Missing component for university-research: You!

[modResearch]

Greetings modders and users of Kerbal Space Program!

We are two Norwegian master students at the Institute of Informatics at the University of Oslo who are taking a course in Open Source, open collaboration and innovation. For course information, please see attached link: http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/INF5780/

In this course, we are looking into modifications in games, specifically how games using free open software modifications can use this to compete with larger companies such as EA Games, Activision, Firaxis, etc.

Further, we are investigating into what drives modders to create mods, the infrastructure and dynamics in the community and how their contributions and interactions help the game developers to gain foothold and further develop their product.

Our reason for reaching out to this community is that our case study for the research question is KSP(Kerbal Space Program).

As such, we are very interested in hearing you comments, thoughts and reasons for creating modifications in KSP. We therefore kindly ask you for response to the following questions:

Note: All comments and answers will be handled and kept confidential and only be used in until the end of the research. When the project ends in mid-November, we will delete this thread and any other information on this website that in any way may link you as a user to the research. We will not register any personal information besides username which will be referenced in the paper.

If you for whatever reason do not want to post your answers in this thread, feel free to contact us directly through a personal message on this site. If you have any questions regarding the research and your contribution, do not hesitate to contact us.

Question 1: Are you an active user of modifications in KSP?

Question 2: Do you create modifications to KSP? If so, what are your motivations for developing modifications to Kerbal? Do you develop for your own personal use or for other users? Are you looking to showcase your skills for commercial companies or simply for your own enjoyment?

If not, what are your reasons for not creating modifications?

Question 3: Why did you choose KSP as your platform for creating modifications? Do you develop in other games as well? If so, which? What does Kerbal offer you that other games do not?

Question 4: Which types mods do you create and/or use in KSP and why?

Question 5: Under which licenses do you choose to release your mods and why? Do you have any aversions to releasing modifications under certain licenses?

Question 6: There is a large forum and community around KSP. What is your experience on receiving feedback on your modifications, help with getting started and in general the interaction with the community? Do you in feel that you are part of a larger society, or one creator of many.

Question 7: What are your thoughts on FOSS(Free Open Source Software)? Is this something you consider when creating/using modifications?

Question 8: Do you contribute to the KSP community in other ways beside creating modifications?

Question 9: Do you have any other comments or issues you want to adress regarding KSP?

In advance, we would like to thank you for your help and cooperation in this research.

Best Regards,

Bjørnar Fjeldstad and Vegard Angell

Master students at the University of Oslo

TL;DR

We are two students who are attempting to build and launch a massive spaceship (our research-paper), but we are missing the correct components and staging (your input and experience), so to prevent a massive explosion (even though we all like explosions, we prefer them to not originate from our professors) we would love it if you would be so kind as to help us out with the questions above

[KasperVld]

Thread sticky'd

[Guest]

Question 1: Are you an active user of modifications in KSP?

Yes.

Question 2: Do you create modifications to KSP?

Yes, some small ones. I've handed off a larger project because I lost interest and also to free up some time.

Question 2a: If so, what are your motivations for developing modifications to Kerbal?

I enjoy coding as a hobby and I also like to help people with little features.

Question 2b: Do you develop for your own personal use or for other users?

Both.

Question 2c: Are you looking to showcase your skills for commercial companies or simply for your own enjoyment?

No, I have a day job that I love.

Question 3: Why did you choose KSP as your platform for creating modifications?

It's a game that, while definitely lacking in certain areas, I truly enjoy.

Question 3a: Do you develop in other games as well? If so, which?

Used to develop for Minecraft. Also a lot of other games in the past.

Question 3b: What does Kerbal offer you that other games do not?

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCE! And a nice sandbox.

Question 4: Which types mods do you create and/or use in KSP and why?

I contribute to a lot of realism mods and write small utility mods because that's what I want to see in the game.

Question 5: Under which licenses do you choose to release your mods and why?

I use the BSD 2-clause license for my utility mods and contribute under whatever license the parent mod uses. I prefer the BSD 2-clause because it is basically a simple attribution license and because I believe in sharing freely.

Question 5a: Do you have any aversions to releasing modifications under certain licenses?

I would never release a stand-alone mod under one of the "viral socialism" licenses such as CC-SA or GNU GPL, but I have no aversion to contributing to such projects.

Question 6: There is a large forum and community around KSP. What is your experience on receiving feedback on your modifications, help with getting started and in general the interaction with the community?

Generally pretty good, although there are some rough patches that make support a pain. I haven't received the brunt of such pains, however.

Question 6: Do you in feel that you are part of a larger society, or one creator of many.

Uh, both.

Question 7: What are your thoughts on FOSS(Free Open Source Software)? Is this something you consider when creating/using modifications?

I like it and have always released my code freely for any use, happy that someone got some use from it. I don't believe in the dogma of the FSF and their viral GPL, believing that the various BSD license-alikes have it "right".

Question 8: Do you contribute to the KSP community in other ways beside creating modifications?

Yes, I am a regular forum-warrior around here.

Question 9: Do you have any other comments or issues you want to adress regarding KSP?

KSP NEEDS MOAR REALISM!

[hoojiwana]

Can you set up an online survey for these questions? It would make collating the answers an awful lot easier on you rather than having to manually go through the thread and do it.

[Alshain]

Question 1: Are you an active user of modifications in KSP? Yes

Question 2: Do you create modifications to KSP? Yes, but not many (yet).

If so, what are your motivations for developing modifications to Kerbal?

Fun. If I wouldn't use it, I wouldn't make it.

Do you develop for your own personal use or for other users?

Both. It starts as for myself and then I like to share.

Are you looking to showcase your skills for commercial companies or simply for your own enjoyment?

I'm a professional software developer outside the gaming industry.

If not, what are your reasons for not creating modifications?

N/A

Question 3: Why did you choose KSP as your platform for creating modifications?

It's what interests me at the moment. I've loved space and it's exploration since taking a Jr College astronomy course, I found the game fun, and then I start to think of what else I wish it could do.

Do you develop in other games as well? If so, which?

Yes. My most active development has been for Minecraft.

What does Kerbal offer you that other games do not?

It's the only space simulator I know of that explores both flight and construction in a semi-realistic manner.

Question 4: Which types mods do you create and/or use in KSP and why?

I only create what are called "plugins" in this community. That is programmatic code rather than artistic modelling. I'm a terrible artist, but a very creative programmer.

Question 5: Under which licenses do you choose to release your mods and why? Do you have any aversions to releasing modifications under certain licenses?

Usually Creative Commons various licenses. I have an aversion to GPL because I feel it is poorly conceived and an aversion to WTFPL because there really is no reason to use that language.

Question 6: There is a large forum and community around KSP. What is your experience on receiving feedback on your modifications, help with getting started and in general the interaction with the community? Do you in feel that you are part of a larger society, or one creator of many.

I can work alone or with collaboration. I always welcome constructive critism, but that doesn't mean I will implement everything requested. I feel more like part of a community here.

Question 7: What are your thoughts on FOSS(Free Open Source Software)? Is this something you consider when creating/using modifications?

I prefer it. I'm not a perfect developer and I don't think of everything, nor do I have the time to think of everything. If I'm giving away the software for free anyway, I might as well make it open source and get help from the community.

Question 8: Do you contribute to the KSP community in other ways beside creating modifications?

I like to browse the various support and questions forums and help new players learn the game when I can.

Question 9: Do you have any other comments or issues you want to adress regarding KSP?

None I can think of.

[modResearch]

Hi guys!

Thank you so much for your replies so far, and we completely agree that we were kinda morons to not consider a webform straight away.. so here goes!

http://goo.gl/forms/3Po3rsAnjL

To those of you who already answered - no need to re-submit your reply (already got it noted )

Again:

Thank you very much for helping us out in our research (and please tell your friends as well)!

Sincerely

Vegard Angell and Bjørnar Fjeldstad

Ps. looks like google drive is slightly unstable at the moment, so if you encounter any problems, please try again later, or submit your answer here in the thread instead

[thylordroot]

You will have to let us know how your thesis defense goes! I will gladly do this survey for you.

Question 1: Are you an active user of modifications in KSP?

Yes.

Question 2: Do you create modifications to KSP? If so, what are your motivations for developing modifications to Kerbal? Do you develop for your own personal use or for other users? Are you looking to showcase your skills for commercial companies or simply for your own enjoyment?

If not, what are your reasons for not creating modifications?

Yes, but only minor ones and for my own enjoyment. When I do so, it is largely to modify a part that I feel is missing from the game, but that could be easily accommodated by modifying an existing part. I have not yet dove into KSP's Mod API.

Question 3: Why did you choose KSP as your platform for creating modifications? Do you develop in other games as well? If so, which? What does Kerbal offer you that other games do not?

I chose KSP because I play it most often, and the modifications became a natural part of exploring the game. I rarely develop mods for other games, thought I did write a genetic algorithm for optimizing Starmade reactors a year ago.

Question 4: Which types mods do you create and/or use in KSP and why?

Most of the mods I use are related to increasing game difficulty; the reason that I hack parts is largely to meet some in-game need that I feel needs to be addressed, and recently, I have been doing it to reduce lag by bundling several parts together.

Question 5: Under which licenses do you choose to release your mods and why? Do you have any aversions to releasing modifications under certain licenses?

I have not released any of my modded parts; if I did get around to writing code, however, my first choice would be the GNU GPLv3 or the LGPLv3 depending on the use case. Both are explicit about how rights are conveyed to users, and I largely agree with their philosophy concerning distribution.

Question 6: There is a large forum and community around KSP. What is your experience on receiving feedback on your modifications, help with getting started and in general the interaction with the community? Do you in feel that you are part of a larger society, or one creator of many.

KSP generally has one of the best-behaved communities I have seen in a while; almost everybody seems to be willing to help others whenever they can. Mod developers are especially diligent in their replies, and they usually solve outstanding issues quickly. Though I tend to lurk, I take the perspective that I am part of a larger society.

Question 7: What are your thoughts on FOSS(Free Open Source Software)? Is this something you consider when creating/using modifications?

I am a strong advocate for Free software, but I am not adverse to proprietary software (otherwise, I will not play KSP). I feel that it is critical that the holders of any copyright should be able to license their software as they see fit (within reason, of course), but I personally choose to release most of my software as Free software for the very reason that others can (hopefully) learn from it.

Question 8: Do you contribute to the KSP community in other ways beside creating modifications?

Trivially; as I said, I tend to lurk on the forums. Like many others, I do Let's Play videos, and I occasionally offer advice on the forums whenever I think I can help somebody.

Question 9: Do you have any other comments or issues you want to address regarding KSP?

No, but do keep us up to date on your research!

In advance, we would like to thank you for your help and cooperation in this research.

Good luck, Bjørnar and Vegard, If you decide to make your thesis available to all, please share it with us. I'd love to see the data you've collected.

[Tw1]

My go.

Not really a modder, but anyway...

Question 1: Are you an active user of modifications in KSP?

Yes.

Question 2: Do you create modifications to KSP? If so, what are your motivations for developing modifications to Kerbal? Do you develop for your own personal use or for other users? Are you looking to showcase your skills for commercial companies or simply for your own enjoyment?

If not, what are your reasons for not creating modifications?

I attempted to once, but was thwarted by a mod mine would've depended on to work as needed, and lack of skills needed to correct those issues.

As you can guess from that, I'm not looking to showcase anything.

Question 3: Why did you choose KSP as your platform for creating modifications? Do you develop in other games as well? If so, which? What does Kerbal offer you that other games do not?

I chose it because it is a game I play, I felt there was something to be added. I have not attempted to mod any other games to date. Kerbal is very moddable, and the tools to make a simple mod, like unity, have versions available for free.

Question 4: Which types mods do you create and/or use in KSP and why?

I generally use mods which provide useful tools, or add to the experience. (Technically, all mods could probably fall into this description though...)

Things like KAS, which makes kerbals a lot more useful, camera and first person camera mods, mechjeb, hyperedit, visual improvement mods, and a few part packs which open up opportunities not available with only stock, like LLL for base construction.

Question 8: Do you contribute to the KSP community in other ways beside creating modifications?

I make fanworks, art, stories.

Question 9: Do you have any other comments or issues you want to address regarding KSP?

KSP is an awesome game, does not seem to be living up to its full potential as a fun space experience. But different players want different things. Mods help make game a more full, and awesome experience.

[CaptainKipard]

Do you guys play KSP or is this just what you had assigned to research?

[toadicus]

Question 1: Are you an active user of modifications in KSP?

Yes; I play exclusively with modifications.

Question 2: Do you create modifications to KSP? If so, what are your motivations for developing modifications to Kerbal? Do you develop for your own personal use or for other users? Are you looking to showcase your skills for commercial companies or simply for your own enjoyment?

If not, what are your reasons for not creating modifications?

Yes; I create or maintain five publicly distributed mods, and an extra or two for personal use. I develop mods to improve gameplay for myself and the community, and to challenge and improve my abilities as an amateur programmer.

Question 3: Why did you choose KSP as your platform for creating modifications? Do you develop in other games as well? If so, which? What does Kerbal offer you that other games do not?

I currently only develop mods in KSP, but I have written mods for other games I've played in the past. I don't write mods in KSP for any technical reason associated with KSP, but instead because I think it's a good game that could be great. The modding API lets mod developers take that step.

Question 4: Which types mods do you create and/or use in KSP and why?

I create basic play experience improvement modifications -- informational and build assist tools -- along with some gameplay enhancements. I use mods of all sorts to improve realism and playability and expand the breadth and depth of the game.

Question 5: Under which licenses do you choose to release your mods and why? Do you have any aversions to releasing modifications under certain licenses?

I release my modifications under BSD 3-clause or 2-clause licenses, because I want to foster a "team effort" approach to improving the game, and because I hope that they would be continued were I to disappear from the community. I avoid "viral" licenses like GPL & CC-SA to help avoid license incompatibilities.

Question 6: There is a large forum and community around KSP. What is your experience on receiving feedback on your modifications, help with getting started and in general the interaction with the community? Do you in feel that you are part of a larger society, or one creator of many.

Feedback on my mods is generally commensurate with their popularity; as my mods increase in user base, the volume of feedback increases. In general there is a reasonably healthy attitude towards collaboration in troubleshooting problems, though the larger the user base becomes, the more "bad" users who are unwilling to help find solutions to their problems become an element.

I have not sought "getting started" help and do not significantly interact with the community outside mod development. Within the mod development community, I am an infrequent contributor to most discussions and as such am something of an "outsider" -- that's probably as much my own doing as any "fault" of the modding community.

Question 7: What are your thoughts on FOSS(Free Open Source Software)? Is this something you consider when creating/using modifications?

By and large all software is an idea, or a set of ideas. Ideas are immaterial, fungible, and easily copied. I strongly endorse the honest treatment of ideas, and as such strive not to impose any burden on those who would seek to benefit from my ideas. My software is thus "free and open source", but I do not use viral licenses to tell other people how to

Question 8: Do you contribute to the KSP community in other ways beside creating modifications?

Not really.

Question 9: Do you have any other comments or issues you want to address regarding KSP?

In my opinion, the production of KSP as a moddable platform is by far its most valuable asset.

[Baenki]

Hey. You might want to move this survey to General Discussion to avoid bias.

I think most people in Addon Affairs are modders/ using mods. So you might not get a sample of the community as clean and random as intended.

[StarFox]

Question 1: Are you an active user of modifications in KSP? Yes.

Question 2: Do you create modifications to KSP? If so, what are your motivations for developing modifications to Kerbal? Do you develop for your own personal use or for other users? Are you looking to showcase your skills for commercial companies or simply for your own enjoyment? No.

If not, what are your reasons for not creating modifications? Not enough time to create or maintain a mod.

Question 3: Why did you choose KSP as your platform for creating modifications? Do you develop in other games as well? If so, which? What does Kerbal offer you that other games do not? While I don't actively create mods for KSP, I am very impressed with the openness and ease in which Squad makes creating mods for their game.

Question 4: Which types mods do you create and/or use in KSP and why? I tend toward mods that increase the realism, such as FAR, and the mods that provide assistance, such as MechJeb. As I've learned to play the game better, I find I'm using the assistance mods less and the realism mods more.

Question 5: Under which licenses do you choose to release your mods and why? Do you have any aversions to releasing modifications under certain licenses?

Question 6: There is a large forum and community around KSP. What is your experience on receiving feedback on your modifications, help with getting started and in general the interaction with the community? Do you in feel that you are part of a larger society, or one creator of many.

Question 7: What are your thoughts on FOSS(Free Open Source Software)? Is this something you consider when creating/using modifications? I'm a very strong proponent of FOSS. I use open source when ever I can when programming.

Question 8: Do you contribute to the KSP community in other ways beside creating modifications? Some participation on the forums.

Question 9: Do you have any other comments or issues you want to address regarding KSP? KSP is awesome. Long live Jeb!