Stepping Back

[8bit]

 

I love Vintage Story. I love the developers' vision and craftsmanship. I recommend the game constantly, and I've bought copies for people who couldn't afford it just so they could experience what I have.

I'm not a programmer. I took classes years ago and taught myself enough Python to mod another game I loved. It was grueling, took far longer than I expected, and I didn't enjoy a minute of it. When I tried to mod Vintage Story, I hit the same wall. I had plenty of ideas — things I genuinely wanted in the game — but every attempt stalled out. Tutorials helped only so much. The common refrain in gaming communities is "write it yourself," and I tried. I just couldn't get there.

Then AI tools became accessible, and everything changed. My first attempts with early models produced nothing usable. I moved to a more capable model and managed a couple of small mods. Eventually I found one that could actually handle the complexity of VS modding, and suddenly the list of ideas I'd been sitting on for years started becoming real. To be clear: I wasn't pressing a button and getting finished mods. It was still work — problem-solving, testing, iterating. But AI bridged the gap between knowing what I wanted to build and being able to build it.

When I decided to share my mods, I did my homework first. I searched the forums for any policy on AI-assisted modding and found nothing prohibiting it. So I posted, and I was completely transparent. Every mod description stated plainly that AI was used. The mod cards were AI-generated too — I'm no artist, and I'd rather have something clean than something I hacked together in GIMP. I never asked for donations. I never misrepresented my work.

There was pushback, and I expected that. I stayed respectful and kept at it. Some of the criticism was fair and made the mods better. Some of it was based on assumptions about me and my process that simply weren't true. I understand the concerns people have about AI — about quality, about effort, about what it means for a modding community built on craft. Those are legitimate conversations worth having.

What I won't do is fight about it. The calls to ban AI from modding have grown louder, and I'd rather step aside than become a lightning rod. I have three mods in draft that I've decided not to release. The ones I've published, I'll be winding down. I'll keep writing mods for myself — this game has earned that — but I'm done sharing publicly.

To everyone who supported me, downloaded my mods, reported bugs, or just said something kind: thank you. It meant more than you know.

To the developers, the modding community, and the players who make Vintage Story what it is: you've built something genuinely special. I don't want my presence here to be a distraction from that.

I'll leave the broader AI debate to others. I just came to say my piece and bow out gracefully.

Take care, everyone.

Feyd

[LadyWYT]

5 minutes ago, 8bit said:

Every mod description stated plainly that AI was used.

Just my two cents' worth of thought, but I think this is a step that many forget when it comes to AI usage. Personally, I'm not a fan of AI content, but I'm also not against using AI as a tool, since like any other tool it can be very useful when appropriately applied.

While most AI use is fairly obvious, sometimes it can be hard to tell, so proper labeling helps players determine if AI was used, and how, allowing them to make an informed decision. Some will be okay with it and use the mod, some won't want to use the mod at all, and some might be okay with AI thumbnails but not with AI coding. I think what probably trips many players up is when the mod's description isn't clear about AI use, so they download it expecting one thing and get frustrated when the mod isn't exactly "as seen on TV", so to speak.

23 minutes ago, 8bit said:

I'll keep writing mods for myself — this game has earned that — but I'm done sharing publicly.

This is also very fair, and I'm glad to hear you aren't giving up on modding! Hopefully some of the dust will settle, enough to feel comfortable sharing with the community again, but if not that's okay too.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

1 hour ago, 8bit said:

What I won't do is fight about it. The calls to ban AI from modding have grown louder, and I'd rather step aside than become a lightning rod. I have three mods in draft that I've decided not to release. The ones I've published, I'll be winding down. I'll keep writing mods for myself — this game has earned that — but I'm done sharing publicly.

The problem is that people are mostly distrusting of AI and don't realize just exactly how long it's been around. Facebook moms got wind of it and demonized it without truly understanding what it was they were even saying. Remember Cleverbot from the late 90's and early 2000's? It was the first primitive chat AI program and people LOVED it. But even older was ELIZA from the 1960's which even made an appearance in the Young Sheldon TV show though they never actually said that's what it was. As @LadyWYT said, it's a tool, which can be very powerful when correctly used.

I think where a lot of people are drawing the line is when someone who doesn't actually know what they're doing comes along and types a prompt "Create a Vintage Story mod that does xyz and interfaces with these mods. Create a description for it for me to copy to the ModDB website and also generate a README document for it. Also summarize any changes made so I can copy and paste into a git commit message" and sit back and let the AI do all the work.

Compare this to "Here's the link to the VintageStory modding API. Find the class/method that allows me to access XYZ and give me the link so I can review it myself." Then while it works, you're free to think about the next steps. It's allowing you to do two things at once. Then you start typing some code, and get something workable and ask it, "Am I crazy or will this code work?" It crunches away and points out a syntax error that would prevent your code from working properly. Or you're trying to remember for the umpteenth time how to setup a Harmony patch. Or you just ask it, "Is it possible to do xyz in C#??" and after it crunches away it says, "yes and here's how".

It's one thing to have a vague idea and obtain something passable. It's another thing to have a truly inspired idea and use the tools available to bring it to life in a way that no one has done before. One is thoughtless and uninspired. The other is thoughtful and shows that the modder actually has two brain cells to rub together. One is having your 3-year-old splash paint on a canvas and trying to sell it as an original Picasso. The other is letting your 3-year-old rough in a pencil sketch and you go back over it and clean up the lines and make something truly original, unique, and fun.

1 hour ago, 8bit said:

To be clear: I wasn't pressing a button and getting finished mods. It was still work — problem-solving, testing, iterating. But AI bridged the gap between knowing what I wanted to build and being able to build it.

The AI gave you the rough sketch. It was up to you to figure out how to connect the lines. There's no shame in that. Take pride in your work. The only person whose opinion should matter to you is yours. 99% of the detractors aren't even mod authors anyway.

Edited 58 minutes ago by Teh Pizza Lady
wording