I was going to make a new topic but I figured this might just be a smarter place to put it.
Wouldn't it be better to try and release the tools to make the game than to re-familiarize and make it your self? A mod API would certainly revive some aspects of the community and I would gladly dish out some levels of money for it. Let alone use it extensively. It does not even have to be anything big, just small and simple tools so we can make the game bigger and more grand than it already is our selves.
