I'm with you Tiptoe. After playing an RPG through a few times, what's left? Modding! I've spent much more time recently modding than playing.
It seems from the quote from Madawg referenced by Lurker and from Lar directly in an interview with RPGWatch that an SDK (software development kit) is being seriously considered, after the game has been released. From Lar's comments and similar ones from Bethesda (Oblivion), the primary issue is cost. To make the game compatible with new content and develop a flexible and reliable SDK takes a lot of effort . Creating the basic documentation takes more effort, although seeding a user maintained Wiki may help. So the question becomes, is doing all this worth it from a business perspective?
I hope they decide that the answer is "yes". For reference, one site, TES Nexus, has nearly
20,000 mods for the game Oblivion. This certainly extends the active life of the game. It can also be a very rich source of ideas. Although Bethesda Softworks has many talented personnel, if you examined the most innovative 1% of the Oblivion mods, you would certainly find many ideas that the creators hadn't considered (that could influence the next game in the series). Is that enough to justify the expense of a SDK and documentation? I certainly hope so.
