Within this thread there will be two major stances. I will summarise them as I understand them; if something is incorrect or information is lacking on one or both of the stances, please feel free to correct me.
Those whom are AGAINST mods within contests where the focus revolves around mapping (i.e. one week long mapping contest, 24 hour mapping contest, etc.) have been shown to believe the following.
- Mods deviate from what was actually supposed to be judged in the contest - the map. This takes the focus off of the piece that was supposed to be judged and some judges may alter their scores based on the quality of the mod.
- Mods create an unbalanced competition where players who know how to mod have an unfair advantage over players who don't, and it generally confuses things.
- Mods are inconvenient for use.
Those whom are FOR mods within contests where the focus revolves around mapping in such a manner that mods are not necessarily mandatory but are allowed and occasionally encouraged as complimentary to the map. They have been shown to take the following stances.
- Mods add to the creative atmosphere and potential of the project and should be at the very least allowed in order to promote the growth of the project as a whole - not just as a map.
- Mods provide the opportunity to fit the game to suit your project, as opposed to fitting your project to the game. Less scrapped ideas, less deviation from the original project vision.
- Mods allow the player/judge to experience the project as was intended, not after it had to be redone x times for the concept to work in the basic game.
Looking at this, it seems the pro-mod members should nullify the anti-mod arguments whilst backing up their own, and vice versa. As I fully support all custom content creation, I have to call upon people like Azrael and Kaias who so openly oppose these things when they are hardly inconvenient to use and the skill differences between someone with years of modding experience and a rookie are very similar, if not nearly identical, to the differences between a seasoned triggerer and a rookie map maker.
After all, if the contest is for the map, why bring the mod into judging at all?