameplay like they would any other character that comes with the vanilla game. There's just something nice about it, yknow? Like, I really enjoy that My Funny Little Video Game Guy can, in some way, interact with Your Funny Little Video Game Guy in the original context that both of them were created for.

It's not, like a 1:1 thing all the time, obviously- the ocs people create solely for themselves as player charas and the ocs that they put into npc and follower mods are most often very different types of characters, because the structure of the game requires them to be. You run into a lot of narrative, engine, immersion and player convenience issues that you otherwise wouldn't in a different format (ex. it's tough to have a character object morally to certain in-world things if they're core elements of the gameplay loop, ya obviously can't import your ldb into the game as a 1:1 because it breaks narrative stuff, the CK sucks, etc.) and you do have to work around them, but I don't know- whether they're people's long-time personal ocs or a character made specifically for the mod in question, I just always find the whole thing cool.

Skyrim also suffers from a lack of compelling characters and actual player choice, so there's an added bonus there as well- stuff like INPC, CoT and standalone characters tend to add quests and dialogue options with heavier consequences than those in the vanilla game, which allows a little more agency to the player. These range from small changes to actual vanilla quests (Auri reacts to joining the stormcloaks among other choices, a number of things can happen to Lucien if you decide to kill Paarthurnax, etc) to more self-contained choices (INPC quests and dialogue, the sleeping dragon in CoT, whatever you decide to do with Inigo) but both create stronger roleplaying opportunities.

This whole thing, in general, isn't exclusive to Skyrim, of course- people have been adding new characters into games for ages. But I think the stark contrast between the very bleak and impersonal attitude of skyrim and the new opportunities and characters provided by npcs mods makes it kind of standout in this case. It's nice.

Anyway, TLDR;

i have like. Thoughts about how cool i think npc and follower mods are from a creative/artistic standpoint but i Cannot figure out how to word that shit eloquently enough to write a post ab it for the life of me