Microsoft recently confirmed that it is banning gamers with modified consoles from playing on the Xbox Live online service.
I think this is a mistake.
Long before "user-generated content" was a catch-phrase, computer gamers had been breathing life into titles by creating and sharing their own modifications: new weapons, levels, characters, sounds, and whatever else they could engineer.
Some of the biggest franchises in the industry, in fact - Doom, Quake, Half-Life, Counterstrike, Unreal - wouldn't have reached their same level of success without the mod community. And just look at what these games have done for the hardware business - particularly in areas like 3D cards.
Now obviously the console makers have their concerns, but why not come up with a way to allow the hard-core gamers to exercise their passions and imaginations? Doug Lombardi of Valve made this case last week. Just imagine if the auto industry had clamped down on the aftermarket - there would be no NASCAR. And look at how NASCAR engineering fuels innovation.
I understand Microsoft's desire to keep the playing field in Xbox Live level, but PC gamers have been reasonably meeting this challenge for years. Cheating hasn't sucked the life out of World of Warcraft or EverQuest or Halo, so why can't hot-rodded Xboxes find a place in the online ecosystem? Maybe Microsoft can create a special section of Xbox Live specifically for soupped-up machines. It will be like the videogame equivalent of drag-racing on Daytona Beach.
